[Adam Freeman]

Congratulations to 1678, 118, 1671, and 5012 on the Einstein Victory! What a great sight to see all four teams earn their first FRC Championship.

I found myself sitting in the stands watching the matches rooting for all the alliances out there just because it would have been amazing for any of them to win, but the overriding theme was that 1678 and 118 were due for a Championship and with 1671 as a magical 3rd pick there was going to be no stopping them.

I remember seeing 1678 on Curie in 2011 with this blazingly fast mini-bot, but somewhat inconsistent scoring... and thinking that is a team that we will want on our alliance if we end up an alliance captain. Then coming back to Curie in 2013, seeing 1678 seeded 1st on Saturday morning and struggling to connect with someone that was incharge of alliance selection. Too bad we never connected with Mike, we might have been able to make a compelling case to pick us... but, that didn't happen and they beat our alliance in 3 hard fought matches of the division finals. Then meeting in the Einstein semi-finals last year and whooping us 2 straight. You guys have climbed the ladder to greatness with grit and determination to be the very best.

Can't say anything else that hasn't been said already about 118. The engineering challenges, level of detail, and execution seen on Robonauts robots are astounding to me. As a somewhat competent robot mechanism designer I can't even comprehend how you come up with some of these design, yet alone exectute them to a level that the parts and entire machine end up a thing of beauty. Then have time to practice, record, and make a production quality video! Every year my mind is blown by the machines you come out with, then it's back to the drawing board to fix all our issues to be able to keep up. I've been in awe of your machines since I started in 2005, and I can't think of a year that hasn't been true since. You were so un-believeably due for a Championship, so happy everything aligned correctly for you to get your 1st. I'd predict #2 will not take nearly as long.

Watching the webcast for CVR and Sacramento, I kept thinking 1671 might be a team that could make a run at Champs this year as an alliance captain. Such a great machine, with awesome stacking capability. Not once did it cross my mind that they would fall to the 16th pick of the #1 alliance. Somehow these really good California teams (971-'09, 973-'11, 1671-'15) fall in the draft to already dominate alliances to form a "super" alliance that ends up winning the Championship.

Don't know much about 5012, but this is a great start for you guys! Continue to build your program off of this Championship and learn from the other great California teams around you. It's pretty clear there are great things happening in that region seeing 971, 973, 1671, 1678, 1717, etc... all rise up to the very highest levels of FRC.

Congrats!
-Adam