[David.Cook]

OK, all of you who are tired of hearing the politically correct answer of "EVERYONE" raise your hand... good. You are the ones I am talking to. Everyone knows that only a few teams will win, but each of you is totally psyched-up for going to Houston. So the answer is win or lose, early or late, by a little or a lot, everyone who attends the event is definitely a winner in a big way, because you could have been sitting home playing one more hour of D2 or Game Cube or watching TV. Instead, you chose to step out and be part of something bigger.

I salute all the teams and team members in FIRST this year! You guys are great, even if your 'bot never made it up the ramp.

On the topic of stacker 'bots being critical - I don't think the statistics support the assertion that they are critical to win. In the last few weeks I have seen maybe ten anecdotes about how the stacker 'bot made a stack to win the match - I even saw one myself. But let's look at the numbers. To date there have been 1927 matches. I have heard of 10 which were turned by a stacker 'bot. Even if there were 5 times as many matches where the stacker 'bot turned the tide, it still amounts to less than 3 percent of all matches.
Let me say this clearly... in competition, more than 97% of all matches were decided by something other than a stacking robot. That is by the numbers.
No I know I will get PMed and yelled at on the thread, but I am just doing the math.

In my opinion, the stacker 'bot is the pinnacle of design this year. If you made a robot that could stack even a few bins in competition then I salute you for a great design achievement. Even more so if you are one of the few that can pick up a stack and carry it to your side.

Unfortunately, this year's game does not really allow stackers to be the deciding factor [the way I would like them to be].