[Sean_330]

All this thread has become just like all other "collusion" threads is a bunch of fighting and finger pointing. With all these dire predictions of this being terrible and possibly the downfall of FIRST, I wonder if this is really the hill people want to die on. Is FIRST so fragile, that we will let a small issue devide such a wonderful organization? As far as the agreements are concerned, it is the team's job to police themselves. As a referee at the Silicon Valley Regional in San Jose, Jason made it clear in the driver's meeting that FIRST was neither for nor against it and it was up to the teams themselves to do what is right. We saw neither collusion nor any hard feelings, because the teams put their differences behind them and got on with the competition. Everyone had fun, and it was an awesome event.

Furthermore, speaking as a referee, I have no idea how it would be physically possible to enforce the "no collusion" rule should there exist one in the future. The referees add up the score and look for any tangible rule violations such as pinning and entanglement. It is impossible to make a call on collusion as a referee because it is not a black and white area, but it was rather the 4 teams collective intentions which are impossible to regulate. There are times, when it is advantageous to leave the opponent's stacks standing, yet there was no collusion involved. This is a legitimate strategy if you are winning due to the scoring system this year. Therefore, as a referee, I am happy there was no ruling before because you can not referee people's motives. You can only referee that which you observe.

Anyway, thats my opinion