Because the lights are just freakin cool.....
I'm sure FIRST will come up will a more defined set of rules on light placement next year... and these lights were actually smaller then lights in the past (2000, 2001, etc.)....
If ya dont want the light broken dont put it in a high impact zone,

we usually have our light in the center of the 'bot and i cant remember ever having a light broken (maybe in 2000 or 2001 once)
A flag would be harder for people in the stands to identify alliances, ya cant miss the color of the light (even if teams did have in buried in their 'bot)
I'm sure the lights will always be a part of FIRST robots...
