[driesman]

In Maryland, the host team does not advance. This was put in place last year and even with that, all qualifiers still have host teams. The change was made to provide more competition. Another nice change last year was going to a 48 team State Championship. This allowed (assuming a big enough qualifier) the full winning alliance to advance in addition to the three Inspire winners. I like this very much because it always seemed a shame that despite a team effort, only the Captain advanced.

As for NorCal, I think it is part of the growing trend within FIRST that de-emphasizing the competition. The lottery system put into place for semi-worlds makes it possible for teams to advance without a working robot or an engineering notebook. One only needs to compete in a single event. What happened to earning your reward?? Personally, I would stop at East Supers which is an excellent event with good competition, great camaraderie and top notch staff. Though I suspect that if the team makes it to Semi-Worlds, it will be hard to say no.

Makes me very sad to see FIRST moving into the everyone gets a ribbon camp. I've seen the competitive nature of the program drive teams to do amazing things. Crystal ball is cloudy for the future.