Alright, I would like to offer my views on this subject based on what I saw and heard, on a very different side of the table (literally) than most anybody else was. I was one of the BC4 staff members sitting behind the control/media tables, working on the real-time production of our closing video presentation.
Now, any team 190 member who is a BC staff member is staff. The event is run such that there is no biases towards any teams, even though that we as team 190 "run" the event; there are those staff members that are not on any team, even FIRST representatives -- and we are expected to have the same unbiased views as they would have.
As I was sitting behind the table watching this match, I cringed as I saw my team's robot pushed off and flipped. However, that was that.. just another match; I didn't think much of it. As I saw the refs gathering around the scoring table I overheard some of the things they were saying. They were discussing the flip and the rules as well, with a few BattleCry staff overlooking. I heard something such as, "well that means that the blue alliance will be DQed." I thought to myself, "wow, that means that the red alliance advances... and wow, this is gonna look bad for us." BattleCry staff members who are also on team 190 had no input whatsoever as to the final decision -- there were those who certainly disagreed with it too. I simply would like to point out that the decision was not biased against the fact that the flipped team was hosting the competition, and all referees had some input into the matter.
With that said, a few people came over to the mixing station to watch a replay of what had happened that match. I know the refs are always very nervous after making a call such as that, especially with the ability for replay, in the case that they are wrong. After watching, they were certain that the right call was made. Team 190 was on their crab wheels, trying to move sideways to avoid the wedge on the front of 121, whom just continued to drive until 190 was completely flipped.
As for the other flippings, I can't make any comment on most of them because I was too busy working on the final video cut, but I do know that for one of them, the flipped team was actually the agressor rather than just sitting there or trying to retreat. Again, as per the clarified tipping rules, the decisions were based on which team was the agressor, and the final decision is left to the referees.
This whole incident is quite unfortunate, but it was the right call; I am very sorry to discover that such veteran teams (in both FIRST, and BattleCry) would actually leave before the end of the day simply because of a call they did not agree with. That is very ungracious, in my opinion, and almost a kick in the face to all the event staff who volunteered so much time and effort to make the event a success -- everything from the award makers, video producers and editors, announcers, judges... just everyone. Especially when you are more than aware of the events that are to occur afterwards.
Anywho, I hope that everyone else managed to have a great time at the 4th annual BattleCry@WPI... more work than ever before went into this year's competition, and we feel that it ran extremely well. The addition of a live video production was more than we ever expected -- multiple angles, instant replays, interviews between the matches, some fun animations, and a final closing video brought a whole new excitement to the competition (well, at least we thought so
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