[Rick]

What you guys didn't think I was gonna post?

Listen everyone. This post may make you mad. But understand this: I'm trying to be as civil as possible. This is from my point of view and these are my words. I take full responsibility for them. With that disclaimer, here is my opinion:

Upon Arrival Out of the many people I have encountered at first events, the ones i normally talk to said this within the first minute of me talking to them:
"The new tipping rules are directed towards you"
My Reply: "I know "

Driver Meeting
Tipping was the main topic. I had a few questions but before i had a chance to ask head ref some questions, he had left. My next meeting with him was in our pit. When he was walking towards our pit I knew in the pit of my stomach he was coming over to talk about us having a so called "wedge bot". He said all the same things regarding tipping as were said in the drivers meeting. Now was my chance to ask questions. Oh and let me remind you these answers were conveyed as rude as possible. This question stuck out in my mind:

Ricksta121:Is pinning allowed on the ramp since it is not a field border and is a scoring object.
head ref:Why would you want to pin on the ramp?
R121inning an oppenent allows us to keep them there to prevent leaving either to make us lose the 50 qps for them being there or to go knock down a stack.
head ref:...The ramp is a field border it is pinning.

From playing in a regional, nats and 2 offseasons. Pinning on the ramp has been a-ok since it is not a field border. Anyways I asked other specific examples and other questions on tipping in general such as: accidents, auto-mode, etc. All answers again very rude. He left us with this:
"If a robot gets on top of you and you move a millimeter, I'm going to dq you"

A little while after our teams little q and a session, I talked to 126(wedgebot) and wanted to know if they had been talked to by the head ref. When i learned they hadn't been talked to I realized something. As one of the drivers I had to be UBER-careful while driving. Nice way to start the day huh?

Matches BeginI and our outher driver are very careful in driving and have only one incident when a robot was tipped. Watching RAGE go over and the Head Ref POINTING AT IT angrily and then after the match telling us a dq if it happens again, it all clicked in my head. I knew this ref had something against our robot.

Upon telling other teamates and teams about this "dq in auto" rule they were furious. Automonous is just that, the robot does its thing and you have no control over it. But wait we do! We could hit the red E-stop but then be penalized for 30 secdonds into the match. Everyone I talked to agreed and said this is getting way too out of hand....

The call...When the call was made I was not suprised. I was angry but not suprised. This ref had waited all day to make his dq against us and now he had his chance. I was not upset about the call, JUST THE WAY HE TREATED OUR TEAM WITH EXTREME PREDJUDICE FROM THE DRIVERS MEETING ON. The tip was unintentional but intent didnt matter since the rules were tinkered against us.

After the callMy team and I happened to talk to someone after the call. At first the majority of us were mad about the call. But we realized the rule was against us and wedges in general and could not change it. We then tried explaining our disgust with that head ref. Heres a little convo me and ken had.

R121: That ref was rude to us since he singled us out in our pit this morning and told us he was going to dq us.
someone: He is equally rude to everyone.
R121: WHAT! shouldnt that be grounds to not have him ref if this many people had thier event ruined from the begining becasue of this one man?
someone:....

I also told that someone: If that ref is here next year I wont be. He ruined my battlecry.

My conclusion
BC4 was my last compition as a driver. I could have handled losing, but just not like that. And I blame the predjudice against my teams robot in rules and in reffing as the cause. I can't say this is not ref bashing because it is. I've been flamed on the boards for not following gracious professionalism. Between Ralley and now I really truly have tried. But when an official ruins the day for an entire team, I cannot keep quiet. I really tried everyone, I really did. I have never been more opinionated about something so serious on these boards.

Also the way the other alliance on teams 96 and 782 acted was uncalled for. In QF1 they cheered so loud when 126 flipped in auto, i could hear their drive team across the field. And when a member from the alliance yelled "I love wedgebots" I almost lost it.

Oh Adam Y. the wedge is there to take away a pushing force, act as a fender, and dethrone opponenets on top of the ramp.

I hope your finally happy head ref, you got your dq.