[Ken Leung]

If there are any more negative comments directed toward a certain individual instead of contributing positively to the discussion, I will have to start deleting some post. Please don't let that happen. These negative comments, no matter started by who, will be removed if they continue.

Anyway, back to the subject. There is a good way to deal with referee rulings, and there is a bad way to deal with referee rulings. Now, you may not agree with the ruling the referee made, but, that is no reason to yell at them or call them names. There is absolutely no reason to abandon sportsmanship and gracious professionalism even though you don't agree and want to question or object the judgment.

It is easy for people to get upset; some probably have good reasons too. I would be upset if the referee decided to give penalty to my team if I don't understand the reason behind the ruling (even if I do sometimes). I mean, if I spent 6 weeks to build a robot, and year round to build the team, I would be pretty upset if a ruling DQ my team in the competition. But, I would not choose to boo at the referee, or even use profanity (which happened before). Rather, I would talk to the referee (and the field manager if he/she was there), make sure there is no misunderstanding in the ruling process, and do the best I can to present my case. And if we still can't reach an agreement, well, that is unfortunate, but I personally will respect that the referee have the final say on the field. I can’t tell you what to do, but borrowing a saying from Joe J., I would suggest that you shouldn’t do what you wouldn’t do in front of your grandmother. I think the golden rule will also do nicely.


Now, we might not be able to change your view, but in my opinion, the referee and FIRST staffs are doing the best they can to run this competition. Some of them volunteer their time and energy even though they have a family, a full time job, and their own robotics team to run. My 6 years of FIRST experience that tells me they are not out there to get you. So, when you are dealing with difficult situations, and keep this thought in mind.

People don't have to agree with each other, but they can try to understand where the other person is coming from. Who knows, you may learn something in the end.

Finally, if you have serious disagreement with the way the referee interpreted the rule, than it is very likely that the rules can be rewritten to better express the intent of the rule. So, bring it up at the next team forum. Help FIRST make the rules better so situation like this will not happen again.

Understand that FIRST is made up by people too, and like all people, they are not perfect (yes that include you and me too ;-) ). So, let’s focus our energy and emotions in a positive way and make this program a better place for all of us, shall we?

Oh by the way if you feel like you want to vent your frustration, feel free to PM me. I promise I can be a good listener ;-).