[thewizard16]

Hello again,

Well, I'm going with Andy on this one as well. People need to be careful with what they say, myself included. There's a little trick to ensure that you don't say anything mean or overly critical... Have brain intercept mean/overly critical thought before it reaches mouth. I did that a couple times. What helps me is to remember that just because it didn't work for us doesn't mean it can't work for them. When I was talking with a coach from a different team in our pit the other day he was discussing our design with me, and asking some questions. He asked me why we didn't do a certain design of ball holding idea. I knew their robot happened to be based on this idea, and knew the question could mean one of two things. One- he wanted to know if we'd discovered something better, or Two- he wanted to know why the heck we did what we did. Well, to be honest, we'd tried something similar to what he was discussing, and it didn't do at all what we wanted it to. But, I reminded myself that just because we didn't make it work, didn't mean they were incapable of making it work, and told him that we felt that we accomplish more of the goals our team members set out by using a broader, less specific, design.
Remember people- appearances are everything, and the things you say go a long way on the gracious professionalism track. (in other words, don't talk bad about the other teams till you get to the hotel. And if they're in the same hotel, talk quiet. those walls are thin.)
Later,