[Justin]

Last night I was having dinner with Andy in Boston and we were talking about this very thing in fact so I figured I'd post with my thoughts.

I agree I think that these awards should return. I totally agree withy our comments about FIRST being centered on the "purpose" in the last say 3 years. I find it interesting that these awards were just one year not there and all of the sudden the "Engineering Inspiration" award just appeared. Now I'm not out to diminish the winners of this award which is after all "the second highest honor FIRST bestows" I just don't like how FIRST makes it sound like this award has always existed. I think that the focus of FIRST has shifted DRASTICALLY in the last few years more and more the focus shifts away from robotics and the game to things like entrepreneurial spirit. If you think this isn't true look at the awards but also look at this year’s game. The primary method for scoring was to depend on the human players. I remember once upon a time when FIRST was about designing a robot to compete in a robotics competition. It seems more and more like FIRST is a business fraternity than a robotics competition. I would like nothing more than to see a little more of the focus shift back to the game, design of a quality robot, and strategy. However I think that this would require DRASTIC changes in the mindset of the FIRST community which I do not see happening.

Because the pot should always be stirred every once and a while...

Justin

P.S. Before you bad rep me from now until Sunday I ask you to think about how truly childish that is.