[Billfred]

Alright, I'll throw in my two cents that I found at the bottom of the Georgia Dome escalator...

(Bear in mind, I'm on a rookie team. So I've only heard about past seasons.)

I'll have to agree on the drill motors...our team was considering their use on our robot, and we were holding the whole assembly in our hands when one kid said, "Yeah, I think this'll work..." Then the motor goes ker-splat out of the housing. Not devastating, but more funny than anything.

But as for the kit, I think it was entirely possible to build a sturdy robot from the kit. Ours was bombproof in matches, and we just used the 2x4s in the kit with some diamond plate on the roof. If it were easy, everyone would do it.

As for the refs, yes, that shouldn't have happened. But people get stressed out, and maybe some haven't had the chance to get in tune with the teams. They can be firm as much as they want, but rude is wrong.

Now on the scoring system, I'll say this: Yes, it's Flash. Yes, it had its kinks. (Such as the alliances being on the opposite sides of the scores on Archimedes, for example.) But overall, given a good operator, it works well.

As for teams being the middle men, I think it's a matter of giving credit where credit is due. I'm all for the concept of teams simplifying the doyougottapart problem, but when they deliver, there should be a note on the source. That, or everyone sticks a sticker on their Fisher-Price motors that says "This was from Team XXXX."

On the subject of Dean, I liken his vision to the method of my AP Stat teacher. He threw on us tons of information, much more than the minimum. His reasoning was that if he gets out enough material for a 5, and we don't get everything, we're still in 3-4 territory. Dean's ideas are a bit on the idealistic side (sometimes, admittedly, a LOT on the idealistic side), but I doubt he expects everything to stick. Some of the stuff gets passed (such as Segways being allowed to drive on South Carolina roads--just stick to the right and use the sidewalk if you can), and we're better than we were.

In the end, society is still run by a government. And government waters down everything...well, nearly everything.

I think I hit all of the bases.