[Don Wright]

Wow...posting people's private replies publically...that's pretty nice.

I was on the field and I heard 469 talking strategy... This is what I heard...

"Ok...in order for us to win this thing, here's what we need to do. When 93 opens up their net, instead of just dropping a 2x ball in there which would be too easy and nice, lets ram chomp-chomp in there. That way, we can get all tangled up and tip us both over trying to get away. Then, make sure we pick both of us back up to make it look like we are nice, and then release them so we can go and do what we really built our robot to do...go and be the best ball hearding, most offensive robot out there and cap at the end.

But, that might not work all the time, so what we will do next is position ourselves under our goal so they come over and try to push us out of the way. Then, we will tip us both over again, BUT WE HAVE TO BREAK THE MOBLE GOAL. This is very important and is a must. But, only pull out one pipe to make it seem not too intentional. Then, pick us back up and continue with our offensive strategy."

Come on. Sorry, but quit whining. Several times this year we have been broken by other teams (the Martians 494 did a nice job on us at GLR). But we understand it's a game. A rough game. And we fix what is broken, hopefully better so it doesn't happen again, and remember it for next year so we design something more robust. No HARD feelings...in fact...we like it. It forces us to examine our designs and go back to even more basics (like we are next year) to makes things stronger and easier to repair.

Maybe we should play next year like lego league...where the field is divided into four quadrants and we all have our little sections to drive around in so nobody can hurt anybody else. Yea...that will be exciting. I'm sorry, but to the general public which I think FIRST is trying to appeal to, to get more interest from, we need these kinds of matches. When things like this happen, the stands are roaring and everyone is running from the food stands to see what is going on. This is the kind of excitement we need.

And another thing...comparing some of the FIRST robots to the flipping robots you see on battlebots is silly. Sure, if someone uses a cylinder on a flipper and continuously flip robots over, they should be DQ'd. But, I didn't see anybody do that at all. Making a low profile robot or some kind of wedge shape is a very fundamental design to stop yourself from getting pushed around and bullied and that is the name of the game to fulfill your strategy...

Congrats 469. You did nothing wrong. Looking forward to being more competitive next year so we can be a challenge to you...

The only thing I can agree on is how the scoring was done. The balls are removed from the field and everything is reset before the scores are posting so if there is a disagreement, there really is nothing to "check". But, I don't know how to fix that...