Quote:
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Originally Posted by Andy Grady
Question of the Week (7/11/04):
Do you think that FIRST will ever outgrow its ability to hold a National Championship. If so, what do you feel would be a good alternative to replacing it?
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FIRST outgrew its ability to hold a true National Competition back in 2002 when it came up with the even/odd system. A true National competition would have everyone allowed. Of course, that was impossible. That's why they came up with that system in the first place. Now, I realize the question specifically uses the term "
Championship". That being said, FIRST probably will never outgrow its ability to hold a
championship. Even if it has to take the top finishers from super regionals to hold a 100-team nationals wherever they may hold them, there will always be a FIRST
championship. I'm going to get a little opinionated here, but IMO, unfortunately this will cause the "win at all cost" attitude. Yes, I'm well aware that currently (disregarding the tier system) there are other ways to get in, but even those involve trying to be the best at something, which (again IMO) kinda defeats the goal of FIRST.
Okay, I'm going on too much of a tangent. My point is this: FIRST will never outgrow the ability to hold a National
Championship, but that may not be a good thing. If all people are doing is vying for those spots in the championship (which proportionally will decrease), then you loose FIRST's basis: Gracious Professionalism. Newer teams may never even learn what GP is if what matters is who wins those decreasing number of spots. I do hope for the day we go back to having a National Competition where everyone is allowed (and it will someday happen if and when they can find a place to house it all). Until then, I hope the competition stays as open as possible, even if it has to treat us all as on the same level. I'm not a big fan of the tier system, but it works.