[JamesJones]

I'm not pretending to say something people don't already know. It's obvious from the regional results that the ball grabbers are generally the high seeds and they are the ones putting together the alliances that hope to make it to the finals. One thing I have noticed though, and it may just be a perception based on my rather uninformed attempts to grasp what's going on over a web cast. It appears to me that in SOME cases the ball grabbers (and please, I don't have any specific team or teams in mind) are very slow to adapt their game to the finals. Yes, I know that many finals have been decided by balls and I know one goal full of balls is worth more than two empty goals etc. But I have also seen alot full goals trapped on the wrong side of the field, ball bots pinned down and a lot of full hoppers at the end of the match because while one partner was filling up with balls the other alliance was locking all three goals together in a tangled mass.

Part of that is just the game and teams doing the best they could with the resources they had. It's just when I sense the emotion that surrounds this subject I wonder if some teams don't see the finals as chance to vindicate their own team's particular approach to the game (balls vs goals etc.) We agree that ball bots will almost always seed higher than goal bots. But do we agree than a strong pair of goal bots will more consistantly beat all but the most exceptional ball bots (the ones you mentioned among them)? That's why I pointed out what type of bots the double winners were. I have faith that most teams will make their decisions based on what they think is in the best interest of the alliance (we've experienced a top seed team doing just that). Honestly speaking though, it may be that the best interest of the alliance is for the top seed team to sit out. That's got to hurt to have these highly complex, very impressively engineered robots playing only 1 round in 2 or 3 in eliminations. I've seen teams do it. I'll ask this to all the ball bots, is your team prepared to do it?

Just something to think about. I hope I don't come across too negative on ball bots. I'm not really, we could work very well with one and would love to get the chance (wait...I sense a shameless plug coming on...whew…it passed). I am negative about teams who think there is only one way to play the game and it's their way or the highway. They owe their alliance partners more than that.

James Jones
Engineer/Coach
Team 180