A thought.
Because this "nature of Nationals" debate has been raging nonstop since, oh, about three hours after FIRST released the new qualification requirements, I thought I'd offer a different point of view.
I happen to like the system FIRST has right now. Why? Only the best teams get to go, making for what (we all think) will be a more competitive National Championship. And by having to overcome stiffer competition to get there, winning Nationals means more. As it is right now, the teams who get berths are
-The ones who have proven themselves (Regional Champions)
-The ones who judges feel can complete with the best (4 Tech Award Winners)
-Teams who have proven themselves quite well in the past (returning champions and those who qualified on points)
-Teams with the best overall FIRST programs (Regional Chairman's Award winners, recent National Finalists, all prior National Winners, the "Original Seven")
And that's it. FIRST has made sure that the teams at Nationals are the best of the best, and that an invite to the competition carries with it an aire of prestige. My only problem is that there are quite a few teams who are going to Nationals and don't deserve to be there as much as the others.
Yeah, the even numbered teams. (And, in fairness, the odd ones next year.)
By having teams who didn't qualify for Nationals still be allowed to attend, FIRST is both ruining the prestige they're trying to build for it AND denying entry to half of it's teams simply on the basis of the random number they were assigned when signing up.
The proliferation of teams that wouldn't otherwise qualify greatly decreases the quality of the otherwise high-caliber event. Yet, good teams that should go can't, because they spend the entire year telling sponsors "Yeah, we probably can't go to Nationals this year because we're an odd team," and then go out and win a Regional. "Oh, now we can go? But we don't have any money left. Well, we were planning on next year anyway."
There's two solutions to this:
1. Drop the qualification requirements and somehow let everyone go. Whether 600 teams can converge onto Disney World at once is of course questionable. There's always the idea of bi-coastal Nationals... but getting back to the point, yes, let everyone experience the highest level of FIRST.
2. Drop the "spare slots can be filled by some teams" clause. By the basis of this really long, rambling post, you'd probably guessed by now that this is the option I'll argue for. What I think FIRST should do (as I assume they probably intended to, anyway) is use the current system for 2003, to compensate the odd-numbered teams, and then drop the "spare slots" clause starting in 2004.
I know the point was made some time ago about how that may be unfair to rookie teams, and I agree, it is, which is why I'd say coalesce the two Rookie All-Star Awards into one per Regional, and give the winners of that a berth at Nats. A large part of FIRST is supporting the rookie programs, you know?
Well, that's my two cents, though judging by the length of this post I think I foisted a couple quarters. I probably pissed off at least a few people, too. Flame away.
-Kyle