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Originally Posted by Sidney San Martín
I usually agree with the judges, but I know our driver well enough to know that he would not tip another team. That disqualification cost us any chance of winning or even getting into the final finals.
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I wasn't a ref, but as scorekeeper I worked pretty closely with them, and I know Rich (the head ref) will probably wander onto this thread soon enough and settle any questions, but I know that they did the best they could, they even skipped the fourth match to come back to it later because a team wasn't ready yet, that's something you will never find in an offical competition.
Bottom line, regardless of what your personal views on the matter are, the refs did the best job they could, and what's past is past. I assume you guys had fun, and big deal, you didn't win, you still came and put out a great effort. Also, perhaps take this experience and remember for next year, because I can't ever remember any FIRST competition, official or not, where refs have looked favorably at teams who have, or are suspected, of intentionally flipping an opponent.
Also, I was a driver myself on my old team, I know that drivers
do get caught up in the moment, and unless you are the driver, no one else can ever know what his intentions were, because when you're driving a robot, you're not exactly thinking clearly. I'm not accusing him or your team of intentionally flipping, but accidents happen, and if your team was in the wrong place at the wrong time, well, tough luck, but there's not much you can do about it. I'm also fairly certain you weren't the only team DQ'd for flipping an opponent, so it wasn't an isolated incident.