[Joe Johnson]

FIRST has publicized the agenda for the Championships.

One thing that jumps out is that the individual divisions each get to have an award ceremony prior to the Semi-Finals and Finals between the division winners.

Ideally, I think that the Final Four should be played as part of the award ceremony, but this is a step in the right direction.

This will let most teams pack up their pits, cry, hug, get cleaned up a bit and still have time to watch the Final Four play it out on the main stage.

Joe J.

P.S. I know having the Final Four as part of the award ceremony would make the award ceremony longer but you could use the matches to actually break up the time. Here is how I think it could work:

Welcome...
...blah blah blah....
...award award award...
...and now the first semi final...
...WOW WOW WOW...
...and now some words from Mr. Straightlace...
...blah blah blah...
...award award award...
...and now the second semi-final...
...WOW! WOW! WOW!...
...and now some words from Mrs. Warbucks...
...blah blah blah...
...award award award...
...and now the FINALS...
...WOW-WOW! WOW-WOW! WOW-WOW!
...Metals for the finalists on the left, metals for the champions on the right...
...(exiting off stage for any heart restartings, tear sheddings, cheering etc. required)...
...Settle down speech (Animation Award perhaps - we are culturally trained to be quite when watching movies)
...blah blah blah...
...Dean speech...
...and now the biggest award: Chairman’s Award...
...Metals for the winners on the the right...
...BOOM!...
...Party begins!

My heart is beating out of my chest just THINKING about it. This
would be SO great for FIRST.

Trust me, this would be a VERY good thing. This game needs a full crowd of folks that understand the game - TV will get it if there are 10,000+ screaming folks watching it.

Comments?