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Originally Posted by TierraDelDiablo
In professional sport drafting, it's usually the teams with the worst records that get the first pick, which makes perfect sense, if your team is already very good, why does it need 2 more great teams to help them through eliminations.
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Thanks to TierraDelDiablo for bringing up this interesting topic. I'm guessing, based on early poll results and former discussions, that few people will support a rule that takes away from the accomplishment (as well as the competitive advantage) of being the #1 seed.
The reason, I think, comes from our general perception of the structure of an FRC regional event (or the Championship event, for that matter):
I imagine that most people think of a regional event as consisting of two parts. The qualification rounds are like the "
regular season" and the elimination rounds are the "
playoffs."
It is true that in professional sports, a draft is usually aimed at balancing out the competition, by letting less succesful teams pick first. However, a draft is always held
after the season is over. The draft is not held between the end of the regular season and the beginning of the playoffs. The reason for this is because a team that has the best record going into the playoffs, thereby securing homefield advantage (at a FRC event, that would be the #1 seed), has
earned the competitive advantage that is given to them.
In professional sports, the NFL for example, we expect that, come playoff time, the team with the best record from the regular season will go on to win the championship (or at least be a top contender). Of course, this doesn't always happen, but we would never demand that that team play all of their playoff games on the road just to even up the competition.
-Andrew