[Carol]

Well, to be fair the MOE sticks were loud and hurt some people's ears (hence the earplugs). And I can understand FIRST banning loud, annoying noisemakers, tall structures, and food freebies for safety reasons. But the best noisemakers are still the people themselves. Cheering, dancing, applauding for your team and others is still the highly encouraged.

On the other hand, FIRST bans do increase creativity. I can't wait to see how many teams have exactly 10 foot tall pits. And new noisemakers and mascots are popping up every year. I remember a team at Nationals (can't remember who) last year with some interesting shaking type noisemakers. And MOE is still making wobblies - discovered serendipitously by a student last year who was playing around with a sheet of plastic.

I would like to challenge all teams to come up with Spirit aids that don't violate FIRST rules! Let's see what you can do! (After your robot is shipped of course).