[sw293]

I wasn't surprised to see no penalty there and I wouldn't have called one were I the ref. While intentionally tipping another robot ought to be grounds for some sort of penalty, I think a ref ought to be most conservative when making this call. If the ref has any reason to doubt the intent of the driver's actions, the best call is no call. I've been on the wrong end of an arbitrary disqualification in a final round match at a regional, and it's not a nice place to be.

The call made was the right one for the situation, and the only consistent one with the way the head ref at Trenton had called the matches not just throughout the competition but throughout the last three years. The Trenton Regional head ref should be congratulated for yet another job well done.

I cannot and will not speculate as to the intent of team 25's drivers during the match because that would be irresponsible. Unless they--and they alone--say otherwise, I will assume that they were playing clean and that the thought of intentionally tipping our robot over never crossed their minds. I can say with confidence that our driver saw that we were tipping 25 over and that he backed off in the interest of fair play and the spirit of gracious professionalism. While I am in no place whatsoever to condemn team 25's drivers, I think it is appropriate to commend team 293's driver for his actions and I would encourage others on this forum to do so rather than criticizing him for not "finishing off" the competition.

In summary, I think the video of that round shows a whole lot more what's right with FIRST (and the Trenton Regional) than what's wrong with FIRST.