[meaubry]

Sorry but I would have to disagree on the "best game ever" comment - in fact, I don't care for it much at all compared to other years games. This opinion, like all others, will vary greatly I'm sure.

I think there was a major mistake this year in forcing defense into the game by creating a time period where ramming, pushing , pinning, and tipping is disquised as "defensive interaction". Can't anyone figure out a game where passive defense is the primary method of territorial defending, instead of a big pushing match? Drivers don't seem to stop at a little bump anymore, they don't seem happy unless they push a team 4,5, 6 feet across the carpet, often into the sidewalls, ramp walls, or ramp.

Yes, justification can be rationalized - we all can read the rules and see what it says. My point is that it appears to me that some of the pushing has intent to do damage, as I don't see any other reason for pushing robots that don't even have a ball in them to score low OR high? I'm not sure what they are defending most of the time. It just looks like "everyone else is doing it , so it must be the thing to do".
In my opinion, Defensive strategies are welcome as legitimate when applied properly, but this game allows the application of defensive tactics to be very brutal and easily overdone.

All in all, it reminds me more of Battlebots, than the standard FIRST competitions that I remember.