[Sean Schuff]

Here's a thouht that many of you have already alluded to - how about NO randomness in match pairings? Like some of you have already said, why not have a set match rotation that ensures that each team at any given event plays both with and against every other team there?

Regardless of the time between matches (yes, I do value my sanity and prefer a little more time as well) or the number of matches played or the length of the day, I think giving teams the opportunity to play with and against all other teams will make for a more exciting event and will really allow the cream to rise to the top. A case in point is last year's Boilermaker where we had just plain bad luck and wound up seeded dead last. Our robot worked fine but we ended up playing against Beatty three times and never played with them. Had the alliance been the other way where we played WITH them three times, we would have possibly seeded higher. Fortunately we were selected for elims by team 135 who recognized our abilities despite our ranking.

Bottom line, I think you get a better feel for the capabilities of each team's robot and a more accurate indication of which teams stand out if there is a systematic pairing of teams that allows all to play with and against each other.

Sean