[Beth Sweet]

Ok my loud mouth (well, typing fingers, you get the idea) has waited long enough to voice my opinion on this thread.

The first thing I want to say, and then I'll stick to the topic of the thread, is that the students on these three teams have got to be some of the classiest high school students I have seen in a long time. Canada, their schools and their sponsors could not ask for better representation. I had the privilage of sitting with them during the Great Lakes Regional and was absolutely moved by the level of class and true FIRST spirit that these kids emulated. It's an experience that everyone should try given the opportunity.

Now to the quality of their robots. This was my fourth weekend going to regional competitions. Granted my views will be prejudiced toward midwest regionals, but that's where I've been. The first of this series was Great Lakes, then Detroit, Wisconsin and West Michigan respectively. Maybe it was because they were the first dominator machines I saw this season, maybe I was just so impressed overall, but the Triplets truly stick out in my mind. The machines have been superbly built and they are astonishingly accurate. I was taken aback from the start, watching the teams get pushed at times, but still continuously shooting successfully. That's just cool. These machines are awesome.

Now before I'm accused of gush (a journalist's worst nightmare!), I must admit, I have seen a number of other very impressive machines this year. The ones that stick out most prominently in my mind being 469 (Detroit), 111, 1625 (WI), and the Martian twins (WI and WMR). These are also pretty darn good machines. There are a lot of machines that were well manufactured this year. There are also a lot of very impressive strategies.

So can other machines pull off a Triplet takeover? I guess that's one that only time will tell.