[ScoutingNerd175]

See I would definitely be in favor of having a section for scouting at the front. When I am trying to scout a team but I can't see them because the people in front of me are standing, I get annoyed. However, when we were able to stand during our matches at Chesapeake, we were a lot more happy and spirited than later in the day when we (the entire regional, not just 175)were asked to please refrain from standing. We listened to this because we had been asked to. Some teams did not. In Atlanta, because it was so hard to see over standing teams, we decided to only stand when our number was called. As a result (could be causation or correlation) we were less spirited. However, it makes everything a lot less fun. I think that if a teams scouts could sit in the front and the teams could stand and cheer in back that might help. The only thing that could potentially be a bother in this plan is that scouts would be isolated from the team. Also, teams like mine would have almost no one in the team section due to lack of students. Since we can't save seats, would the scouts have seats when they returned to the team section of the stands to watch matches? Yes, it is a logistical nightmare. I understand the desire of any strong scouting program to get data on each match, but I also understand the desire of a spirited team to stand and cheer, even for a losing robot. To say that a team won't get scouted because they have spirit seems sort of like a punishment for a problem they did not create.

As far as awards go; there is no good reason for people to not stand for every award. What is it you are trying to see while people are applauding for the award winner? More importantly, why aren't you standing too? These people have a great accomplishment. They definitely deserve the recognition of the entire FIRST Community for that. A standing ovation is a long excepted tradition for recognition of something great. A woman once asked me to sit down during the curtain call for a truly wonderful show. I asked her to please stand up and give the cast the ovation they deserved. There is no reason not to stand during applause, there isn't anything else to see until after the applause dies down.