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Unread 21-02-2007, 18:14
theun4gven theun4gven is offline
What time is it?
AKA: Tom Filipek
FRC #0079 (Team Krunch)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Rookie Year: 2005
Location: Tampa, FL
Posts: 23
theun4gven is just really nicetheun4gven is just really nicetheun4gven is just really nicetheun4gven is just really nicetheun4gven is just really nice
Elimination Time-Outs: or Gracious Professionalism vs. The Schedule

In the last few years, if an Alliance has used up their time-out during the elimination but still needs more time to perform a fix, the opposing Alliance has usually given up their own time-out to give everyone a few more minutes. The announcers have always made a big deal out of this, and it was even mentioned during the Kick Off ceremony this year as a sign of Gracious Professionalism in action.



Well, apparently FIRST has had enough of that nonsense and instituted an addendum to the timeout rule;

<T20> In the elimination matches, each ALLIANCE will be allotted one TIME-OUT of up to 6
minutes. If an ALLIANCE wishes to call for a TIME OUT, they must submit their TIME
OUT coupon to the Head Referee within two minutes of the Head Referee issuing the
field reset signal preceding their match. When this occurs, the Time-out Clock will count
down the six minutes starting with the expiration of the arena-reset period. Both
ALLIANCES will enjoy the complete 6-minute window. In the interest of tournament
schedule, if an ALLIANCE completes their repairs before the Time-out Clock expires, the
ALLIANCE CAPTAIN is encouraged to inform the Head Referee that they are ready to
play and remit any time remaining in the TIME-OUT. If ALLIANCES are ready before the
6-minute window, the next match will start. There are no cascading time-outs. An
opposing ALLIANCE may not offer their unused TIME-OUT to their opponent.




This didn't seem to greatly extend the length of the tournaments, did help out a couple of teams throughout the season, and wasn't abused in any circumstances that I know of. I know I would rather lose a great match then beat an alliance because they were denied a few more minutes to fix a robot, so why would it seem that FIRST is putting gracious professionalism behind sticking to the schedule and getting done a relatively insignificant amount of time sooner?