[David Brinza]

The red alliance acted in a manner consistent with the tournament rules in achieving their highest possible score in a match (especially in their first match)!

Note added in edit:
I didn't realize that the score was for Match 5 of the Elimination Round (the match results from BAE hadn't been posted). The High Match Score only has ranking implications in the qual rounds. I noticed, though, that six teams (including 501) managed to score 256 match points during qual round matches at BAE - good work!

Per the game manual (Section 9):

9.3.9 Highest Match Score
The scoring system will keep track of the highest match score earned by each team during the qualification matches but this score will not be displayed.

The highest match score is a tie-breaker if the ranking points aren't sufficient to break a tie in the standings. The teams on that alliance couldn't assume that a complete ring wouldn't happen in another match. Their robots getting up on the ramp wasn't about "rubbing it in", it was earned as a result of hard work by those teams. The red alliance was simply being the best they could be...

Competitive spirit drives FIRST teams to achieve the highest score possible. If FIRST will be "the sport, the 21st century sport" (per Dean's kickoff message), then the FIRST community needs to applaud the effort it takes to play the game at peak performance. Especially when doing it right out of the box.

Good job, teams!

I just wonder if this score will stand through next weekend??