[sdcantrell56]

I'm going to have to admit that my team tipped 2 robots in one match. Neither one was intentional nor was it malicious (I was the coach); however the referees viewed it as so malicious that they immediately disqualified us without giving a yellow or red card at all. I understand that they are doing a very tough job, but I feel that this was completely out of line. The first robot that we tipped hit us first from all the way across the field and our driver was backing up and our claw simply got got on their robot and pulled it over. The second one I told our driver to play defense on another robot. He drove over to the robot and slowed down just to push it. Unfortunately in the heat of the moment he did not realize that our arm was still elevated so the referees saw that our arm made contact with the other team high and then it tipped over. Unfortunately the referees did not understand that our gripper is hinged and physically could not have tipped the other team. It just so happened that the other team had two ramps on the side that were angled up and inward so as our gripper touched them the gripper folded back towards our robot and could not have pushed the other team. I am not mad at the referees because they do such a great job 99% of the time, I just think that occasionally they do mess up. Also I think that it is crazy for teams to build such top heavy robots that they are in danger of tipping over when someone plays defense on them, especially after watching past games. Ok sorry everyone for my rant.