[ALIBI]

This game turned out to be a lot more than I ever expected at kickoff and I ended up being very pleased with it. The only negative I see with the game this year was the very few guaranteed points for all the work that went into auton (I know, the keeper could end up being #6 in a row, however, a spoiler can easily take away the gains of the keeper). This game would have been much better if the keeper also acted as a doubler for the rack score.

Given all the controversy over the match pairings, week one left out of this discussion, I believe that FIRST came up with a good algorithm. The finals were not just a mix up of the top twenty four ranked teams. If you were top eight, you really had to do your homework to come up with a quality alliance. At the West Michigan Regional there were no teams that ended up getting there first pick out of the top eight. For me at least, this was the first time I ever saw that happen.

Hats off to IFI! I went to two regionals and watched many webcast, the only foghorn I heard was at West Michigan when the diamond plate came off the end of the spider leg and they stopped the match for field damage. The volunteers did a magnificent job this year as always.

Atlanta will be defensive, those few auton scores will make a difference there. With all the unfamiliar teams the matches will start out a little more offensive until teams are able to figure out who can score and then watch out for defense. There have been several post about the hybrids. IMO in Atlanta the hybrids will be very much in demand. A few top scorers are able to score while defended, just not nearly as fast as when they are not defended. A robot that can successfully help an alliance get sixty bonus points will be an important alli especially if they can also score ringers. I have seen good hybrids able to score four, five, six or more ringers and still have a successful deploy.

Good Luck To All!