Quote:
Originally Posted by cire
The first round I broke both 1114 and 1503's tank treads off their robots by pushing them sideways. I didnt mean to and I didnt think it would happen, and I definitly felt bad afterwards. I figured they blamed me for doing it on purpose and that I wasnt being GP.
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I'm positive this aspect of 1114's 2006 robot has been
previously discussed on CD and I even witnessed teams talking about purposefully trying to break their treads at GTR last season in order to shut Simbotics down. This is in no way the topic of the discussion but It will help me illustrate a point later on, I promise.
But I was also standing on the field during Curie Semifinal 1 – 3. I was actually standing behind 48’s driver station during the entire match and would just like to point out that I clearly saw 1114’s arm snap. I also held what was left of the joint that was connected to their robot later that afternoon. It was not a weak joint by any stretch of the imagination. I wouldn’t expect anything less than amazing design, engineering, and fabrication from the crew from team 1114.
But back to what I clearly saw on the field and from team 48’s drive team. After witnessing the arm being snapped from 1114’s tower, I saw team 48’s drive coach with a very large grin on his face and do some sort of hand motion that closely resembled a fist pump behind the wall. I was too surprised at his reaction to look at his drive teams. When the match ended I saw the same man do multiple energetic fist pumps while hunched over slightly and screaming exuberantly. I also witnessed him chuckle as team 1114’s drive team and coach went to try and get an understanding of the Referee’s calling. I admit that I do not believe that 1114’s coach should have approached the Head Ref in this situation, but I can definitely understand his disbelief and anger at their decision.
In my mind and in my opinion this whole situation was unsettling. After the match when I was talking to Karthik with other people down on the floor, he stated, “I like VEX better.” Not because 1114’s FVC team won the FVC World Championship for the second year in a row (Congratulations), but because you would never see such disgraceful actions being shown by anyone that is part of that program. He likes it because, “people are playing the game to score, no intentional destructiveness.” I have mentored FVC for one year, FLL for two, and participated in FRC for six. I can tell you I have never seen anything quite like this before in ANY on of those programs and I hope I never see anything close to it again.
I can understand that teams want to shut down powerhouse teams like Simbotics, WildStang, *ThunderChickens, and Beatty. Whether it me keeping them from hanging (2004), capping (2005), Shooting (2006), or capping (2007). But I lose respect for any team that tries to purposefully hurt their opponents. I know that during my time as a member of 229, and many other teams also do this, I make sure that any damage we may inflict on ANY other team is not too extensive. I also offer the assistance of any member of our team to help fix any damage we may have unintentionally inflicted on any other team. Great team’s do not always have to win, and may lose** because they understand the values of FIRST and strive to meet them. Those teams are the ones I have the highest respect for.
* 237’s tip of 217 in their last qualification match of the day the Friday of Championships comes to mind, but that is for another thread entirely.
** Last year on Einstein when the eventual Championship Finalists used their time out so that the finals would be fair and even. I am positive that that alliance would have won if they had not understood and followed the values that FIRST is designed to instill in individuals.