Quote:
Originally Posted by Cody Carey
Yes, Travis I couldn't agree more... defense is there, and it always will be. If it weren't, FIRST would not be the same competition. It is there for "the little guy". It makes it so teams that don't have thousands of dollars to spend on building their robot can compete with what they are given in the kit. To suggest eliminating it is (for lack of a better phrase) Just plain stupid. Would you watch football if there were no defense? Would you watch soccer, hockey, or any other sport? I don't think so.
Defense is part of the game, and it especially was this year (contrary to my original thoughts) . The fact that one bad thing happened to one robot Doesn't mean it should be sneered at or looked down upon.
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Defensive play is getting a bit out of hand. Partly due to the nature of the game but also how much of it went "unpunished". We were the victims of questionable defensive play at Bayou (that's in another thread) that went without a penalty. The sad thing is because of the lack of penalty calls at that regional, our driver played much more aggressively at our next regional and tipped a robot in the final match. He flat out admitted it to me and didn't feel that bad about it (he knew we were going to lose). Very disheartening.
I don't think defense needs to be there for the "little guy". We're given a kit frame, wheels, and transmissions. Even the little guy needs more of a challenge than to build a defense bot.
Would a more offensive focused game be that bad next year? Some twist on 2001 perhaps. I really enjoyed some of the offensive matches where the whole rack was almost full of ringers and robots rushing back to do the ramps at the end. I found that very exciting, didn't anyone else?