[JackN]

I am the representative that 494 sent out for picking. It is all my fault that this whole situation occurred. We on the Martians really liked 997's lifts. The thing was we never attempted to get on (Our Mistake). When we were locked into the number one seed, we went to the top two teams on our list. When number one said they would not like to play with us, we obliged and went to the second team on our list, team 254. We talked to them about our alliance plan, and generally agreed on a game plan. We for the most part wanted a third hang bot that could play D. What we on 494 failed to mention was that if team 997 fell to us we really wanted to take them, because that is what our team thought the ideal alliance was (2 Hangers, 2 Ramps, 1 Strong Defense). So when we were picking, and the chance to take a team that we thought very very highly of came forth I jumped on it, doing what team 494 thought was right, but not doing what we had previously discussed. When I came back to the pits, I found that our team really struggled climbing 997's ramps and 997 could not climb 254's ramps. This was compounded by the fact that when we measured the lift that 997 did of 254 it was only 11 3/4 inches. The problems were building on us, and that is when the idea of the backup robot was brought up by a member. The team 1912 was very high on 254's list and we debated about it. When 254 told us 1912 had climbed their ramps, we decided that playing with a robot that could not lift the two of us to 60 points, by our measurements was not something that would be good, and the decision's was made mutually by 254 and 494 to approach 997 about it. We brought our plan to their attention and told them of our intentions. When we told the refs, they debated and told us it was not doable because 997 was operable. We went into elims and played our hardest. In the semifinals, thanks to some smart driving, 494 was even able to climb 997's lift, something that they were unable to do before. This is my account, and this should be the last post on this topic. I take responsibility for screwing up and not alerting 254 of the possibility that we would take them and apologize to everyone involved that I hurt.