[Karthik]

Every time I try and write one of these posts, it ends up being ridiculously long. I'll try and keep this brief.

First off, thanks to the amazing IRI organizing committee. For the 3rd consecutive year, this was by far my favourite event of the season. All facets of the competition were executed perfectly. Many FIRST events could stand to learn a lot from this amazing crew of people.

Thanks to Jim Zondag for creating an amazing scheduling algorithm. Despite the claims to the contrary by lesser programmers, Jim showed that we could have a schedule without ridiculous amounts of duplication. This was such an improvement over what was forced upon us this season.

The alliance of 968, 330, 177 & 910. No #5 seeded alliance should be that ridiculously stacked. As happy as I was with our alliance, when I saw what we were up against in the quarters, I just shook my head and said "Only at IRI". Thanks for being a part of the six keeper match, possibly the best match I've ever seen.

Team 494 - It was great having you as part of our alliance. Even though we didn't have an opportunity to put you in a match, you did everything else you could to help the alliance.

Team 111 - For years, Team 1114 has been waiting for the day when we could finally be on an alliance with you. Your amazing designs have been inspiring us for years. Thanks for having us as a part of this amazing alliance. It was such a thrill.

Team 2056 - I can't quite explain it, but whenever our two teams get together, everything seems to turn to goal. For those who weren't there, 2056 was actually the highest scoring capper on Friday, averaging 5.5 tubes per match. We were ecstatic that you flew under the radar and fell to our alliance. You're definitely not a rookie anymore.

The "Team Canada" contingent - This weekend, Team 1114 had a few special guests, representing some of the best Canadian teams in FIRST. We had current and former members of teams 188, 296, 610 & 1503 all in attendance helping us out. It really felt like the Canadian National Robotics team. Thanks to Adam, Jeff, Pat, Jonathan, Sagar, Steph and all the Willicks (Ray, Jean, Kyle, Stacy, Who I've considered to be full 1114 members all season long) for being a part of the Simbot family.

Also, a special group of 1114 who deserve some recognition is the 1114 pit crew. Our robot was in rough shape this weekend. Friday night, we had to replace all 6 drive wheels and sprockets. It was not a pretty situation. On Saturday morning, they were still frantically working in the pit trying keep everything running. It seemed like after every match, a new problem was introduced. In the elims, at various points we lost use of our camera and elevator, and it looked like we might not be able to open the ramps. Yet time after time, they made last second repairs, nullifying the impact of the damage.

Thanks to everyone else who was a part of the Team 1114 IRI experience. It was definitely a weekend to remember.

(So much for brevity...)