[Travis Hoffman]

I'd bring back the mentor matches but not have them count in the standings. Just because they don't count doesn't mean they won't be a lot of fun - I'll never forget the comedy of errors that was the 2005 Team 48 mentor team of me, human player Amanda Morrison, and copilot Karthik K....

Amanda run run runs to put tetra on robot manipulator and run run runs back to the safety pad.

Karthik drops tetra outside of the field once power is restored.

Repeat this at least 3 or 4 times.

Paul Copioli in the background mercilessly railing on our ineptitude.

Travis (upon noticing Karthik is operating the elbow in reverse) - "Hey Karthik - move the switch the other direction, dude!"

Karthik - "Ooooooooooooooooooooooooh."

Travis drives to goal - Karthik ultimately scores the tetra - hurray for perseverence - crowd goes wild!

I missed that kind of extra fun at IRI this year. But the above example also illustrates exactly why mentor matches shouldn't count!