[MGoelz]

Here's my take on it:

Dean's homework this year is to draw more public attention to FIRST through the media. With (hopefully) more public awareness, more average non-FIRSTers will be coming into competitions and checking us out. I think that even attempting to right a tipped robot will show what this program is really after.

FIRST was not created to be something where all you care about was winning. It's the attractive part, but it isn't necessarily the important part. The important part is to learn skills that we will need or want to use in the future. It is to give us insight on our own capabilities. Personally, when I see a tipped robot successfully put upright, it makes me happy and proud to belong to my team and to FIRST. I won't remember who won or lost that match, but I will remember who fell and who helped pick them back up.

I also do not think a game in which the whole field is blocked would be appealing to the audience. It slows down the game, and makes it a little boring.

A few years from now when you are applying for college or a job, and you mention FIRST, would you rather say you won the Championship and a lot of regionals? Or would you rather say that you gained more experience from this program than anything else and you learned things that are not taught in a classroom? I'm for the latter.

That's just how I see it.