For the flag holder : there's four inches from the back of the scissor lift to the back of the limitations that the flag will fit on. we had to allocate the room especially.
As for hurdling when we get to the top : the manipulator goes up with the lift, so with a slope and lowering that over the first bar, the ball should roll right over, as long as we position it right.
And most people are correct, we don't plan to want to knock the ball off explicitly, but we do think with the cradle on there we will be able to actuate the scissor lift when we are -underneath- the rails to be able to hit it, it's not something we're designing for yet, and if we are able to do it it's a nice accessory ;P