[EricH]

I have seen many instances, ranging from teams sharing shop space to giving up timeouts (and parts!) for opponents to building robots for them to let them compete (I can think of three cases of this; the "One Day Wonder" of team 4 and the misdirected and replaced robot of 14__ are two of them).

But one of the best examples was at Arizona 2004. Back then, two teams on an alliance were on the field, one remained as a backup but had to play at least once. Teams 330, 1212, and 585 were in the finals facing another alliance (I forget just who). After the first match, 330 and partners were up 1-0 in matches--but 330 had had a serious problem. One of the ports on the controller was broken. One timeout was called, then another. Still no 330 with 585 on the field. The count started--and suddenly the entire arena is shouting to stop the count! 330 came sprinting around the curtain, robot in tow, and put their robot on the field barely before the match started. The head ref stopped the match before it started and asked the other three teams if they wanted to allow 330 to play.

Remember, these three teams are one match in the hole. 330 is about the best scorer on their alliance--a chance to even the score at 1-1 in a 2-on-1 match and maybe take the regional is in their hands.

Those three teams made a choice: 330 would play. 330's alliance went on to win the match and the regional.

These teams showed GP in the heat of battle, and the judges noticed. Three Sportsmanship awards were handed out that evening--to those three teams. This is the only time more than one has been handed out.