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I believe my first response to this, when I heard about it, was dissappointment. Namely, the first reason is that my team doesn't qualify to go. But I think the larger part of it is the way that they were picking teams to go. Perhaps I miss read the feelings of the team representatives at the New England Team Forum (and obviously I was not at the other forum locations), but the distinct impression I got was that very few people wanted nationals limited based on past preformance; and this is precisely what FIRST gave us. I suppose we can ignore the fact that this virtually excludes any rookies from competiting in nationals. We can also overlook the fact that teams that have large amounts of money have a much easier time going to nationals (multiple regionals = multiple awards much more easily). I think my biggest problem with this is that winning is what FIRST is not about. And this is what this arrangement for nationals rewards. Or perhaps I'm just still a bit upset over not being able to go at all. See you guys in Florida in 2003.
Matt
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