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Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
After reading the flurry of posts today's events caused I think it is right to clarify a few things.
1. "high speed bumping and ramming" - about half way through practice matches on Thursday I noticed that the refs were being much more lenient on contact then they had been at Portland so I spoke to the head ref to clarify his interpretation of the rules. What he said was that contact within the bumper zone will only incur if the robot in question is repeatedly backing up and ramming an opposing robot. Or if they are pinning another robot against a wall. As for contact outside the bumper zone, we were penalized for it multiple times. If you are unclear on how the refs are going to call a regional, talk to them, they are quite friendly.
2. "impeding in the finals" - Once again we discussed with the refs about the legality of pinning a ball against the wall to stop an opposing robot from gaining possession. We were told that as long as there is an open lane for robots to pass through we are NOT impeding and receiving any penalties as long as we are sitting there.
3. "the do-over?" - After the finals were decided fro the second time I discussed with the head ref why he made the decision he did. The reason was, since they has made the call incorrectly in the past it would be unfair to reverse it then. I think that is absurd. I would have been much happier with the refs saying that they were sticking to there call and having just lost normally. Furthermore, I understand that the refs are only human and can't be expected to know every single rule perfectly. That is why it is the competing teams JOB to watch fro incorrect calls and step into that yellow box to show the refs the rule they are misinterpreting or mis enforcing. Just because previous teams had failed to fulfill this duty should not mean that the team that finally does it should be so dramatically penalized for the shortcomings of the previous teams.
4. "team 100" - If anyone on my team or either 192 or 2024 believes you to be an enemy after SVR I would be utterly ashamed to be on the same team as. You guys have a fantastic team, a fantastic team and really do deserve to be champions. Of course the entire blue alliance was frustrated we believe we deserved to win the regional but I acknowledge that you did nothing wrong and even came to all our pits to congratulate us on the regional as it was. Thank you for truly demonstrating what Gracious Professionalism means!
and last of all despite all of the confusion frustration and anger it was a pleasure to drive on the field with all of the robots at this years Silicon Valley Regional.
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