[neshera]

A few thoughts:
1) Team 1114 is amazing; watching them at the Midwest Regional, we thought they had a pretty perfect robot AND DRIVER.
2) At the end of qualifying at the Midwest Regional, 1114 and 1625 were ranked 2 and 3. The number 1 seed asked each of us to join in an alliance; we each refused, and so we were not able to draft each other.
3) We won one semifinal match by really blocking 1114 from moving much at all. I think otherwise, you just can't outscore them. That weekend, they had the highest single match score of ANY regional.
4) As far as going to three regionals: We only planned on going to two at the start of the season (Midwest and Wisconsin). We were seeded #2 at Midwest and #1 at Wisconsin, and fell to 1114 at Midwest and to our own mechanical plagues at Wisconsin. We had a team meeting, and spent about two hours discussing whether a third regional made economic, emotional, and time management sense. The team members voted to go for it as they felt we have a robot capable of competing in Atlanta, and we signed up for the Colorado Regional the next day. The team members' decision will necessitate some fund-raising, but their decision was vindicated.