[JesseK]

I would love for any caliber team to come to my home regional prove to all of us "locals" that their design is truly better than ours.

If 330 showed up on our doorstep at VCU, I would have been pretty happy to be able to see such a great team in person. The same goes for 254, 67, 1565, 1114, or any other team with a simple or unique design. To me, it doesn't matter that their design beats mine: what does matter is that I get to see it and learn from the ingenuity of it. Sure, it's frustrating that some awards are won over and over by the same team (meaning we go back to sponsors with almost nothing to show for measured success) but to be honest, competition for awards is not the point of FRC. Most sponsors understand that.

Every veteran team has the opportunity to sign up for a sort of lottery every other year to go to the championships. There is no reason any team that sustains itself for a few years should complain about not being able never making it to the championship. Be patient, save some money, and go when you can: it is very worth it.