[Joe Johnson]

Wayne C. & others with similar views,

I am sorry that limiting the Championship Event has hurt your team. I am sure that your team is a very good team that has done a lot to help FIRST.

BUT... I have been lobbying for limiting the size of the Nationals (now know as Championship Event) since Ladder Logic (1998).

How would I feel if my team was one of those shut out? Well, I suppose I would feel lousy, but it would not change my position on the issue.

Again, I want everyone to remember that FIRST was (and is) in a tough position and did their best to make a compromise that was in the long term best interest of FIRST.

As to this announcement being a last minute thing, I really disagree. I am not sure what happened at the other Team Forums, but at the one in Michigan, Bob & Lori were very clear that some sort of limits on the size of the competition formerly known as the Nationals was coming. They did everything but take out an ad in the local papers! If a team didn't get it from that Team Forum, they just weren't listening.

Beyond this, frequent Chief Delphi Forum readers know that this was a hot topic of discussion right after the Team Forums.

I don't think this was a last minute surprise.

Joe J.

P.S. As to Bill Beatty suggesting that Chief Delphi was going to go to 4 regionals, I am sad to say that it is not in the current plan. With the current auto industry meltdown, I have been told that 2 is our limit (our local one and another within a bus drive distance). I still have hopes of being able to make the case for one more but I am not overly confident.