[archiver]

Posted by Dan at 03/20/2001 12:33 PM EST


Other on team #247, da Bears, from Berkley High and PICO/Wisne Design.


In Reply to: Bridge Coming off the Fulcrum ...
Posted by Roly Anderson on 03/20/2001 8:55 AM EST:



Our team was responsible for lifting the bridge off its fulcrum more than once. We've made improvements so it will not happen again!!

We simply hit the vertical bar holding the weights so hard, that our arm rode up the bar, hit the weights and lifted the bridge. On our practice field when that happened, our weights gave way and were launched into the air (we didn't secure them like FIRST) so we never knew we had enough power to move the bridge until the regional.

-Dan
da Bears

: I watched all the matches at the West Michigan regional and noticed that approximately 8 or 10 times that the bridge came off the fulcrum. From my vantage point, I could NOT determine why it happens.
: Dean was there, right in front of the bridge, when it came off as the announcer was saying "The bridge has come off its fulcrum again, I don't know if they will be able to balance it"
:
: In my opinion, in the interest of fairness and a better game, FIRST should (as gracious professionals themselves), do one of two things:

: 1. Fix the bridges, by increasing the size of the L channel, so the bridge cannot come off. or......
:
: 2. Stop the match when it happens and replay the match, or at the very least, stop the clock and put the bridge back on and finish the game. After all, the referees don't appear to be real busy "refereeing" or watching for infractions of the rules this year, and could watch for that.

: Another thing:
: When dividing up the teams for the divisions at nationals, I think FIRST should split up the teams equally between the divisions according to their experience, as follows:
: Lets say for example that there are 100 teams with 3 years as a registered first team, 25 would be in each division. If there are 120 rookie teams, then put 30 in each division etc. They could even indicate on the divisional team lists, how many years experience each team has!
:
: Comments?
:
: BTW, thanks to Colleen T190 for all her sensible, logical, intelligent posts on this forum, it was from reading her posts that I decided to write on this forum, rather than just read it!

: Tomorrow, the first (i.e. original) FIRST Canadian team heads off to Ypsilanti to participate in the Great Lakes Regional, see you all there!!