My team loves to tell me, "I told you so" when I'm wrong. Not wanting to get their hopes too high, i told them Saturday morning before matches if 1388 retained their first seed status (rather than 587 bumping them out) they would pick the best scorer, and the rest of the top 8 would be scattered good teams. In otherwords, since we weren't the best scorer, we weren't winning. Well, they sure showed me. A LOT of solid teams got bumped into the top 8 after that.
thanks to 207 and 2659. 207 is a team that definitely doesn't get enough credit; they sometimes have too odd or unique of a design to get their peers attention, but they always, always are beautifully designed and manufactured. Durabot is a great name for it, and a well deserved quality award.
Overall, a great time. Even with missing two qualifying matches, we had a great time. The first match to just passing inspection a moment too late, the second to not getting bumpers on in time. Rookie mistake, we've got about 90% rookie students, and 100% of the mechanical students/pit crew are rookie. Probably my fault for not hounding them sooner
I can't decide which qualifying match we loved the most. In match 13 we were with 399 and even with a slow drive (Doh, locked out 2 speed gearboxes in LOW not HIGH) 399 and us hit a trailer from opposite sides and completely filled it, it was a great sight. Match 57 with 1726 vs 1717 was also great, if 1726 and us had not eat the Wheaties I brought to our hotel, we might not have made that (and I suppose a good heaping of teamwork). And we can't forget match 64... watching 1717 strafe sideways following a goal while unloading to reinforce our win was an impressive site, 1717 has got to be one of my all time favorite teams to work with. You guys better win something at Davis and make your way to champs, that is way too nice of a machine to stop at the regional level. For that matter, 399, 1388, 1726, 330 (that "crab" is AWESOME) and 294 (greater robot to sneak in under the radar for the first round draft, and get a solid 2nd pick) all better find a way too.
Thanks to the volunteers who were so patient, especially the nice ladies in queuing who had to hassle us so much
. And I guess to all the inspectors who had to hassle us so much. Sorry to all who had to investigate the field issues we caused (NOTE TO ALL: a normal DriverStation power supply not plugged into the wall but still plugged into the DriverStation can apparently damage the field).
In the end I had a great time, my team had a great time, and we've got a big group of enthusiastic rookies who are PUMPED for Vegas, champs, and of course the rest of their long tenure on the team. Some of this younger students make me feel $@#$@#$@#$@# stupid for not being so bright at their age.
We obviously can't decide for a while, but LA is certainly high on our list for regionals in 2010.
P.S: we'll post some good pics of the robot in a day or two when I get them from the photographers.