Quote:
Originally Posted by Kate Mosley
What I really take issue with is your comment that booing was to be expected. I thought that this was a program which took pride in never booing anyone, being supportive and gracious, being the opposite to what minor league sports are devolving into today.
I dont think that it's necessary that 'boos are going to fly.' Teams who truly understand gracious professionalism and have read the rules should never boo a call ever - especially not a legitimate one. It flies in the face of what I thought this program was supposed to be. We're talking about a volunteer who has dedicated a good chunk of his time to this program, getting booed for enforcing the rules. In my mind, that is completely inappropriate.
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I don't think Jonathan ever said he agreed with the booing, as far as I can tell he was explaining why it should only be expected given the circumstances. Do the circumstances make it right? No. I agree with him in the respect that when emotions run high and in the heat of the competition peoples judgement can be clouded, and to expect that 100% of the time, all teams are going to respond in a gracious manner is unrealistic. Gracious Professionalism is a fantastic standard to strive for and it is something that sets FIRST aside from minor league sports but we are human. No matter how much we all try we will continually fall short of every standard we set for ourselves, but that doesn't make the standard useless. We should be forgiving when the rare circumstances like this arise not condemn those involved in the booing.
Like Jonathan also said I believe that this was preventable, but I feel it was preventable for a different reason. I think it was preventable from the view point that FIRST needs to be consistent with this rule across regionals. I have watched many regionals, and attended many as well, and the difference to how the referees address the issue is vast. At some regionals it seems as long as if teams are making their way to the field when the buzzer goes they are ok. Other regionals it looks like the decision is in the opposing alliance's hands, where they are asked if they are willing to allow the robot unto the field or if they are willing to use their time out. And then there are regionals where like GTR if your robot is not on the field at the time of the buzzer, to bad. Its a hard to decide what the best rule would be, but the importance isn't so much where the line is drawn but rather that it is a consistent rule. Also if the rule was explained to the audience when someone takes a time out then there would not be booing in these cases (or at least much less booing).