[Molten]

Ok, got to say this on what was said above about captain/first pick/second pick differentiation.

There should be little to none. Some teams get to be the alliance captain out of luck. You end up making excellent choices for your two picks and you will have a win. In other words, all three could be achieved by luck.

Also, the second pick is perhaps the most important pick in forming an alliance. The first pick is usually rather obvious. Pick a team that is ranked highly that works well with your team. The second pick involves so much more. It requires you to know more about all the teams then the other captains. Being able to pick the team that everyone overlooks. In all honesty the rank does not matter at all. If you end up getting picked by an amazing team that ranked 1 and 2 in the qualifications, you too are an amazing team. You didn't prove it by winning matches in the qualifications, but you did prove it in other ways. You just did a great job networking, your robot must be pretty good, your entire drive team must be great to work with....The list goes on.

In all honesty, there will always be luck in the game. If I recall they mention somewhere that they put luck in on purpose for excitement. But get used to it.

If a team that was "carried"(your term not mine) gives up their spot out of "GP", that would be completely ridiculous. They put in so much work, regardless of how their robot itself did. Your team won that spot, not your robot, so what?

A true form of GP would be to send out a congratulations to all the teams that made it, regardless of whether or not you think they should have.

PS: I know nothing of the Michigan ranking system, but I do know something about life and people. Please read my remarks above as an honest assessment of what is posted here alone.