reminds me of last year too...
I also recall how teams weren't exactly happen when FIRST release the 4 vs. 0 format... A lot of teams insisted on how it would hurt the competition and FIRST growth in general, and only a few people tried supporting it.
Well, there are good side and bad side about all these... And sometimes the good sides aren't oblivious to people. After all, we need to see the actual competition to tell the real effect.
For last year, turn out 4 vs. 0 was really good at bonding teams together. Teams in west coast work with each other a lot more now... it never would've happened if it was always head to head competition. And then, there were downsides to that format, such as unfriendly to spectators or media...
As for this year, who knows if there will be good side to all these new rules. There are now 193 teams registered for the Champ. event with 5 more spots. So, even though Nats is limited, maybe now FIRST will have more resource to cover some other things, such as more media coverage and more regional the year afterward.
I will be thrilled if there will be 20 regionals the year after. Talk about growth rate!
|