SBPLI was great. pits were about a 3 second walk from the field, the queing line was quite literally, right next to 810's pit. it didn't get much better
. the queing area was a little small, and always crowded, but not too bad. there was plenty of space to get around, and the facilities were spotless (Well, until we came
).
NYC was not as great. the pits were all the way down some halllway to the middle of nowhere. the pits were very crowded, unless you were one of about 4 rookie teams (810 included) who were against the far wall. to get from pits to the field was worse than an african safari. a narrow hallway, just big enough to fit two robots side by side (quite literally, just big enough), with wires all over. people running back and forth made for a hard time to get to the field or back to the pits. the field itself was very nice, being in an arena and all
.
by far, the worst part of NYC was that old lady doing the announcments in the pits. she did not embody the spirit of FIRST.
old lady: "Team 810, i called you 5 minutes ago! get you're arses out to the field!"
over time she was beaten down and realized defeat, and then it was much better. kudos to the team with the stereo system on the robot cart
.
all in all, the venues weren't
that bad, but of course, nothing is perfect (except for any robot that michael designs, but that's another story), so there is always room for improvement. i just wish we could still have team parties now....