Quote:
Originally Posted by vhcook
Virginia also ran a couple of matches Saturday morning before what I suspect was a break for the opening ceremonies.
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There were a few 30-40 minute stops during the day Friday for unexplained reasons, and we were so far behind by the end of Friday they decided to try and make it up early Saturday, pausing around 9:30 for a quick opening ceremony.
The field problems continued on Saturday. I cannot blame the field staff; they were the ones trying to fix it. Although not as bad as some other regionals, I did notice people who came in off the street to watch were put-off by the delays and walked out. When FMS finally failed and they went to hand-scoring, and then went with only 2 representatives for most awards, I knew they had pulled out all the stops in an effort to minimize the effects of running so very late. (several ties in the semifinals didn't help either)
I'd love to say "Why can't FIRST make a more robust FMS", but that would be doing a disservice to everyone: The FMS is actually quite good, but I think that we're still stressing it further than it can handle sometimes. I don't know the architecture (Windows?) but perhaps they will redouble their efforts on robustness next year.