[Lil' Lavery]

Dick,

You're ignoring several key issues here.

• It has been shown, repeatedly, that not all "loopers" are dominant robots. Only one has been dominant in a small subset of their matches.
  
• I have yet to see a "looper" that can control both ball returns. While the strategy can potentially grant them what you deem to be "unfair access" (while the rest of you clearly state that you're alone on the matter) to one ball return, they completely ignore the other one. At that point, it becomes the responsibility of their alliance partners to try and ensure there are more balls in their return than their opponent's. The losses that 469 and 51 have prove that this is not always the case.
  
• Even pretending that "loopers" were unbeatable, great robots are not detrimental to FIRST or the game on the field. Blowouts are not bad in FRC.
  
• A match with a 469-quality "looper" on each side of the field would be absolutely incredible to watch. I can't think of a match that would be more fun.
  
• FIRST has clearly established that they don't want to change the rules to mitigate this strategy.
  
• FIRST does not alienate and harm small subsets of participants who developed a strategy that's successful, regardless of whether or not other people can or cannot think of a way to beat it.
  
• We still haven't seen how opponents will react to 469 given some time to prepare for them.