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Originally Posted by fnsnet
As for your "but I betcha no one will make that mistake again" comment; they did. We only had this happen twice. Both times it was the same human player.
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I felt truly awful as I looked up at the scoreboard and saw a 44 point penalty assessed against them. How rough! It was almost graceful, though, the way the ball hopped perfectly over the sensor. For a brief moment there, I could have sworn it was going to land back on the railing and travel down anyway, as if to display the human player's incredible trident skill or something.
Also, I didn't get to say much to you, Matt, but it was great to get to see you again. I already had serious respect for you after the FLL regional in Richmond, but the way you handled VCU was brilliant - you had numerous awful situations to deal with and did a great job keeping things afloat despite it all. I hope to see you again at other regionals!
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Originally Posted by Bsteckler
On another note, did anybody notice the scoreboard dropping points (before they made the announcement)? We were affected by this in a subsequent match, and one of the spectators from a team on our alliance caught the event on tape. The refs also admitted to the problem and acknowledged that it would be fixed We took the issue up after the match and they said it would be rectified once the day was complete, but at the end of play they said that the recording could not be used as evidence to dispute the claim. I have heard of this happening with several other teams and I was wondering if anyone has successfully pressed the refs and judges to deal with this issue.
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Lisa Evans gave me a rundown on this and had me make announcements about it every now and again. I don't think I gave a proper explanation, so allow me to do so now:
According to the FTA and Head Referee, the score counting backwards was an automatically assessed penalty for balls (or hands/arms or something) being pushed backwards through the goal sensor. Evidently not only does the field management system not give you the point for scoring should a ball go back through the sensor, but it also counts backwards - a one point penalty. Hopefully that helps a bit.
There were a lot of strange hiccups at the Virginia competition that I am not used to, even after five years of FRC, but that's all a part of the experience I guess - rising from maximum strangeness is what we can all pride ourselves in. For those of you who did not have the opportunity to see FTA Glen on the phone with the creator of the field management system trying to bring everything back to life, that man provided so many answers to my infinite questions through mere facial expressions as he talked and pressed buttons. I really must give him my thanks. So many people in the stands were probably frustrated if not furious at the situation, but despite it all there was Glen who managed to stay calm throughout everything. I am also proud to say that after three years of FLL volunteering, this was my first FRC event as a volunteer and I had an amazing time. Every team that took the field and every student I got to talk to made my day over and over. The ability of the FIRST teams and students at VCU to hold together and stay cooperative despite the setbacks really proves the value of the camaraderie that exists between FIRST folk from all over.