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#1
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2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
Hi all!
The 10+ teams in the Knoxville area, including mine, are excited for you to join us downtown on March 30th - April 2nd for the fifth year of the Smoky Mountains Regional! For those of you outside the area and whom have attended in the past, please keep in mind the venue has changed from the Convention Center next to the Sunsphere to Thompson-Boling Arena on the UTK campus. My team, 3966, is the only team based downtown along with our school (which in past years has been a short walk from the Convention Center). We're excited to have everyone here for the regional. In past years, my team has partnered with Visit Knoxville to hand out a bag to each team (even local ones) with a map of downtown, some info, and a sheet of coupons to use at local businesses. We'll be handing these out again on Thursday morning, but it's possible we could arrange to get these to your team earlier if you're interested. Additionally, I myself live downtown and am happy to answer any questions and offer suggestions on things to do. I'm also happy to try and answer questions about the regional itself. See you then! |
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#2
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Re: 2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
1710 from Olathe, KS is excited to attend! We're ready to take the 13 hour drive down. Does anyone know where the pits will be located in regards to the field by chance?
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#3
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Re: 2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
The pits are adjacent and close to the field. A venue map with the pit assignments was sent to your lead contact with the event info.
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#4
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Re: 2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
Team 3193, Falco Tech, is amped to be traveling down to Tennessee for the first time...looking forward to some hard-hitting action! It's an 8 hour drive for us, and thanks to our bus company (trying to charge us for an extra day if we leave too early), we'll be leaving at 12:01am Thursday morning...
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#5
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Re: 2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
Hey everyone! I'm looking forward to competing at Smoky Mountains Regional this year. The link below is to a spreadsheet that contains some pre-scouting data for the teams that will be attending SMR and for the Regional in general. If you notice any mistakes or want to comment, please just reply in this thread.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing As soon as results come out from Rocket City, I'll complete the spreadsheet and try and let teams have access to it. Some interesting things to note about SMR this year: It's regrettable to see that we only have 2 Rookies this year, but I am glad that one of them is a Nashville team. Knoxville and the surrounding area is very dense with FIRST teams, while Nashville (which is a much larger city) has only a handful. I hope that over the course of the next few years, we can start to see FIRST take off in Nashville the way it already has in Knoxville. SMR has had a large influx of teams that have never competed at SMR, 11, counting the Rookie teams. Also, 16 of the 48 teams at SMR this year were not there for Recycle Rush. This means that the landscape of the Regional will be very different this year. While local powerhouses such as 3824, 2393, 3140, 2614, and 4265 will be bringing robots that are as competitive as ever, there are some newcomers that will give the locals a run for their money. 1986, Team Titanium, took 1st seed and Regional Winner at Kansas City. The Roboteers, 2481, also were 1st seed and were the Regional Winners at Central Illinois. If these two teams get a chance to form an alliance, we may see some of the highest scores of the season. Some other teams new to SMR to look out for are 1785 and 3937. Finally, SMR will be a more experienced Regional than ever this year. Almost 60% of the teams attending will have competed in at least one Regional, and at least a third of teams attending will have already seen play in the Elimination rounds. To sum all this up, Smoky Mountains Regional will be a very exciting, and very different Regional that I am very much looking forward to. Go Full Metal Jackets! |
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#6
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Re: 2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
For those of you staying downtown or plan on going downtown: please note that the Big Ears music festival will also be happening downtown this weekend. Parking may get hectic and some restaurants might be crowded. Knoxville has a wide selection though, so you should be able to find something, and the competition is at UT campus anyways.
Again, I'm happy to offer suggestions on things to do and places to eat around downtown if anyone's interested. Looking forward to seeing all the teams! |
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#7
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Re: 2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
I know everyone at MARS is excited to come down to Knoxville! This will be our fourth time at the Smoky Mountains Regional, and we can’t wait to see all the regular teams again(and all the newcomers this year)! Plus, we’ve been hard at work gearing up for this competition – good luck to everyone competing!
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#8
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Re: 2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
The stars aligned to bring Team 1912 Combustion to our first Smoky Mountains Regional and I'm looking forward to it. The trailer went up Sunday and the rest of the group is traveling tomorrow.
Say, is there a common hashtag for the event besides the #frctnkn on TBA? Just #tnfirst? -- cdr |
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#9
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Re: 2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
I don't think so. TNFIRST isn't really active on social media, and their @TN_FIRST account only pops back to life from time to time.
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#10
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Re: 2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
Any suggestions on a "gotta-go-there" restaurant for dinner for us out-of-town teams...preferably one that can handle a party of 25, and preferably west of the venue?
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#11
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Re: 2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
Big Ed's PIzza! Call ahead and make sure they can handle all of you at once, if you decide to go.
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#12
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Re: 2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
Quote:
Downtown suggestions would be Tomatohead again, Barley's (both of those are pizza), or Cafe 4. They're a little pricey but they're also all great. |
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#13
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Re: 2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
+1 For Barley's. They have Team Trivia tomorrow night at 8 and live music the rest of the week around 10pm if you're looking for great pizza and beer (for the mentors of course). Oh, and they have a game room upstairs with pool and old pinball machines (and more beer). Your bus driver might have a fun time parking though since it's downtown.
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#14
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Re: 2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
Quote:
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#15
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Re: 2016 Smoky Mountains Regional
Quote:
Anyone have a link to the webcast? |
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