Thanks and Congrats from Archimedes

[Wayne C.]

Hey- I just wanted to say thanks and congrats to all the participants from Archimedes. I think all will agree that the big "A" was a fight to the finish division and it was full of surprises.

First congrats to our opponents - Teams 121, 469 and 230. Hey- I think someone was pulling for us upstairs because that last match could have gone either way and probably would have if the 121 machine had only a few more seconds. Sometimes fate steps in and you get lucky. Team 121- Rhode Warriors- well you certainly have a tremendous machine there. It was pleasure playing against you and watching you in the ring succeeding time after time. Las Guerillas- your machine and ours did much the same thing. We were worried that you were just a little faster! Quite frankly my guys at least feel extremely lucky to have the Arch. finals come out as they did. Add in your powerful little partner to drag out the goals and the three of you were a force to reckon with!

And for our partners 233-Roccobot and 118-Robonauts, it was a pleasure playing with you. Thanks 233 for giving us the chance at the trophy. The Roccobot complimented the Scorpion quite well and playing tag team goal crunch with the Valkyrie was lots of fun. Hey, we did our best, had some fun and came away with a reward for the efforts. I hope we can do it again in the future.

A few other words of praise. First- the Scarabian Knights- In one of the early seeding rounds we were partnered and facing Chief Delphi in the ring. Due to a dumb mistake from our battery guy, when the round began our battery disconnected and we spent all of the match sitting in the starting position! Talk about embarassing! But the Knights went out, playing with a hastily repaired machine, and did a fine job. And they never uttered a negative word. They are truly an example of Gracious Professionaliusm and we were all quite happy to see them receive their award in the closing ceremonies. Great job guys and thanks for carrying us there. I can picture great things for these guys in ther future.

The other commendation goes to Buzz- our newest Chairman's Award winner. We at 25 have known Buzz from the NJ regional for years now. They were our regional winning partner in 2000. Ever since we have known them, Buzz has always been THE epitome of what FIRST is about to us. Friendly, helpful, courteous and fun. They certainly deserve FIRST's highest honor. I think we were as happy to see them get the award as they were! I hope everybody in the FIRST community recognizes Enrico Fermi's great team and gives them similar praise.

Sorry for such a long posting but I'd rather be wordy for the good stuff rather than for the bad. Speaking for team 25, second on the waiting list and not even supposed BE in Fla., I'd like to thank all of our friends and opponents for another memorable year and great time. See all of you next season- or at BrunswicK Eruption on Nov 23rd (had to get that in!)

WC

[Keith Chester]

118- I'm never going to forget how well we worked together to conquer many matches. You had a helluva fast bot with a great goal grabber, and quite frankly I'm glad that we never faced eachother- it would have been a horror story for us.

233- I will never ever forget how you grabbed ahold of 121 and pulled them back so hard that you nearly pulled them over! Truly a machine to look out for, can't wait to mee you guys in the next competition.

224- It was fun playing with and against you. Thanks for being such great partners in that last qualifying round we were in- it made the difference for our team.