Is this fair?

[i like dirt]

Today, Me and my team participated in the 2nd day of the Florida Regional. And a call by the field officials was made, that we and probably you all would not agree with after reading this.
Okay, where to begin. The night before today (the first day of the regional), we were the last one's to get inspected before the Pit. Admin closd for the night. We hadn't played any practice matches all day because we were trying to get the bugs out of our programming code, So we obviously had not gotten inspected during the day. Anyway, at night we had just barely got the weight of our robot down to where it was less than 110 pounds (our maximum). So this morning we had to get two things done to finish inspection.
In the morning we came and got our robot sized perfectly, it fit in the box and we had passed the sizing part of the inspection, Next was the visual and electronics evaluation of the robot. So, one the officials came over to our pit, evaluated us, everything was looking good so he put the sticker on the side of our bot wrote our information on his sheet, and gave us a thumbs up (Notice that he did not sign the sticker, he only put it on).
So later in the afternoon, we go to our last and final match of today. At this point in time, our rank amongst the other team was in the lower 40's because a previous match that we had won. Now, we step onto the field and we are about to start when the head official notices that the sticker is not signed on our robot, (Which we were completely unaware of since the official that had inspected us assured us that the inspection was complete and we were "safe") So he stopped the match before it was going to begin took us onto the field and showed us the problem. So, our mentor, insisted to the referee that why doesn't he tell someone to get the sheet that says whether we passed inspection or not from the person who inspected us. That is all the officials had to do, was look at that sheet, or simply call the person who inspected us. But we were mandated to take our robot to the side of the field, and they told us that a person was coming to verify that we were inspected, then 10 seconds before the match started, another official came and signed it, but the head ref, said that he cannot put you in because they have already declared that the match will begin, (Now, you guys must realize what we must be feeling right now, after knowing that we were ejeted from a match, for something that we had no control over, it was completely and utterly their fault and that because of this our rank has now plummeted to 46) So we went back to our pit, Most of us furious at this point, and at the end of the day, we found the official that had inspected us, and we asked him why. Why all this happened, and why he had not signed the sticker after inspecting us. And this is exactly what he told us, "Yesterday was my first day, I didn't know that we had to sign the stickers", and he also said that the person in charge of him had not told him anything about signing inspection stickers.
So, my question to you, the CD community is, How could FIRST let something like this happen? And also, Why did the referee handle the situation in the manner that he did? I mean, I just think that this is not right, and it should be brought up to the FIRST community. I mean, has FIRST really come to this?
Never in previous years, have I ever criticized the officials or FIRST, but now for the first time, I am realizing that tomorow,(The Final Day of the regional) My team is going to lose, not because of our robot failing, not because of a bad alliance pairing, but because of FIRST.
At this point, I don't know who to blame, or who is truly at fault, I am just craving to know, was this fair, or is this an injustice?

[waialua359]

Sorry to hear about your situation.
I hope it doesnt affect your seeding too much and that you have the same opportunities to make the playoffs.

[wilsonmw04]

No one is to blame. FIRST didn't do this. The Ref didn't do this. The Inspector didn't do this. It was an accident. No one wanted you to miss your match. To make you feel a bit better, Rank means nothing in this game. One of the best scorers at VCU was in the low 40's at the end of the round-robin and went to the QF's.

It's not fair. it's not right, but stuff like this happens. If you don't get picked for finals tomorrow, get in those stands and cheer for those who did. Remember, this is FIRST.

[i like dirt]

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

No one is to blame. FIRST didn't do this. The Ref didn't do this. The Inspector didn't do this. It was an accident. No one wanted you to miss your match. To make you feel a bit better, Rank means nothing in this game. One of the best scorers at VCU was in the low 40's at the end of the round-robin and went to the QF's.

It's not fair. it's not right, but stuff like this happens. If you don't get picked for finals tomorrow, get in those stands and cheer for those who did. Remember, this is FIRST.

Yes, I realize what you are saying, but I just can't get past the fact that how did this happen. How did the inspector not get told to do something, how did he "not know". I mean this is FIRST for god sake's. And above all, how can we prevent something like this from happening next year, or even at the championship? If the officials don't know, then who does. I mean for all we know their can be a handful of tams in my regional, who that inspector inspected that day, who are still participating and will participate tomorrow. So how can an issue like this be enforced if the officials, simply "don't know"

[wilsonmw04]

He's a rookie inspector, Cut him a break. I know alot of the rookie teams were helped out alot this year. Do the same thing for the rookie Volunteers as well.

[triggerhappy336]

I don't see how missing one match is going to make or break your regional. If your a strong bot you'll get picked. With the matching the way it is, I didn't think rank took an almighty weight in the decision.

Course then again this is my first year and FLR has like 35 bots, not 40+

[i like dirt]

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

He's a rookie inspector, Cut him some him a break. I know alot of the rookie teams were helped out alot this year. Do the same thing for the rookie Volunteers as well.

No, I wasn't even accusing the inspector, It was the person in charge of him that had not told him anything about signing the stickers. In the end though, we explained to him though that it really wasn't his fault, because we really saw that he felt bad about and we realized that it was not his fault that he did not know.

[meaubry]

Let this be a lesson to all - make sure that your sticker is signed.

It is unfortunate that it happened, but if you don't mind - let's turn this around and use it to help the other teams.

This way they won't go through the same situation, and feel as bad as your team does.

Mike

[Dave McLaughlin]

Sorry for you guys, if i had been jipped out of a match like that i would be furious. not because of rank be because their so much fun

[teenmisfit]

Luckily rank doesnt mean that much. High seeded picking teams never really go by ranking (or they shouldnt anyway). Scouting is how to pick teams. At the BAE we picked the 38 seeded team and won. And our opponents in the finals had the dead last ranked team (46th out of 46 bots) against us.

But this wasnt fair and was a big unfair misunderstanding and im sorry to hear this happened in first. Just remeber life with always throw you curve balls..

[Bharat Nain]

This happens, every year, to many teams. It is sad your team had to go through it. I hope the rest of your season goes well though. I also hope that FIRST works towards solving such petty problems that cause a lot of heart aches to a lot of teams. It isn't fair, but we have to deal with it.

[ditch64]

im thinkin that the ref was unfair, he should have known that if the delay is caused by a first official, then first should eat the time for the match or w/e, i dont think the refs understand how much pride we put into our bots, how much effort we put in it. i nearly left i was so pissed off when we lost a match, i definatly understand your point and i would say that they did not train the inspector properly. but being a volunteer i cant say its right to blame the inspector, blame the person who trained him...

[ChrisMcK2186]

Truly sorry to hear you plight. Remember, it was an honest mistake, therefore it should be forgiven. If, however, the next time you see the officials and they are sitting in wing back chairs, tenting their fingers while saying phrases such as "Excellent" and "evil laugh", feel free to hold a grudge.

A communication break down in a organization as large as FIRST is totally expected. Just remember, life goes on.
It might not have been the most fun thing to go through but look at it like this: You can now be sure that inspector will never have this happen to another team he inspects again. You took the bullet so someone else is spared. Thats selfless.
The inspectors and refs are only human and make mistakes too. Cut them some slack and enjoy the experience of FIRST.

Chris

[Protronie]

No its not fair but it happens... you could just kick up a fuzz and hold an 'tude or shake it off and think of it as a learning experience.
For now on I'm sure your team and any others that hear of this will make sure the inspection sticker gets signed. I'm sure the inspector will do the same so this has just helped First and all the teams learn.
Everyone that puts on or works in a event like this has a million and one things on their minds, and a thousand new things to learn.
Like you've never overlooked anything where someone said, "you should have known"
Just buckle up and move on... it will show your good character.

[Uberbots]

rank really doesnt mean much. Its the performance of your robot on the field. If your robot performs well, but is paired with a bad alliance or is against a tough alliance, the scouts on other teams will note it.

If it makes you feel any better, yesterday we picked team 716, who really wasnt doing that well in the rankings, yet had a very god robot that perfectly fit into the alliance we were trying to create. and guess what? we won the competition.

considering the competition is probably over, just keep this in mind for future years, and dont let a simple mistake of the inspectors get you down. As they say, "shift happens".