A plea for a quieter pit area

[sanddrag]

Call me old and grumpy, but I've really had enough of the noise. And I don't really mean the cheering or the music. I've mentioned this in previous years, but lately it has really gotten out of hand.

Yesterday, I visited the San Diego regional. It took me all of about 10 minutes after my arrival to find myself having someone YELLING ROBOT! at the top of their lungs right behind me. There was no impending danger of anything. There was nobody late for their match. And it was loud. So loud in fact, you could hear it all the way across the arena. And it builds. One person yells it, then another person yells it. Then the people in the surrounding 4 pit areas yell it, thinking they are helping. At one point, I was knocked into and nearly run over by a team yelling ROBOT! as if the act of being obnoxious gave them the right to shove everyone else out of their way.

What is with young people and this sense of entitlement?

For any outsider to FIRST visiting the pit area, it would have been downright terrifying to have these people yelling so loudly. It was not pleasant, at all.

If you're yelling ROBOT! you're:

1. Being annoying
2. Being obnoxious
3. Being arrogant
4. Being rude
5. Creating noise pollution, in an already dangerously loud environment
6. Not doing a darn thing to contribute to anyone's safety. Most of the time, y'all yelling "ROBOT" are a mob of a dozen ancillary members who serve no actual purpose in getting the robot to the field. Your mob of people yelling "ROBOT" creates more congestion in the isle-ways than if a couple people just quietly and calmly went through.


So here's what I ask, when you are transporting your robot:

1. Do it slowly. Do not think it's okay to just barge through a large group of people. Do not think you'll make it okay because you're transporting a robot. Do not think you'll make it okay by yelling "Robot!"
2. WAIT for people to move out of your way. Be patient. The pit area is a slow-moving place. People like to wander and mosey around. It creates a hazard when you run through it with a large robot often placed unstably on a cart.
3. Quietly and politely say "excuse me." Tap a person on the shoulder if you need to.

Here's the bottom line. When you're moving your robot, you only need to worry about what's maybe 6 or 8 feet ahead of you.

I should not be able to hear you from 200 feet away.

.