Michigan State Championship

[Adam Freeman]

WOW…what an insane event!

I can honestly say that I have never seen a more deserving collection of teams at a competition. There were teams that should and would have made elimination rounds at any other tournament in the country, that weren’t in these eliminations.

Unfortunately for some teams, there were some amazingly stacked qualification alliances…this lead to some awesome displays of offensive power and some unique defensive strategies for how to counter act it. It was a joy to watch all of the qualification matches that I could.

To all our friends, it was great to be able to see and play with everyone again. One thing I love about this event is that there is almost never a time where you can’t find someone interesting to talk to about robots.

As everyone has already mentioned, the elimination were incredible. The strength of that #8 alliance was unreal. I couldn’t decide which team I wanted to win in that last SF match.

Congratulations to 27, 245, and 1023…you guys were awesome. 3 matches…1pt victory, crazy tube scoring, awesome human players, minibot “drag races”….just crazy!

To RUSH, I hope there will come a time soon where we can work together instead of competing against each other. You guys are awesome, and we would love an opportunity to play with you.

Killer Bees and HOT…finally….what (?) 12 years in the making. I mentioned to the other mentors before the season started this was the year we finally play with 33. We were denied at Kettering, but this is even better. Jim, it was awesome to be on the same side of the glass with you! I think we worked great together. It was great to know our scouting teams worked well together, also.

More Martians, you guys are always great to work with. Last year at Kettering and again this year…you guys do whatever we need you to do. Your tube running in the quarters and semis was awesome and your defense in the last match was outstanding. Plus the versatility you gave us on the minibots was great. I have never seen a cRIO fixed that quickly. I am really glad Jim kept believing in you guys, I was really nervous that something was going to happen. You guys earned it!

Congrats to all the Chairman’s teams and all the other teams that qualified for St. Louis. Let’s keep the streak of Michigan teams in the Championship match going!