Michigan State Championship

[Pat McCarthy]

I recorded the ABC broadcast in Standard Def on my computer and cut out the commercials. The end credits says the copyright belongs to FIRST in Michigan, so if I get an ok from them, I think that allows me to post it online. Anybody know if this is an accurate assumption?

I know I would have to wait until all of the ABC affiliates air the program, so as not to detract from the ratings before I could do anything with it though.

[Don Wright]

How was it? I'm in Europe and missed it (hopefully my DVR got it)...

[Debbie]

Originally Posted by Don Wright

How was it? I'm in Europe and missed it (hopefully my DVR got it)...

I thought it was awesome!

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Don Wright

How was it? I'm in Europe and missed it (hopefully my DVR got it)...

Good news is you guys got picked first... after that, not so good...

[Don Wright]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Good news is you guys got picked first... after that, not so good...

Gee...thanks... I was more talking about the show... Was it produced well...give FIRST a good light... Could it have drawn some non-FIRST'ers in to FIRST?

[IKE]

Originally Posted by Don Wright

Gee...thanks... I was more talking about the show... Was it produced well...give FIRST a good light... Could it have drawn some non-FIRST'ers in to FIRST?

It went very fast. Overall, it looked pretty good. We were watching at CK Diggs, so the audo was tough to follow.
A couple of points I would like to see for next year.
1. Instant replays of deciding quarterfinal factors so that all 24 teams get a quick shout out. This would eat up about 6-8 minutes, but I think it would be nice to "set" the stage.
2. Live scoring total. They didn't have the live score posted, so it was difficult to tell what the score was until the end of the match. I know two minutes isn't that long to wait, but a live tally really helps.

Otherwise, the action seemed fast paced and very captured very well. I am excited to watch it again.

Oh, I was just reminded. A special thanks to Paul Copioli. He did an excellent job on the play by play. I wish you guys could have heard his quarterfinal analysis as we were practicing the instant replays. There was a higher variety of key moments in the quarters than just minibots and ubertubes. Anyone who watched/listened to Waterloo knew that PC was the right person for the job.

[David Doerr]

Originally Posted by CalTran

Did anyone record the showing? ... I really wanna see how the footage from atop the towers turned out

I recorded it in HD on our DIRECTV box, but I don't know how to transfer it to my computer. I'd be glad to share if I can figure out how to do it -- and if I can satisfy myself regarding any copyright issues.

I was fun seeing the minibot races from the tower tops.

Originally Posted by Don Wright

Gee...thanks... I was more talking about the show... Was it produced well...give FIRST a good light... Could it have drawn some non-FIRST'ers in to FIRST?

I thought it was an excellent show and very well done. There were several overtures made to non-FIRST'ers -- you don't have to be an engineer to start a team -- go to this web site (FIM) if you are interested in starting a team -- etc.

To introduce the game they used footage from the game pieced together that ended up being a lot more entertaining than the FIRST animation.

My only criticism -- I wish a better job had been done introducing and explaining FIRST at the beginning of the show. There were several nicely-done profiles throughout the show, one of how Team 51 and Pontiac High School took shape from Teams 65 and 47 and Pontiac Northern and Pontiac Central ... another of rookie Team 3688 which made a good plug at how to go about starting a new team ... one of Wayne and Jay TenBrink ... and another of Gina and Russ Sweet.

Before seeing the show, and having been at most of MSC, I confess I was apprehensive about how things would come across on-screen. However, all of the game announcing on the show was by Paul Copioli doing a first-rate job (intentional pun) with his play-by-play and explanation of the game and strategy. I haven't heard a FIRST play-by-play as well done as this one. I learned a lot. I have advice for you coaches who want to learn how to do a better job -- find a recording of this show and listen to Paul.

[Carolyn_Grace]

Originally Posted by Don Wright

Gee...thanks... I was more talking about the show... Was it produced well...give FIRST a good light... Could it have drawn some non-FIRST'ers in to FIRST?

hahaha, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time waiting to see who won.

Seriously, in my opinion, it was really great. It went by so fast though. Filming the semis and finals took agonizingly long, yet the actual robot action was chopped down to about 25-30 minutes (due to commercials, short awards ceremony, and some interviewing). I enjoyed the background information that they recorded of some of the HOT and Martian mentors. Next year it would be nice to see some background information on some of the students. Also, one hour just didn't feel long enough. Though I'd like to hear from someone who had never seen a FIRST event and tuned in to the show. I wonder if the one hour was just enough time for someone like that.

[GaryVoshol]

I thought it was a great show. They edited the order of the matches, so that all the games of one semi-final were shown before the other semi-final, which was good for the general audience.

Some good human interest stories too - rookies from Suttons Bay, Gina and Russ Sweet, the 47+65=51 merger. Maybe next year one of those stories can focus on Chairmans and other not-directly-related-to-the-robot activities.

While the importance of Ubertubes was stressed, I don't think the autonomous aspect was emphasized enough. I'd also have liked to see more on the design/build process (although that was touched on in the Suttons Bay story).

The high-def video was great - no comparison to the YouTube and other videos we usually see.

The commentators did a good job with it. Heather did some good sideline interviews, and the other announcer (can't remember his name) made some insightful comments and questions for only having seen the game for such a short time. And of course Paul is Paul - if anyone still doubts the rationale for having a good strategist behind the glass, just listen to his commentary. I never dreamed that the coaches were thinking all those things that he came up with. And he didn't even get on the referees, well, not too much ...

I think it was a great showcase of the competition. If it gets done again, there will be time for a little more depth so that viewers can get the idea of what kind of full-season commitment the students and mentors make.

[IKE]

[quote=GaryVoshol;1053718]

The commentators did a good job with it. Heather did some good sideline interviews, and the other announcer (can't remember his name) made some insightful comments and questions for only having seen the game for such a short time. [quote]

The anouncer's name was Jimmy, and he really did his research. Not only did he go through kick-off, but he had watched a whole bunch of matches on Youtube, and read a lot on Chief-Delphi (you never know who will be looking in) beforehand. I sat in on the pre-production meeting and was impressed with the quality of the thoughts and question he was asking. He did a great job documenting the "unkowns" he had as an "outsider", and then asking Paul those questions to get an insider's perspective.
It was also neat to hear the crew getting excited during the filming. After watching a day or so, they had picked their favorites and were making predictions.

[Huskie65]

Originally Posted by IKE

1. Instant replays of deciding quarterfinal factors so that all 24 teams get a quick shout out. This would eat up about 6-8 minutes, but I think it would be nice to "set" the stage.
2. Live scoring total. They didn't have the live score posted, so it was difficult to tell what the score was until the end of the match. I know two minutes isn't that long to wait, but a live tally really helps.

Otherwise, the action seemed fast paced and very captured very well. I am excited to watch it again.

Oh, I was just reminded. A special thanks to Paul Copioli. He did an excellent job on the play by play. I wish you guys could have heard his quarterfinal analysis as we were practicing the instant replays. There was a higher variety of key moments in the quarters than just minibots and ubertubes. Anyone who watched/listened to Waterloo knew that PC was the right person for the job.

Overall very well done. Really liked the 51 piece (I'm biased lol)
*I'd have liked them to show the apprehension and excitement of the crowd as the scores were actually announced (especially the finals) instead of just throwing them on the screen for the viewer.

[Koko Ed]

They've been running FLR on live tv the last few years all day long. They even had Paul Copioli doing color commentary last year. It wasn't on ABC. They ran it live on public access over two days (no way the bog networks would agree to run a full FIRST event from start to finish). They do a great job. I wish they would do this at every event. FIRST rates that kind of treatment.

[The Cyborg]

I really enjoyed the broadcast. It did a great job simplifying the game to any outside viewers.

I also enjoyed the part where they did an insight on a couple of teams, especially 51. The best part about the bit on 51 was that I didn't even know about it ( I blame college ), so I was extremely excited to see my team get highlighted. They did an exceptional job on providing insight on the background of the team, and the adversities they faced from the merger of two rivaling schools.

As for the automated scoring, it did look like they tried to fit that in because they had spaces above for the red and blue alliances. I'm guessing they ran out of time before they can put in real time scoring.

The ABC crew and Copioli overall did a fantastic job on covering the event, and I do hope they will be back to do the same next year

[PayneTrain]

I'd really like to see how Michigan's ABC affiliates put together their broadcast. In Virginia, our ABC (EDIT: CBS) affiliate in Richmond televises Scholastic Bowl/Battle of the Brains. How can you not pitch a more "live-fire" scholastic competition on a relatively quiet weekend in broadcasting. It would also fill up a chunk of E/I programming if it can be counted as such.

EDIT: Well, CBS isn't exactly low on things to broadcast in March and April... maybe we could pitch it to the PBS affiliates in Charlottesville and Metro Richmond. My grandparents get the idea behind the competition, but they are too old to really brave the rush downtown and come see it. I'm sure other kids can look at it that way. Not to mention the outreach VAFIRST could generate from the broadcast.

I'm really hung up on this idea...

[Craig Roys]

Next let's see them do this with the finals on Einstein...of course getting a national/world tv market is a little more difficult than one state/region. It would be cool to see it on ESPN2 or something like that.