Congratulations to the 2011 World Champions - Teams 254, 111 and 973

[ks_mumupsi]

254, 111 and 973 were a great alliance and well deserving of the championship.

In week 2 I was on Mike and Justin's broadcast chat and had called 254 to be better than 1114 in my rankings and I got a lot of strange looks and questions. But these guys had a strong robot from day 1, and it only improved event in event out.. Once I saw them paired with 111 I knew this was going to be a difficult feat, also 973 added to that mix, they played shutdown defense on whoever they targeted, great drivetrain and drivers to go along with 254 and 111.

I would also like to thank 177 and 781 for joining our alliance and helping us win the division, there were a lot of tough matches and to get through all of them the way this alliance did was just amazing.

To 781 - I am so glad we were able to get you guys in the 2nd go around, we thought you would be gone for sure. Things happen thats how robots work. But we got to Einstein in many ways because of your capabilities, so no worries about not working, we hope your drivers are not too disappointed not being able to play the 2 matches.

Thanks to everyone for a great championship and an amazing first year in St. Louis.

[ErikEdhlund]

I want to say thank you to everyone who had given us congratulations on here and at St. Louis. It was amazing to see another World Championship in such a short time. I really want to give my thanks and additional congratulation to 254 and 973. I was very excited to have finally had the chance to team with the Poofs and to help assist them to their first and hopefully not their last World Championship. Also if Mark Leon sees this post, we did our math and we double checked our work Also I would love to extend a special congratulation to 973. I was very impressed with your overall robot, especially your minibot. You're the perfect addition to this amazing alliance. Without your minibot, I doubt we would have won that match against 175, 40, and 399 where we won by 1 point. I really am proud to have had the opportunity to meet a few of you. You may not have been a well known team in FIRST, but that has all changed now. I look forward to seeing both 254 and 973 on Einstein again in the future.

[BrendanB]

Congratulations 254, 111, and 973 you all have amazing robots and played Logomotion to its finest!

254 do you now have every competition title for robot performance?

Team 254, our brother team. I can honestly say I'm not surprised. For years, you've inspired other teams, helped other teams, and brought a multitude of teams to success (Including us in 2003)! This championship win of yours is long overdue, and will start a chain reaction of future championship wins. Team 256 can't wait to alliance with you again. Team 256 proudly supports team 254! Love you Poofs!

[Al Skierkiewicz]

We are extremely thankful for being asked to join this alliance. It appeared to be a match made in heaven where auto mode, scoring and minibot needs were all covered. We faced some really great teams on our way to Einstein and then our greatest challenges came with the teams from other divisions. It is hard to play against so many teams that we call friends. I think virtually all that we faced fit into that category. Good luck to all in the future.

Originally Posted by Robby Unruh

... but I can't help be feel a little bad for 781 and their field problems, does anyone know what ultimately led to that? All of their other matches went so well.

We likewise feel bad for 781. The field staff reported that perhaps the Classmate dreaded "slow mode" cut in during the first match as everything else appeared normal. During the second match, something failed in a more spectacular fashion. Even the RSL was non-functional when checked at the end of the match. The team suspects as I do, that something in the DSC failed. Often, power supply is the cause, either through metallic debris or loose connections to PD.

[torihoelscher]

Originally Posted by Robby Unruh

I'm not going to argue who I think should be the world champs, because 254 obviously deserved it, with their reputation and awesome robot this year... but I can't help be feel a little bad for 781 and their field problems, does anyone know what ultimately led to that? All of their other matches went so well.

I figured that they needed to ReImage their C-RIO. Normally when that happens to our team Jerry (Mentor) and I conclude that its a C-RIO issue. Last year at FL regional we had some funky things happening on the field because the C-RIO was defected. Sometimes the C-RIO acts a little weird especially when you need it the most.

Also we have LogFiles so we know what is going on in certain places of the robot. I would suggest writing something like that in LabVIEW to be aware of these issues.

I know alot of teams do not like reimaging but this is something we have to do sometimes!!

[AKaul]

Congratulations Team 254, 111 and 973! Well deserved!!

[nuggetsyl]

Congrats to 111,254,973 I have to say wow to your human players. they hit the mark every time on the big stage.

[AdamHeard]

Wow. I'm still shocked this happened, I have so much to say I can't possibly fit it all in this post.

First, I want to thank the people of 254/968. I grew up admiring and learning from their design and style, and am now good friends with them. They have helped us in so many ways over the years, and even now that we're a team that can solidly stand on it's own, we have so much to thank them for. I'm stoked that both our first championship wins were on the same alliance!

I was also happy to see our friends on 968 and 987 pull out a division win (we were hoping to see you in the finals!); I know 968 is a small and somewhat understaffed team like us, so it's awesome to see them reach such success. 987 is just one of those teams that seems to do everything right; if you think their robot is good, the rest of their team is even better! I'm still waiting for them to get champ chairmans.

As for our alliance, wow! I'm still surprised we were around to be the 23rd robot in the draft; we were pretty capable offensively (~6 tubes a match), and many people told us we had the fastest minibot in the division. This combined with 254 and 111, which everyone already knows about, allowed an alliance with an absurd amount of strategic flexibility. The first match of eliminations was truly our first match on defense (it just made sense, 254 and 111 were clearly better at scoring, and with our faster minibot the alliance wanted us to be in position to fire). It was very comforting knowing that in case of a breakdown, or real effective defense from the other alliance, we would be able to switch to scoring and keep up most alliances out there. It was also nice having three minibots that were very fast. I'm glad that even though we were the "defensive robot", we contributed a lot offensively by nearly guaranteeing a first place minibot each match.

The people on the alliances we worked with were great; we planned and worked well together, and every match just seemed to go great. We rarely got in each others way, made some switches midmatch to help each other out, etc...

The alliances we faced on einstein were great, I'm just sad that 781 was down both matches; it'd would have been nice to get an even match instead of 2v3.

Of all the teams we played in the division level, 469 was just awesome. We had pits nearby them, and although we'd never met nor played with any of them before, we were talking and getting along great all weekend. It was awesome to see both of us in the division finals. They not only had a very capable offensive machine, but played some awesome defense when necessary as well.

It was awesome to have so many awesome mentors that I grew up looking up to congratulate us on our victory, it was very surreal! In 2007 when 330 won, they had many spare Einstein seating wrist bands, and let my entire team (294) sit with them. I was glad that since we brought a small team, we were able to return the favor and hook up 330 with some good seats (another team I grew up looking up to! thanks guys!)

I'll cut myself off now, I could go on for days, Thanks everyone! It was a great time!

[SGK]

Originally Posted by ErikEdhlund

I want to say thank you to everyone who had given us congratulations on here and at St. Louis. It was amazing to see another World Championship in such a short time. I really want to give my thanks and additional congratulation to 254 and 973. I was very excited to have finally had the chance to team with the Poofs and to help assist them to their first and hopefully not their last World Championship. Also if Mark Leon sees this post, we did our math and we double checked our work Also I would love to extend a special congratulation to 973. I was very impressed with your overall robot, especially your minibot. You're the perfect addition to this amazing alliance. Without your minibot, I doubt we would have won that match against 175, 40, and 399 where we won by 1 point. I really am proud to have had the opportunity to meet a few of you. You may not have been a well known team in FIRST, but that has all changed now. I look forward to seeing both 254 and 973 on Einstein again in the future.

Congrats from BUZZ 175 for making Galileo proud. An awesome alliance!!!! Glad we were able to put up a good fight with the eventual champions.

[Karthik]

It is with no regrets that I congratulate the 2011 FIRST World Champions, Team 254, Team 111 and Team 973. Without a doubt they were by far the strongest alliance in the field of 32, and up there with some of the greatest alliances of all time. Seeing these teams win was extra special for me since I have so many good friends on these teams.

Team 254 -- It was great to see the Poofs win their first ever World Championship, considering the standard of excellence they had set along the way. They now have 30 Blue Banners, 29 won before they claimed their first title. Between 1999 and last week, they were by far the unluckiest team in Championship history, so this title was long overdue. For those of you who don't know the Poofs, they are one of the classiest and more professional teams out there. These guys have been raising the bar for years, and don't get enough credit. We at 1114 are proud to call them friends.

Team 111 -- So much of what I just said about 254 can be said about you guys. Our team has loved working beside you and working against you. Winning your 3rd Championship is just further proof of how dominant you guys have been. Seeing you in action this weekend reminded me of why you're a Hall of Fame team, and why you have so much success. Precision, determination and execution. Simply beautiful to watch.

Team 973 - Can someone explain to me why these guys were still available with the second last pick of the draft. As soon as 254 and 111 got together everyone in the division should have be looking to pick the teams with the highest upside. 973 fit that description perfectly. They had the fastest minibot in the division, along with the potential to put up huge tube numbers. We were crossing our fingers that they'd slip to our alliance to enhance some jarring weaknesses. Unfortunately for us, 254 and 111 were too smart and wisely snapped them up for themselves. It was at that point that it became clear to me that winning the event was going to be an uphill battle for everyone. These guys have been building great robots the past couple of years, and it's about time they got the recognition they deserve.

[waialua359]

Congratulations to teams 254, 111, and 973!
You folks had the best alliance on paper at the start of eliminations in ALL divisions and it clearly showed with the results.
Since the end of the 1999 school year, when Jason Morella/Mark Leon and the Cheesy Poofs brought their robot to Hawaii and seeing it for the first time in our school library, they have always inspired our team for the last 12 years..............as they got us and 368 started the following season.
To be on the floor and witness it with "front row" seats is something that I'll never forget. Even Raul came by our team right before the finals started and said that "they" were doing it for the Poofs!
I could tell from the looks of joy on Travis, Cory, and EJ right after they won, that it made up for all of those previous years.

Congrats again to all of you!

[Bharat Nain]

Congrats 254, 111 and 973.

254 - After all these year's of just bad luck at the championships, it is great to see you finally win it all. Your robots are inspirational and a product of consistent and persistent effort through all the years. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to work with you in the past.

111 - Well, congratulations!!! I'm glad we lost to your alliance.

973 - How you were still available as a pick still baffles me. Great job and you played some great defense.

[remulasce]

I took video of every Einstein match from the front row of the reserved seating, I've uploaded some of the videos and I'll get the rest up eventually. For some reason my phone thinks some are way bigger than they really are and refuses to upload, and when I transferred them to my laptop first they somehow lost all audio.

254- I called it all the way back in San Diego. You were just that good. Woodie thought we were part of your team when we asked for his autograph, though, so I guess people will confuse us with both Beach Bots and you from now on.

111- You guys beat us pretty neatly in one of the qual matches, undoubtedly a top performer

973- Finally time to get our favorite alumnus onto Einstein! Represent!

[Jeremy Germita]

Congrats to 254, 111, and 973 on this well deserved win!

254: Slipstream was an insanely impressive machine, and it is among my favorites this year. all season, I wanted to play against you guys at the top of our game and our arm break in San Diego prevented that. Our dream was realized in the Galileo semifinals, and the better alliance came out on top. All of us loved that tie match that was decided by the minibot race! Congrats on this well deserved win!

111: You guys had a dazzling machine in both aesthetics and performance. It was a blast playing against you guys!

973: I would like to thank you so much. You guys gave us a 10 turn pot when ours failed back in San Diego. You have no idea how grateful we are for that. Your robot was another one of my favorites this year, with your pincher roller claw. Beautifully built and driven. Your team was a blast to work with last fall at the SCRRF fall classic competition. Congrats on your first trip to Einstein and your world championship win!