Is FRC truly competitive?

[ebarker]

The 1st thing that pops into my mind is a couple of key points I've heard Woodie make many times.

1) we are competing against 'the problem' - the problem being many many things, organization, teamwork, the technical challenge, etc, etc

2) helping our competition helps them get better, and we have to get better to keep up. standards go up for everyone.

If my team and your team are racing to be 'the best' and we are helping each other advance our capabilities as much as possible, then we have "both won" relative to where we are standing at the beginning of the race. I would LOVE for my team to get so good that they LOST at the Einstein court.

Is NASCAR a sport? Highly capable race teams, with very highly performing cars are advancing their state of the art in a race in which only one 'wins'. The losers didn't give anything up. They just didn't advance their craft as much as the winner. NASCAR fans certainly call their event a sport. FRC isn't any different.

Losing in FRC isn't like an ancient war where the losing side is enslaved to the victors. Losing in FRC isn't a real loss, just lack of progress relative to the victor.

Football seems to have both the positive and negative aspects of competition. Sure, you have to become a very good player to win a big game. Unfortunately the chest-thumping, showboating behavior looks like ancient warriors enslaving the defeated.

IMHO - having a competitive sport does NOT require it to be zero-sum or MEGA.