2012 MAR Rutgers University District

[Akash Rastogi]

Congrats to our friends on 2016 and 1403 for being Finalists. I know you both wanted more.

And of course congrats to my home team, MORT, for a well deserved Chairman's

[Hallry]

Well, my blood pressure has gone down, I still don't have a voice, and I am exhausted beyond believe. That could only mean that this event was an amazing success, and it is now time for thank-you's and congrats.

56 and 1370 - Thanks for being such great alliance partners. Some of our matches were so unbelievably close, with winning our first Quarter-Final match due to some hidden if-you-get-a-tie-in-the-elimination-rounds extra point rule, only advancing to the Finals by winning our third Semi-Final match by a single point, and going in to our third match in the Finals not expecting our robot to have any communication. I am still in a state of astounding shock, and am again and again reliving through my mind the feeling of counting down the seconds with both alliances double-balanced on the bridge, waiting for the match to end, hoping nothing would move, fearing that any opposing imbounder-thrown ball would cost us the match. 56, we can't wait to see you at Mt. Olive; our ball feeding strategy couldn't have worked better. 1370, I know you’ll do great at Lenape; your defense was invaluable to our alliance.

1403, 2016, 3515, and 203 - Congrats on being finalists, you guys put on an awesome fight. You deserved to win just as much as we did, and we were honored to play against you. Good luck in your future competitions. 2016, we can't wait to compete with you again in New York City this weekend, hopefully this time WITH you =).

75 - Wow. Your team is beyond words. I honestly don't know how you all can still talk and stand after this past weekend (How is my voice gone but yours aren’t!? =P). Even though your robot had the same comm issues that we did at first, you guys never gave up any of your hope or enthusiasm. Not only did you cheer for your own team, but fellow teams as well, even when you were competing against them. You are the true embodiment of Gracious Professionalism, and our team is so glad to be friends with you. Congrats on winning the EI and the Industrial Safety Award; even when times were tough, you made the best of it. We can only aspire to try to be like you.

11 – A huge congrats on Chairman’s and Website. You guys rightfully deserved it. I hope your Music and Memory collection went well this past weekend, that’s a great charity. I loved seeing your Kinetic Player down there, it seemed to work out well for you guys. Your new ‘Kinetic Mode’ shirts were also a hit, any chance you will be selling them?

223 – Another extremely kind and spirited team. We wish you the best of luck at Lenape, you know we’ll be rooting for you. Even though you didn’t win an award this past weekend, I saw you still dancing during the Finals, which was truly inspiring. I’m sure we’ll see you again in Philly. Also, thanks Steven for hooking me up with a pair of your flame pants .

4281, 4347, and 4128 – Congrats on all three rookies at the event getting awards! Rookie Inspiration, Rookie All-Star, and Highest Rookie Seed, respectfully. We know we’ll watch you grow in the future.

Finally, thanks for everyone else who helped the first ever Rutgers University MAR District Event run smoothly, we were almost never behind schedule. Congrats to everybody who participated at the event, we loved seeing all of you and had a wonderful time. We are hoping to get our archived video of the matches posted soon, and will let you all know when it’s up.

Good luck to all teams in their next competition(s), and a gigantic thanks to everybody who has helped make us 5/5 for our past 5 regionals/districts.

New York City, we’ll be seeing you in just 4 days. Wow, already it’s less than 90 hours away . It’s coming up fast, and though I may be tired, our team couldn’t be more excited!

P.S. To the 4 teams who have still not played in a MAR District, get ready for some great memories to be made.

[waitwhat?]

Team 869 PowerCord had a great time at the Rutgers MAR District Event! We really enjoyed working with everyone and were very proud of how our robot and our drivers performed.

Although there were a lot of people who were skeptical about the presence of an effective defensive strategy in this game, I like to think that our shark fin robot showed that it is definitely possible to defend even the best shooting robots.

Thank you to teams 555 and 41 for being great alliance partners! I know we didn't advance as far as we would've liked to, it was still a great experience!

Also, congratulations to the winning alliance of teams 1676, 56, and 1370 you guys worked great together!

[Steven Donow]

I'll admit, I was skeptical about how Districts would feel compared to traditional Regionals, but after this weekend, I welcome the new District system. The MAR committee put on one great event. I look forward to Lenape, I'm sure things will be even better as the events go on. Though small, Rutgers was a great place to have the event, the main gym was excellent. Although things seemed a little slow Saturday morning, Friday night went great, and the event was sped up flawlessly to catch up, and the organizers did a great job at that. Also, it was nice to have a New Jersey event with more food options than Taco Bell (though I love Baja Blast...)

Some thanks and congrats:

3142 and 3637-You guys were great alliance partners, its a shame that we didn't make it further. Playing with you guys was a pleasure, hopefully we can reunite in Philly. In the stands, our team had a blast cheering with you guys, I'm almost positive we were one of the most excited of the quarterfinals

75-It's a shame you guys had problems with your robot, but once your bot was working, you definitely improved and excelled match-by-match. Despite your robot's performance, you guys were energetic and excited the entire weekend, our teams definitely had a blast cheering with you guys the entire weekend, and I never saw one member of your team with a frown on their face. You guys are truly an inspiration to all, and definitely deserve Engineering Inspiration.

11-A lot of the same said about 75 can be said about you, definitely haha. Your drive team was truly one of the friendliest drive teams, and Jesse is definitely an excellent coach. You guys without a doubt deserve that Chairman's, and you're gonna be a tough team to beat for it at Philly.

56-From the moment I first saw you guys in action at the Watchung scrimmage, I knew you would be one of the teams to beat at Rutgers. Excellent job and congrats on the victory.

1370-I told your drivers this a million times, but you played some of the best defense I've seen this season and were a great partner for bridge-balancing two or three times with during Qualifications. I was amazed to see you go so late in alliance selection, and if the number one seed hadn't selected you, my jaw would have dropped. Every match we've played with you has been a great one, we look forward to seeing with you at Lenape and hopefully have some great matches together.

1676-So, if one considers this the New Jersey Regional, this make it 3 years in a row, right? Excellent robot as always, you overcame some problems to have one awesome machine. Huge props to your drive team, your mentors raved about your driver, and they totally had reason to, he's just a great driver, we had plenty of bridge balances where all we had to do was get on the bridge, and he took care of the rest. As always, one of the friendliest, most inspirational teams around. Due to computer problems, we lost all our Saturday scouting data, and it was extremely generous of you guys to help us out and give us some of your data. Congrats, and good luck at MO.

Originally Posted by Hallry

223 – Another extremely kind and spirited team. We wish you the best of luck at Lenape, you know we’ll be rooting for you. Even though you didn’t win an award this past weekend, I saw you still dancing during the Finals, which was truly inspiring. I’m sure we’ll see you again in Philly. Also, thanks Steven for hooking me up with a pair of your flame pants .

Thanks a bunch Ryan, telling some members about this post put a smile on their faces. And maybe the link to the pants will just make me able to walk past you without you asking me for a pair

[nickcvet89]

Love the new format of district events. It seemed as this weekend was way less crazy at Rutgers compared to Trenton. I would like to give a special thanks to the following teams:

11 & 1089: Paired with you guys, we had an unbelievable alliance. From your cheering squads to the drive teams, you guys were amazing. See you in Mount Olive in 3 weeks, good luck to 1089 at Lenape.

1676:Special thanks to Max, the programmer, if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have had a working autonomous. I thank him for spending the time to work with us.

Thanks to all teams, we showed that in the heat of a battle, all teams can cooperate in a match. See you at Mount Olive!

[DonRotolo]

Ryan said most of what I wanted to say, so read his post first.

75: You guys are a real class act. The cheering was amazing. And thanks for the technical help in the pits - we solved both our problems by working together.

223: Your balancing on the coopertition bridge with us helped us cement our 1st seed position tremendously. Thank you.

1370: Wow. Thanks for the help. There is NO way we could have done it without you.

56: Wow again. Your team was easily the best at Rutgers, and it was very gracious of you to accept our invitation. We knew we couldn't have won without you.

869: Scrappy defensebot indeed, your team was one of our biggest worries, because we knew you'd be picked early but we needed a scorer for our first pick. Awesome defense in a very difficult-to-defend game. Love the shark fin, which works like a dream.

The event itself was spectacular, every bit as exciting as any regional I've been at. MAR has done a good job. Pits were spacious and convenient. The idea to address the lack of live scoring was brilliant. Food was acceptable and reasonably priced, parking was good.

Now I get to my complaints.

The venue was OK, but with limited seating and tiny passageways for people and robots, this historic building (from 1938-ish) was poorly suited to an FRC competition. We took our camera off with the low doorway while wheeling in for our first match, and the exit doorway claimed a few victims as well. There was ONE restroom for the entire venue of 1300 people, and it was small - 5 'fixtures' and 2 sinks. (OK, two - ladies and mens). On a warmish day, when the inside of the gym was 85 degrees, the college had the heat turned on so hot I burned myself on a radiator. And don't get me started about the comfort of sitting on bleachers...

The ONLY way we would return for a second year was if we held the competition on the lower level. That's where the pool is located.....WATER GAME!

[George A.]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

Now I get to my complaints.

The venue was OK, but with limited seating and tiny passageways for people and robots, this historic building (from 1938-ish) was poorly suited to an FRC competition. We took our camera off with the low doorway while wheeling in for our first match, and the exit doorway claimed a few victims as well. There was ONE restroom for the entire venue of 1300 people, and it was small - 5 'fixtures' and 2 sinks. (OK, two - ladies and mens). On a warmish day, when the inside of the gym was 85 degrees, the college had the heat turned on so hot I burned myself on a radiator. And don't get me started about the comfort of sitting on bleachers...

The ONLY way we would return for a second year was if we held the competition on the lower level. That's where the pool is located.....WATER GAME!

I will agree with you about what you said about the restrooms. When I arrived at the arena on Friday I was shocked that they said there would only be one of each for the crowd to use. (Thankfully they opened the ones at field level up for volunteer use)

And it did get exceptionally hot in there towards the afternoon (could you imagine what it would be like later in the season/if it hadn't been so cool out?

The only point I'd like to make about the bleachers is the fact that since MAR did go district and many of the competitions are held at high school gyms, people should get used to sitting on bleachers for 2 days. (thankfully i have a cushy chair to sit on )

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by George A.

people should get used to sitting on bleachers for 2 days.

I can and do, but these bleacher seats were three 4" wide pieces of wood, slightly uneven with devilishly-placed spaces between the slats. Painful. And I too have something soft and cushy on which I sit, but it's sore today...

[nomad725]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

1370: Wow. Thanks for the help. There is NO way we could have done it without you.

Thank you for picking us to be on the alliance....you guys were great and we hope to see you guys at future events and hopefully Temple......

[nomad725]

Originally Posted by stevend1994

1370-I told your drivers this a million times, but you played some of the best defense I've seen this season and were a great partner for bridge-balancing two or three times with during Qualifications. I was amazed to see you go so late in alliance selection, and if the number one seed hadn't selected you, my jaw would have dropped. Every match we've played with you has been a great one, we look forward to seeing with you at Lenape and hopefully have some great matches together.

Thank you....we hope to see you guys at Lenape too.....

[waitwhat?]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

869: Scrappy defensebot indeed, your team was one of our biggest worries, because we knew you'd be picked early but we needed a scorer for our first pick. Awesome defense in a very difficult-to-defend game. Love the shark fin, which works like a dream.

Don, that really means a lot coming from you and your team, we knew that we were taking a gamble by designing a defensive robot. I like to think our bot was proven effective as a solid defender and its just cool to get a nod from a team like 1676! Especially after so many skeptical views on our machine. Who knows, maybe we will see you guys in Philly!

[JB]

The event is over but it is far from cool down time for 1403. On the bus ride home from Rutgers our team was already discussing changes that will be made to the bot to help keep us competitive at MO and hopefully states. With that being said our entire team would like to thank all the volunteers, mentors, sponsors, teams, and students that made this event possible.

2016 - Thanks for being such a great alliance partner. It was fun being matched with you guys for our first time at a regional, and the results clearly payed off. Hopefully we will see you guys as states and champs

3515 and 203 - Thanks for being such a great pick and backup respectively. We could not have made it to the finals without either of you guys.

1676, 56, and 1370 - Congrats on winning the event, all of you deserved it. We all played hard and I think it is safe to say we all pushed our robots to the limits by match three. Can't wait to compete with 56 and 1676 at MO and hopefully we will see 1370 at states as well.

11 and 75 - Congrats on your well deserved Chairman's and Engineering Inspiration awards. We know how hard both of you worked for the awards and could not be happier for the two of you.

Lastly I would like to say that this event was our first district event and that the event ran very smoothly and out team had a great time. But there were some complaints that must be addressed. First, the reason that first moved away from this venue was that it could not handle over 36 teams. It would appear that they did not learn their lesson, as the let in 42 teams (which probably have more members than the original 36) which resulted in insane crowd control measures hindering ones ability to access the pits, field, stands, and bathrooms (which were way to small for the amount of people attending the event). Also the venue was so hot that I was attempting to go outside to cool down after almost every match. However I had to climb up one set of stairs and down another to reach the exit. As a college student this was a minor inconvenience but for other it was a large problem.

Ultimately the team had a great time and we look forward to the rest of the rebound rumble season.

[DELurker]

Last year was my first with 1370, but I started the day after the NJ Regional (which they did not attend). I've got to say that the energy in the venue was just as high if not a little higher than the two regionals 1370 did last year. This was my first full year with the team and I have to salute not only our team but every team that was at Rutgers this past weekend. I did not see a single team in the pits or the stands that was anything less than great. Even when teams lost, their fans were absolutely phenomenal.

303 - Your fans impressed me to no end. During the elimination rounds, I was sitting among your fans, the unwashed heathen in a sea of 303. Even when our alliance was head-to-head with yours, everybody was cool about it. When we were all trying to track down that phantom penalty that cost you the last match, watching the replay on my camera with you all, trying to find the flag-wave ... I have nothing but respect for you all. (Supposedly it was an inbounder penalty)

75 - You guys already know how we feel, but we cannot say enough about how you helped us out. Not only do we have brothers on both teams, but the teams were brothers (and pit buddies) throughout the event. Thank you so much for hosting us at your shop Saturday night and helping us build that bridge arm when we all would have preferred to be home in bed. The unwavering help that you gave us throughout the event (never did use those #10-32x2" bolts ), whether with parts, materials, advice, scouting, or just general pointers, was the sole reason that we were able to get to the elimination rounds. If you guys ever need anything or if we can ever have an event in Delawhere, you know that you only need to ask.

1676 & 56 - You guys were as much a perfect compliment to our team in the eliminations as we were to you. In the however-many years with the current staff at 1370 has been around, we have never made it that far into a tournament. Thank you for picking us and we hope to see you at Temple in a few weeks. By my figuring, the lead team in the district has 156 points. I am confident that both of you can beat that from your current starting points of 88 & 72, respectively.

869 - In a lot of ways, your robot gave us the ideas that we were able to implement on Sunday, both strategically and mechanically. Your bot is an awesomely robust machine and we should be seeing you at Temple.

1089, 1626, 223, 203, 4128, & 136 - We will see you at Lenape. If you guys need anything at all, whether before or during the event, please let us know.

Well, that's about all I can stand to type right now. Everyone take good care of yourselves and stay healthier than me.

[Pjdaley13]

Well said everybody, and just one more adder. As a mentor at 1370 I'd have to say your picking us to be on the winning alliance couldn't have happened at a better time, our relationship with our school district was in need of a boost and this has certainly helped. I'm hoping this will keep us in FIRST well into the future. Thanks again! One of our students posted it "was the greatest weekend in his life", for a 43 old mentor, it was best, but it was definitely top 10!

75 Awesome is all I can say, thanks for your help and hospitality. Glad you didn't go home empty handed!

Alliance members, wow we have to do that again!

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by jb1403

However I had to climb up one set of stairs and down another to reach the exit. As a college student this was a minor inconvenience but for other it was a large problem.

Not exactly handicap-accessible, was it? My knees still hurt.