A different perspective on disrupting coopertition bridge balancing

[Grim Tuesday]

Mr. Lims post is easily one of the defining posts of this season. I shall ruminate further upon my opinions on it, but I would just like to get that out there.

[Bill_B]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

Mr. Lims post is easily one of the defining posts of this season. I shall ruminate further upon my opinions on it, but I would just like to get that out there.

I must be getting tired. It took me a search of this thread to realize that Mr Lim's post is in a different thread. As detailed as his outline is, I believe that it only begins to scratch the surface of the scoring/ranking/win/loss situation in FRC in general and this season in particular. There is at least one other thread on the topic besides this one and the one containing Lim's post.

He mentions imagining if 36 teams have different answers for the questions he raises. For Hartford the number climbs to 64 teams. I also submit that merely counting teams greatly oversimplifies the opinion situation vis-a-vis coopertition (my spell checker still does not like this word, Mr. Kamen.) If team A is approached by team Z, what actually happens is a member of team A is approached by a member of team Z. How can either of them be assured that any of team A, Team Z, the alliance containing team A, or the alliance containing team Z, is authentically being represented by these guys in their conversation. Add to that, the possibility that there are more than two central nervous systems in the conversation, and even if no other team is represented, yet another dimension is created. Now go and multiply that by 36 or 64 and you begin to have an appreciation for the chaotic potential of this process.

Mr Lim is right to mention the highly charged environment. It accurately serves to predict that a team that comes to a tournament without knowing this situation and without having formed a comprehensive consensus about all of the ramifications, will be at a great disadvantage in whatever negotiations in which it engages during the tournament itself. At the very least a team must establish a coopertition liaison leader for the purpose of carrying on a more or less cogent representation of the team's position on the matter. If you're talking with a member of another team about this, how will you assure yourself that you understand that team's intentions as a result? Is it too late to make 64 badges for the coopertition liaison from each team? (after the manner of the safety captain?)