FIRST is really looking into the Einstein problems

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Karthik

I'm glad this has been an incredible experience for you. For our team, this has been one of the most heartbreaking and deflating experiences possible. I'm glad you want to revel in the sunshine here, but perhaps you should remember that there are still a lot of people who are very hurt and upset. Sure, it's just a robotics competition, but some of us actually care about the robots...

I, too, care about the robots. As an Archimedes team, we were naturally rooting for The Eh Team. I was even more geeked when Chairman's was announced, giving the Simbots the chance to equal HOT's 6-banner 2005 season (with a GTR-W silver kicker). To see things come unglued with this intensity at this level was puzzling to our new students, shocking to our veterans.

That someone would interfere intentionally with Einstein has robbed us all of something. Those us of us watching were robbed of what could've been a spectacular finish to one of the best FRC seasons of the modern era. Twelve teams were robbed of the chance to compete on even terms. And frankly, everyone that's ever set foot on a FIRST field, from corn kernels on, was robbed of a certain innocence, the ability to say "We're better than that." Now we're forced to settle for "All but one of us are better than that, and we threw that bum out."

I hail from a state that has combined for two Einstein appearances ever. We know how rare the shot at the title is, and just how wronged everyone was this year in St. Louis. But without a time machine to hunt down that individual and slap the cell phone out of his hand, all we can do is make the most of the events that follow. This has triggered a number of procedural and technological improvements that will hopefully benefit all teams in the future. And it has served as a stern warning to anyone else thinking they'd want to interfere with a match. I agree that this came at far too high a cost, but at least we all got a sliver of something for our disappointment and heartache.