Best moments of Rebound Rumble

[Ekcrbe]

I generally agree with most of what has been said, but I want to add one more vote for Best Moment:

Week 2, Waterford District, Finals Match 1:

The Original Double Triple

67, 469, 2851: 85
3098, 573, 3601: 67

Sorry for the lack of a hybrid.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by avanboekel

Although I agree that they were the best rookie team this year, I think that 16 had a better feeder bot. In my opinion, 16 was almost a necessity. I was very surprised that they made it so deep into the draft at champs, and ended up being the 8th alliance captain at IRI. I think that 1114 and 2826 could have won IRI without 4334 (Not trying downplay 4334's contributions to the their IRI alliance, just my opinion).

I have no problems with 16, in my mind they were a top team this year, and they have a world championship to for it. Now without talking about balancing, I still say 4334 is just a tad bit better of a feeder simple because of their speed and maneuverability, however 16 is definitely a tad bit better at not getting penalties (I've seen them get multiple penalties as opposed to not seeing 16 get any) Nonetheless, both are absolutely fantastic robots, and deserve to be recognized as such.

[Ekcrbe]

Originally Posted by Jay Money 1058

...I still say 4334 is just a tad bit better of a feeder simple because of their speed and maneuverability...

No offense, but did you just say that someone has better speed and maneuverability than 16?

That caught me off guard.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by Ekcrbe

No offense, but did you just say that someone has better speed and maneuverability than 16?

That caught me off guard.

Ok so they're both fast

[OZ_341]

Definitely a fun topic. But just putting it out there, that there is still a ton of Rebound Rumble yet to play. We are having 4 events, just in the MAR District this Fall. Who knows what else will happen!

[trilogy2826]

Originally Posted by avanboekel

Hypothetically, if both were left in the draft at that point, which would you think is the better pick for 2826 and 1114?

Long before alliance picking and we already decided 1114 was our #1 pick (provided they were still around by then), Karthik and I made an instantaneously simultaneous decision that 4334 had to be on our alliance (provided they were still around too)

I would have loved to have played with 16, they are definitely one of my 2012 favorites, but 4334 couldn't have been substituted.

[Koko Ed]

With 12 events attended so far and at least seven or eight (depending if Ramp Riot gets back to me and if Kevin's event in Milwaukee goes through) more to go including one this weekend in Austin, Texas I thought I'd chime in on my perspectives on this season so far (I don't believe in the existence of an off season):

THIS YEAR'S BESTS (so far):

BEST TIME HAD: I'd have to say Boston. Lots of good friends and I got to stay at the House of Eckhart with Kim and the Angry! as well as members of 1511 and 2168 made for an awesome time!

MOST COMPETITIVE EVENT: IRI. There is no event I can think of where the 8th seed has just as much a chance to go all the way as the number one seed as IRI, It's what makes it FIRST's top off season event. MSC would be second.

BEST RUN EVENT : Boston. Top notch crew how were on point the whole weekend through and through led by the JefFTA. Battlecry and MSC are runner ups.

MOST FUN REGIONAL: Montreal. Yes my Garmin went evil and got me terribly lost every day and I often felt like a stranger in a strange land there but boy did those folks know how to put on a party. I haven't seen that kind of energy and enthusiasm at a FIRST event since FLR 2005. It was a blast. Boston and FLR are runner ups.

BEST ROBOT: 67: I know they didn't blow up at IRI but if they had their driver from the season I think they would have been really strong at the event. 548 would be my second pick.

BEST MATCH: IRI quarterfinal three match one. A double triple and a last second two point basket by 469's inbounder snatched away a one point victory for their alliance. Pure energy. Archimedes final match three was second.

BEST VENUE: While the Gordon Field House on the RIT campus will always be my favorite I must say the Cintas Centre in Cincinatti is quite beatiful and I'm not usually a big fan of arena setups.

CRAZIEST WEATHER PHENOMENON: Surprisingly it wasn't the near tornado that happened during Einstien which was good and scary for sure. It was day one at Boston when it was 80 degrees outside and the freaky effect it had on the event. The ice under the field started to melt and unleashed a cold mist which caused all of our field tape to come loose and we had to use sidewalk chalk of all things to put down our lines for the field.


MOST HILARIOUS MOMENT: My mortal enemy MauraS(current inbounder and future X-Cat driver or coach) getting conked on the noggin' by a poof ball at FLR during the elims. She's a soccer player by trade so a poof ball is nothing but she obviously wasn't expecting it and her reaction was so classic right then and there I could care less if we didn't win another match all year my year was made!

BEST FOOD. Montreal. Three words: Red. Velvet. Cupcakes (and the eggplant with ground lamb was pretty cool too not to mention all the free passion fruit juice you could drink).

BEST HOTEL. The Hostel I stayed at in Montreal was interesting but nothing beats staying with the Eckharts. Top notch hosts.


MOST INSPIRING MOMENT: From my own team. One of the requirements of our team to qualify to travel is to give an oral presentation during a meeting. One of our students Anastasia is painfully shy. So much so that when she was brought up in front of the team to do her oral presentation all she did was break down and cry in front of the team. Everyone felt awful for her and we mentors were trying to come up with ways for her to be able to do her presentation without falling apart because she's a great hardworking kid who deserves to travel with the team to St. Louis. She solved that problem for us weeks later when she stood up during one of the meetings later in the season. Held her head up high and confidently delivered her message without even flinching. I know it's not a Blue Banner or winning a Chairman's award or anything but it's little things like that that make me well up with pride to be involved with a program like this.

BEST TRIP: The two and a half exodus from Montreal to Boston to DC. I got to hang with alot of good FIRST friends make new one (in particular an awesome group of Americorp kids at DC who had never even heard of FIRST before and were mesmerized). Going to San Antonio was pretty cool too.

BEST OVERALL EVENT: MSC Championships. Tops notch teams were served by a top notch event. Great teams. Great atmosphere. Great volunteers. Next time MSC comes up just go. You will not be disspointed if you did.

[David13]

I think I'll stick to talking about the Canadian events because those are the ones I payed the most attention to. I apologize in advance for my spelling of the word "favourite".

Best qualifications performance: 3161. As far as I know, no team other than 1114 or 2056 has been the first seed at a Canadian regional since 2007 (possibly even farther back). Everyone knows what happened at Toronto West, but if it hadn't been for some bad luck in their final two qualification matches they could have finished first at Waterloo too.

Favourite match: Toronto East Finals. Personally, I found the finals at Toronto East more exciting than the ones at West. 610, 188 and 3360 put up 100 points in the quarters and were triple balancing easily. It was the first time I thought that the dynamic duo (featuring 1219) looked beatable. Overall I was impressed by how much the second tier of Canadian teams improved this season. It made things exciting to watch.

Favourite alliance: The Eh team. I've never had so much national pride before, not even during the Vancouver Olympics.

Personal favourites: When one of our students won a Dean's List Finalist award in Waterloo. When our human player hit a basket to win the Queen City regional (although the alliance would have won on the penalty tiebreaker anyway).

[smistthegreat]

Most of my favorite moments have been already mentioned, but one of my favorite plays from this year was at the Buckeye Regional when 1551, while defending 1241, literally shot a ball out of the air with another ball. It was the biggest "Wait, did that actually just happen!?" for me. I'll look for video of it.

Edit: It's at the 45 second mark here http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21334084

Also, on a personal note, winning 2 regionals in my senior year was a great experience, as well as interacting with the elite teams at champs.

[ttldomination]

One of my particularly enjoyable moment happened during the Peachtree Regional. More specificaly, it was match 89, which also happened to be one of the more important qualifying matches of the event.

Simply put if 1771 won this match, then they were going to win the event. I'm not sure how people knew that, but in my mind, it was all but set. So, the match was going OK, when 1771 and a partner make their way over to the bridge where 1683 is waiting for them. The level of defense played by 1683 in those 30 seconds was beyond anything I've ever seen. They held their ground against 1771+Partner and won the match.

Although it appears that even if they had pulled off the double balance, it wouldn't have mattered, but in that moment, it was particularly awesome to watch.

- Sunny G.

[Dchandler]

Bests from events that I attended.

Best moment: New York City Regional, I can't remember what quarterfinal match it was but when 1635, 125, and 522 pulled off their triple with two longs and without stingers. "Wait is that a triple. There's no way they can do that again. Wait, what did they just do it again"

Best alliance: I loved 624, 118, and 16 together.

Best Robot: 341, they're sexy and they know it Every match they played in this year was ridiculous. Triple balance in the first match at IRI, and number one seed at five competitions including IRI.

Best Match: Too many to list.

Best Event: Without any doubts Battlecry. The burning motors, broken parts, even a bent stinger. All the carnage from fighting over the Co-op bridge made every match in eliminations exciting. Watching 3467 actually tip the co-op bridge down and push another robot off of it. I can only imagine what would have happened if they kept the full value for the triple balance and added point values to the co-op bridge at IRI.

IMHO Rebound Rumble>>>Logomotion

[Gray Adams]

Originally Posted by Jay Money 1058

Ok so they're both fast

I was legitimately shocked when I saw Bomb Squad driving around. It was absolutely incredible. I wouldn't put a single other robot on their level, not even the same class. I don't know the details of 4334's drive train, but come on, nobody moves like 16 does.

[Gregor]

Best Match Archimedes F1-3. Enough has been said on that, but it was just incredible. Our team was watching the webcast and were on our feet cheering the entire match, were heartbroken when we saw 1114 dead on the field, and then when crazy 2826's alliance failed the triple balance, putting the 'Eh' team through to Einstein. In fact, the other two finals matches were also astounding. GTR West F1-1 definitely comes in at a close second though.

Best Alliance In my opinion, any alliance that didn't incude team 16 can't be considered the best alliance. Watching them in person for the first time at IRI left me awestruck. Their speed combined with their superb manoeuvrability and their drivers that know how to push their robot the to limits made a formidable opponent. 118 was hitting up a storm all season, and 624 had an amazing turnout at IRI. Add them together and what do you get? The best alliance of this year, which I would maintain even if they hadn't surpassed the world record.

Best Moment for my own Team GTR East SF1-1. Not only was it our highest scoring match of that regional, our first semi-final win ever (and my first FRC regional ever), it was the first time since 2009 that 1114 and 2056 lost together during an elimination match. These two teams have been dominating the Canadian regionals together since 2056's inception, and winning against them was truly an awe-inspiring moment. To be able to repeat against 2056 twice at GTR West was an added bonus.

Best Moment Personally Competing with Wildstang was one of my personal favourite moments of the season. They were my favourite team to work with, even if it was just for one qualification match. I didn't enjoy them because of their tie-dye shirts, their superiority on the field, or their legacy, but for their upmost respect for whomever they encounter (read: me). When their drive team approached us prior to our qualification match at IRI together, they were nothing but courteous. They had a match strategy before approaching us, but were willing to listen to our's as well. From my limited person exposure to them and the many stories I've heard about them, they are the epitome of Gracious Professionalism.

Best Robots I'm going to stay away from this, because it wouldn't matter how many I list, I'd be sure to miss some.

Best Rookie Team 4334. RAS, Division winners, and an IRI win. Enough said, or shall I go on? Hit up a storm at championships as part of the 'Eh' team, the only rookie on Einstein, and they are starting a regional in an area with only 2 FRC teams. In regards to FIRST, clearly they "get it."

Best Play First triple balance at the Alamo regional. I was watching it over the stream, and it was simply astounding. You can even see the referee screaming and cheering as it transpired.

[PAR_WIG1350]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

CRAZIEST WEATHER PHENOMENON: Surprisingly it wasn't the near tornado that happened during Einstien which was good and scary for sure. It was day one at Boston when it was 80 degrees outside and the freaky effect it had on the event. The ice under the field started to melt and unleashed a cold mist which caused all of our field tape to come loose and we had to use sidewalk chalk of all things to put down our lines for the field.

Yeah, this whole year has been odd around here. There were maybe 7 winter-ish days this year, 4 of which were in the spring (and a further 2 in the summer almost qualified ) When we arrived in Boston,the back 10 inches of our pit was covered in condensation due to the ice water evaporating and rising out of the gap between the floor and the wall. That said, it was a great event, probably the best I've ever been too (ooh, the post is on-topic now ). My favorite part was double awesome. First, I watched the 2958, 1350, 121 from the driver's station, the I looked at photos from the event and saw how excited the crowd was and that reminded me of how awesome it was, and that was awesome. And that was just one of many things that made it such a good regional this year.

[Brandon_L]

My personal favorite moment:

Overhearing some guy on the St. Louis subway talking about "All these great highschool students from around the world doing this robotics competition, and their all so nice!"

Then he noticed my shirt, asked if I was with them, and it ended up with the guy getting off at our stop and we gave him a tour of the pits/arena