South Florida Regional Thanks & Congrats

[Billfred]

I'm typing this from my futon back in Columbia, SC right now; after alliance selection (and some lunch), our drive coach had to start the 700-plus-mile slog back to Charlotte, NC for Easter with his family. Since I was riding with him, I obviously had to skip town earlier than I'd normally want--but whoever was riding shotgun was following along on Spyder.

This year's results on the field were rather disappointing to us on 2815; it's the first time we made it the whole season without any elimination appearance, but I can't argue with the picks made on the field. We'll bounce back stronger for it.

Even if we wound up having to play (and lose to) all three of the eventual champions, it was great to have my team experience an event in Florida. This was the eleventh time I've gone to Florida for a robotics competition over ten years, but the first time with a team. For all our challenges in getting there (more than I care to think of at 1:00 in the morning), I think it was worth it.

So first off, thank you South Florida Regional committee. I've been to a lot of regionals, some great, some mediocre, some awful. South Florida puts on a top-notch event, from the venue to the pacing to the pleasant queueing announcements. I don't know if we'll be able to make the distance an annual thing, but I know I'm going to throw it in the discussion.

My congratulations to Exploding Bacon on their double-gold performance. Our lead mechanical student (soon to be a freshman USC mentor) stood in front of 1902's pit for a good ten minutes just ogling the sheetmetal work of this robot, and I've long been familiar with Bacon's outreach effort. For as much as our team talks of the latest news from Simbotics and Cheesy Poofs and Robonauts, I don't think there's a single member of Los Pollos Locos that isn't in love with Exploding Bacon. (And coming from a team with an aversion to orange, that's a lot.)

Further congratulations to SPAM on busting through again on a beastly 15-1 run. I know we'd have loved to get the band back together, but it's good to see that finally winning Einstein hasn't gotten you guys soft on us. And thanks to all the SPAMmers who helped us and many, many other teams through their gremlins.

To TechTigers: FINALLY! You guys are far too awesome to have had this drought, and I'm glad it's behind you. (I heard SPAM make the pick--a spot we've been picked in more times than any other--and thought "Aw crap...but wait, how can I argue against picking TechTigers?" You can't!) I look forward to seeing you guys in St. Louis. (And apologies to David for forgetting his name!)

I was less active in the pits this year, so I know there have to be many more people and teams we should be thanking. I hope you know who you are, and that we appreciate it.

Hopefully we'll see some of y'all at SCRIW this fall!

[dmellich]

Originally Posted by Billfred

I'm typing this from my futon back in Columbia, SC right now; after alliance selection (and some lunch), our drive coach had to start the 700-plus-mile slog back to Charlotte, NC for Easter with his family. Since I was riding with him, I obviously had to skip town earlier than I'd normally want--but whoever was riding shotgun was following along on Spyder.

Glad to hear you made it back safe.

So first off, thank you South Florida Regional committee. I've been to a lot of regionals, some great, some mediocre, some awful. South Florida puts on a top-notch event, from the venue to the pacing to the pleasant queueing announcements. I don't know if we'll be able to make the distance an annual thing, but I know I'm going to throw it in the discussion.

On behalf of the planning committee, thanks so much for the kind words William (yes, I'm going to be formal). We are glad you decided to join us and having Los Pollos Locos here only added to the success of the event.

Hopefully we'll see some of y'all at SCRIW this fall!

Count us in.

[brrian27]

On behalf on the team 2383 drive team and ALL the Ninjineers, congrats to everyone for a great weekend and to SPAM, Exploding Bacon, and TechTigers for their superb performance bringing them to be the winners! South Florida was an awesome event, thanks to all those that made it possible!

[Swampdude]

Thanks to all the volunteers and Event planners. Great event!

• Great Layout
• Nice place
• Well organized for the bots queing, in and out etc.
• No big field issues
• Great Announcing
• Webcast and Archived here: http://new.livestream.com/accounts/3...outhFloridaFRC
• Great Teams and cooperation
• Relaxed atmoshphere
• 10 minutes on the practice field
• Didn't get rushed or yelled at to hurry

Congrats to Spam - Great job constantly improving, very impressed with you guys
Bacon bot and chairmans award team - awesome - and Deans List!
Tech Tigers - Love you guys! Glad you ended your struggles with a Win

Thanks to 86 for picking us, it was great to finally pair with you and see how you do things.

Congrats to Kent Stolley for Woodie Flowers, well deserved, and watching Dan Richardson get choked up made me choke up.

[techtiger1]

Big thanks to 180 and 1902. Both teams were nearly flawless at the regional and it goes to show what they have become. Dan, thanks for the kind words, as always 179 is a class act. Great machine this year. Billfred, you are one of a kind buddy and no one disputes that, good luck continuing to inspire with los pollos locos. Finally, 2383 you guys rock always a pleasure too see you guys dancing around in the stands. Thanks to all who made the regional a great success and we hope to see everyone next year.

[EricS-Team180]

Originally Posted by techtiger1

Thanks to all who made the regional a great success and we hope to see everyone next year.

This is a great regional, and I sure hope it can grow to it's full size. The venue is perfect...roomy, yet the pits and field are close to each other.

I want to throw out a special thanks to the FTA (Deeann sp?) As Murphy would have it, we were probably the only team to see large packet drops and long travel times during our last two Qual matches. Looking to confirm our own match logs, she graciously spent time after alliance selections, to share the FMS logs with Brian and myself. It was enough to allow us to make a few configuration changes and move on to elims without further issues.

Eric