Thank You, Team 217

[ghostmachine360]

Originally Posted by AnonymousNewton

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but you have to admit that from our prospective it is easy to see where such a theory came from. It worked out too well to be purely coincidental or a miscommunication.

As for the anonymity, I foresaw such animosity in the responses and do not wish to direct it towards my team. I also know that I speak for at least two other alliance captains in this thread. Our team numbers are irrelevant.

Why post it on Chief Delphi then? Why not speak to them team-to-team, like people of honesty and gracious professionalism do? Honestly, it doesn't matter what we on Chief Delphi think about what they wanted or were trying to do (and I'm not saying they had ulterior motive); they are their own moral compass. You want to find out where their moral compass points, talk to them and assess it by yourself. But this is frankly childish, irresponsible, and gutless to post something like this in this manner.

I'm sorry for the wrong that you believe was exacted against you and your fellow alliance members. But if we're going to be a community that breaks the mold (as stated today), we need to be willing to confront moments like these professionally and forward/upfront; despite the way you may or may not have been treated.

Hopefully they close the thread; this can't go anywhere but south.

[AnonymousNewton]

Originally Posted by ghostmachine360

Why post it on Chief Delphi then? Why not speak to them team-to-team, like people of honesty and gracious professionalism do? Honestly, it doesn't matter what we on Chief Delphi think about what they wanted or were trying to do (and I'm not saying they had ulterior motive); they are their own moral compass. You want to find out where their moral compass points, talk to them and assess it by yourself. But this is frankly childish, irresponsible, and gutless to post something like this in this manner.

I'm sorry for the wrong that you believe was exacted against you and your fellow alliance members. But if we're going to be a community that breaks the mold (as stated today), we need to be willing to confront moments like these professionally and forward/upfront; despite the way you may or may not have been treated.

Hopefully they close the thread; this can't go anywhere but south.

I don't disagree with this post. I concede that it's childish and probably irrelevant but it's something that I felt warranted discussion. I wanted to get some other opinions on the subject. It seems that most people believe I'm in the wrong here and perhaps I am. But again, looking at it from or prospective it's easy to see how we jumped to these conclusions.

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by AnonymousNewton

I don't disagree with this post. I concede that it's childish and probably irrelevant but it's something that I felt warranted discussion. I wanted to get some other opinions on the subject. It seems that most people believe I'm in the wrong here and perhaps I am. But again, looking at it from or prospective it's easy to see how we jumped to these conclusions.

I think you know that you are in the wrong on many fronts, but I do understand the mentality. The rush of emotion when something unexpected like that happens is crazy and insane.

My team has gone through that scenario in our minds as well. The past two years have really opened our eyes, but after a certain point, you have to give people the benefit of the doubt.

At the P'tree regional, a scenario went down where 2415 was approached by the first seed for a pick. 2415, who had struggled for the greater part of the regional, simply commented that they were having consistency issues to give full disclosure to the first seed. The first seed then opted to go with someone else, and 2415 powered through their issues and dominated the finals (for the two matches they played).

So it follows that perhaps 217 was simply alerting you of their situation with pure intentions. Perhaps they just wanted you to know what you were getting into. Whether it was experience, trust, or foresight, your team chose not to roll the dice on this and 1538 did. *shrug*

I'm not sure if anyone else on this forums understands, but I can tell you that I understand what you're feeling (having felt it before). However, these feelings are poisonous; they prevent us from being the best version of ourselves. It does not do to dwell on what could've been and forget to move forward.

- Sunny G.

[AnonymousNewton]

Originally Posted by ttldomination

I think you know that you are in the wrong on many fronts, but I do understand the mentality. The rush of emotion when something unexpected like that happens is crazy and insane.

My team has gone through that scenario in our minds as well. The past two years have really opened our eyes, but after a certain point, you have to give people the benefit of the doubt.

At the P'tree regional, a scenario went down where 2415 was approached by the first seed for a pick. 2415, who had struggled for the greater part of the regional, simply commented that they were having consistency issues to give full disclosure to the first seed. The first seed then opted to go with someone else, and 2415 powered through their issues and dominated the finals (for the two matches they played).

So it follows that perhaps 217 was simply alerting you of their situation with pure intentions. Perhaps they just wanted you to know what you were getting into. Whether it was experience, trust, or foresight, your team chose not to roll the dice on this and 1538 did. *shrug*

I'm not sure if anyone else on this forums understands, but I can tell you that I understand what you're feeling (having felt it before). However, these feelings are poisonous; they prevent us from being the best version of ourselves. It does not do to dwell on what could've been and forget to move forward.

- Sunny G.

Thank you for your understanding. I want to clarify that as a team we are not as bitter as you have made it sound. We are extremely proud of what we've accomplished and thrilled that we made it to elims. We went into our elimination matches knowing we didn't have a shot at Einstein. Please consider this thread entirely seperate from my team, and although emotions were running high, this wasn't merely a spur of the moment accusation of rage.

I still stand by my original position, childish as the argument is. This issue isn't black and white, everyone knows that. But in my opinion, teams employed deception to gain an advantage (whether or not it worked out in the end) and I do have a problem with that. Even it was simply an exaggeration of the true depth of their problems, the fact remains that they told us they were beyond repair and miraculously found themselves in working order by the very first elimination match.

[Jaxom]

I was going to write a nice, reasoned, long (there's no way to be concise AND complete about this one) post to this, and after starting the first couple of paragraphs decided not to. It's just not worth it trying to convince anyone of anything, and it's not going to change what happened. I do think I still want to say three things, without long explanation, and leave it at that:
* None of us have perfect information about this or any other situation. I know I don't, and I talked to a bunch of folks. 1538 did what alliance captains have to do; they made a hard decision, based on factors they thought were important.
* None of us can say what would have happened had things been done differently. Maybe if team 10,327 had been picked we would have lost in the quarterfinals instead. Or won Einstein. Or caused the universe to implode due to a rip in the fabric of space-time.
* You probably should have taken a lot of deep breaths before starting this thread, and I probably should have taken more than the two that I did before posting this.

In the end, what happened happened, and a very deserving alliance went from Newton to Einstein. Congratulations to 303, 3476, and 1640. And to all but THREE teams (congrats to them, too) in all of FRC: I guess we all need to just go out & make next year different, right? Or maybe I should say "...make next year different, eh?"

[Jon Stratis]

Before I add to the discussion, I want to add a disclaimer: I have not formed any personal opinion on this situation. My team wasn't there, although I was down there volunteering in Newton, so I got to know many of the teams and individuals there.

After alliance selection, while we were finishing re-inspecting robots, I was approached by 4 separate individuals from 4 different Newton teams. And inspector I know on Galileo was approached by two teams as well. They all had the same story to tell: they were told the robot was broke and not to pick them. When they were then selected as the 16th pick, there was a HUGE feeling from those individuals and their teams that it was an extremely ungracious situation, and those individuals wanted to complain about it.

Personally, I would really appreciate a statement from 217 concerning the situation. Some effort should be made to explain it directly to those teams from their division, and smooth over any negative feelings. Something like this could fester and hurt a teams image, regardless if everyone really knows what happened or not.

Edit: looks like Paul chimed in while I was writing my post.