Championships: Competition vs. Inspiration

Originally Posted by sentientfungus

Never. Watching a match is nothing compared to the chance to talk for a half hour with some guys from Cheesy Poofs about organizing their team, or the design process. I didn't watch any matches at Championships this year other than eliminations, instead electing to go out and talk with and make connections to the hundreds of teams at the competition. Listening to Karthik via Talkshoe is nothing compared to being in the room, listening to him as the crowded room is nearly dead silent. Watching via a video doesn't give you a chance to go to the City Museum after hours and run into someone, talk to them about FIRST for a half hour, and then see them and their family at the competition the next day (which happened to my this past weekend).

I don't think you can ever match the experience of championships via proxy. It could probably be very good, if they didn't just webcast matches, but also interviews and presentations and ceremonies, but it would never be closely matched. Championships is a magical experience.

That's just my two cents though.

This reminded me of something brought up between some fellow FIRSTers and I. It wasn't necessarily any of our points of view, but it was brought up in our discussions:

What if only certain teams who qualify for champs via robot performance (ie regional winners, rookie all-star, etc.) were allowed to compete in matches, and teams that qualify in a non-robot-performance way are still invited for chairman's presentations, exhibitions, etc. Basically, let the teams who proved themselves during the competition season compete in what they excelled at, and let the teams who were outstanding representatives of FIRST compete in what they excelled at. That way, everyone who qualifies can go, and even those teams with a robot not at championship-competition caliber can still experience the championship event and compete in their own competition (chairman's, EI, etc.).

Multiple friends of mine who have gone to championships but didn't do the best in matches have told me that what inspired them the most was the atmosphere. The events, the presentations, the people, and the robots. What inspired them wasn't seeing their own team win a lot of matches, but experiencing the FIRST championship as a whole.

This is just an idea that we came up with. It's not any of our main points of view, but it's something.

My personal thoughts: FIRST needs to celebrate all kinds of teams: Those who perform above and beyond in the robot portion of the game, and those who perform above and beyond in the outreach portion. However, FRC is a robotics competition, and I want to see the highest-quality matches at the championship event. Watching a championship qualifier with low scores and little action doesn't excite me. I know Dean has said "it's not about the robots", but amazing robot matches is what we all want to see. If FIRST were a tree-planting competition, I wouldn't be here right now.