2014 Mt. Olive MAR District Event

[Akash Rastogi]

With the Mt. Olive district almost full, I figured I'd start a thread to see who else plans on attending during week 1. I've highlighted the teams who I personally predict will be the main contenders, based on prior performance. This should be a decently competitive week 1 event for districts.

So, who else is planning on signing up?

When available, all district information should be found here - http://mort11.org/district

1. MORT 11
2. RoboWarriors 41
3. ROBBE XTREME 56
4. The Gearheads 102
5. MORT Beta 193
6. Tigertrons 222
7. Xtreme Heat 223
8. Moderate Heat 265
9. Montclair Robotics 555
10. RoboTribe 1228
11. Cold Fusion 1279
12. Team Lionheart 1302
13. Thermogenesis 1370
14. Cougar Robotics 1403
15. The Pascack PI-oneers 1676
16. FRESH 1811
17. The MidKnight Inventors 1923
18. Pirates 2070
19. Normality Zero 2559
20. Team Falcon 2600
21. Aperture 3142
22. Mechanical Mustangs 3314
23. Pneubotic Mustangs 3515
24. TECHNOLOGIC 3607
25. Tornadoes 4035
26. Camo-Bots 4285
27. Roxbotix 4361
28. Ironmen Robotics 4653

[Hallry]

I did say I'd visit Hatboro Horsham Week 1....but with the Pi-oneers and most of the tough and friendly usuals coming here...I just might have to ask 1370 for a ride up for the weekend

[Jscout11]

MO definitely looks to be the best competition yet as the event heads into its third year. On a side note, we'll see if 222 can keep up their winning streak

[DELurker]

Akash, I'm hurt.

You're not expecting every team (especially 1370) to be main contenders?

Of course, I do have to ask: Are 222 and 223 always at the same events? Or does it just seem that way?

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by DELurker

Of course, I do have to ask: Are 222 and 223 always at the same events? Or does it just seem that way?

It does seem like that, but actually they're a good 2+ hours away from each other: https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Lakeland+Regional+High+School,+Conklint own+Road,+Wanaque,+NJ&daddr=Tunkhannock+Area+High+ School&hl=en&ll=41.216887,-75.120392&spn=0.851205,1.874542&sll=41.059819,-74.281538&sspn=0.006666,0.014645&geocode=FeuFcgIdv o2S-yFc3eH_oIEYsCklUoYHPBzDiTFc3eH_oIEYsA%3BFeLreQIdyP V4-yGOTRdrjNcJAylpeZi6jzDFiTGOTRdrjNcJAw&t=h&mra=ls&z =10.

Looking at last year's events, the only competition they had in common was the MAR Championships in Lehigh. They didn't go to any of the same districts.

But, the 222, 223, 224, and 225 all in MAR do get confusing after a while

EDIT: After some more investigation (should I be doing school work...?), 222 and 225 in PA are also 2+ hours away from one another, with 225 being closer to Philly, while 222 and 224 in NJ being relatively closer, with them being just under an hour away from each other.

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by DELurker

Akash, I'm hurt.

You're not expecting every team (especially 1370) to be main contenders?

Of course, I do have to ask: Are 222 and 223 always at the same events? Or does it just seem that way?

Last year at MAR Championships we had the beautiful quad-fecta of 222-225 in the pits. We've actually never been to the same event as 222 (barring MAR Championships) since Philly 2009.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by DELurker

Akash, I'm hurt.

You're not expecting every team (especially 1370) to be main contenders?

Haha Will, I keep more tabs on most of the MAR teams than you might think.

I had heard about some 'restructuring' 1370 went through over the summer/fall, so I didn't guess where that might leave 1370 in terms of performance or who went to the new team.

Of course, if you continue to improve at your current rate, I could see 1370 as an alliance captain earlier in the season. Last year's performance tells me that it took your first event to work out the bugs and some iteration to be on point by the second event, as well as MAR champs. By contenders, I meant teams who were most likely to seed in the top 8 in week 1.

I'd love for you to prove my prediction wrong!

[Jscout11]

It's too bad that "226" wasn't an available number for 223's beta team

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Jscout11

It's too bad that "226" wasn't an available number for 223's beta team

...and I think 221 is already taken

I signed up as a volunteer for MO, let's see if they actually let me...

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

...and I think 221 is already taken

I signed up as a volunteer for MO, let's see if they actually let me...

Prior to getting a number, we often did refer to it as Team 221

And hopefully a college student bussing back home the night before will make for a good volunteer...

[Jscout11]

I also really like the shift to Week 1 as we'll now get to see even more MAR teams play right off the bat, whereas some teams didn't even play until Week 4 last year (as with the case with us in terms of MAR)

[Gregor]

I don't understand why you felt the need to call out certain teams as being "contenders." What you're essentially doing is pointing out not only the good teams, but the not-so great teams too. What's worse is that it's your own opinion too, not a quantifiable metric (such as OPR).

It left a sour taste in my mouth, and I'm not even one of the unbolded (or bolded) teams. I wouldn't want to be seeing this as a team member, seeing "oh, a well respected FRC mentor thinks my team sucks."

I'm sure you didn't mean to come off that way, but you did. I just think it was unnecessary. Everyone knows who the top teams are, no need to point it out.

[Akash Rastogi]

I wrote "main contenders," implying most likely to be within the top 8 seeded team. As mentioned, my metric was "prior performance." I have seen all of these teams in person, so OPR would not really reflect what I have seen and what I know about each team's history, resources, and background - as well as what I know about the people involved with each team.

Seeing as how I am friends with most of the members and mentors of the teams within MAR, I don't think they would read my post as you did, because they know me quite well - such as Will from 1370.

If you would like to continue that discussion, feel free to PM me; however, I will not edit my original post since it is my personal prediction.

Originally Posted by DevenStonow

And hopefully a college student bussing back home the night before will make for a good volunteer...

Looking forward to having you up here bud! Try to get a little sleep though

[PayneTrain]

I wouldn't worry about a main competitor designation... with only 28 in the list so far, almost all of them make the eliminations! EVERYBODY'S GOT A CHANCE ITS MARCH MADNESS UP IN HERE YEAHHHHHHH.

Wait, what were we talking about 5 months before a competition?

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

I wouldn't worry about a main competitor designation... with only 28 in the list so far, almost all of them make the eliminations! EVERYBODY'S GOT A CHANCE ITS MARCH MADNESS UP IN HERE YEAHHHHHHH.

Wait, what were we talking about 5 months before a competition?

I just do it for fun.

Regardless, last year we had 35 teams total www.frclinks.com/e/njfla/2013

I'm hoping to see more of those teams return for this year. The more teams we have competing during week 1, the more time they'll have to iterate for their second or third event! = even better competitions in later weeks!

Edit: I really hope some rookies register soon...