'Twas the Night Before Kickoff 2014

[Tetraman]

'Twas the night before Kickoff, when all 'cross the globe
The teams were preparing for their brand-new workload.
Each tool and supply was sorted and stocked,
Ready for the moment the game manual's unlocked.

The mentors were getting their last sleep for six weeks,
No time to get rest once the robots need tweaks.
So until that approaching final day of the season,
There's no time for naps! (At least within reason).

The students, however, were awake and a-buzz
Squeezed the hint for more clues! Why? Just because!
I'm sure there's still time to unravel it's secrets!
And a game hint, after all, is CD's greatest weakness.

And up north in New England, in the snowy Manchester,
The FRC folks give the game one last minute tester.
It turned into a romp, all the people were joking.
Then suddenly, CRACK! Something impressive had broken!

Dave Lavery ran frantic, red herrings in hand.
Dean looked around saying "Well that wasn't planned."
Woodie Flowers stood pointing, "I think it was Blair!"
But Blair had roller-bladed the heck outta there!

A broken down field, oh, the gasps and the fears!
The sight of the ruin brought them all to tears.
That's when Frank, he stepped up, and went all MacGyver,
He fixed the whole field with his sonic screwdriver!

"That's good enough," called Dean, "Lets have no more bad luck!"
"Someone help me push this whole field onto the truck."
Together they heaved the crates one after the other,
And swore they would never once speak of this blunder.

The group packed up the totes and went over the list,
Ensured that no detail would ever be missed.
In no time they finished the last work of the day,
As Dean practiced the words of the speech he would say.

While I cannot speak for this greatest inventor,
Here are some choice words that you should remember:
You have a clean slate, in this twenty fourteen.
Time to actually build that one simple machine.

But for now please relax, and get one good nights sleep.
The road ahead is quite long, and the climb is quite steep.
But regardless the challenge, I tell you now: Believe!
There's not a thing in this world you cannot achieve!

To the north and the south and the east and the west,
Good luck to all teams, I wish you each the best!
And until we all gather at the last competition,
Happy kickoff to all, and to all a good season!

[Justin Montois]

Bravo!

Awesome job man. Good luck to you and all FRC teams. This season promises to be one of the most competitive yet!

[Akash Rastogi]

Evan, I always look forward to these. Thanks again!

[MooreteP]

Bump, cool, share with team, rinse, repeat.

[The_ShamWOW88]

Awesome job man! Tomorrow can't come fast enough.

[kstl99]

Thanks,

I was looking forward to this.

[Kevin Ray]

Wow! Very eloquently done.

[safiq10]

Love this! Thanks and good luck twmr

[Renee Becker-Blau]

I always love reading these! Nice Dr. Who reference

[Starke]

Thanks for posting this again this year Evan! A great read as always!

[kghaemi96]

So i made my own version before realizing you had one made. One that is much longer. Well anyways this is verrryyy awesome. Nice job.

[Sami07]

That's amazing. Good luck to everyone.

[Camilo86]

Great Job!

[Calvin Hartley]

Bravo dear sir! This is excellent, I am not one with words, and could hope to do it better. You have done the parody justice.

Thank you and have a good season!