Why does everyone hate this game so much?

[RallyJeff]

Originally Posted by Hoover

I did have one thing cleared up - that of evaporating points. As most of you probably know (but naive me did not), our fouls are being added to the opponents score (or vice-verse) in real time during the match. However, after the match, in the refs huddle, fouls are then fluctuating, coming into existence, going out of existence, or changing value. For example a 50 point foul that had your alliance ahead during the match might be re-evaluated to a 20 point foul now putting the alliance behind. We have learned the hard way to never stop adding points to your score, hardly ever try to rely on denying your opponents goal in the last minute if you are ahead as your sole means of winning. But in a pinch...

Also, fouls (or goals) can sometimes happen just as the buzzer is sounding. The ref tablets automatically lock out five seconds after the match ends, so we sometimes have to get the scorekeeper to enter these "buzzer beaters" manually after the fact.

It might help clarify things to explain my own process. Other head refs might have different systems, but this is what I do: during the match, the refs radio fouls to me as they happen. I make a quick note for each of them in my notebook. As a check at the end of the match, I'll tally up the number of fouls and tech fouls I recorded in my notebook and compare it to what the scorekeeper has on his screen. If they match, great. If they don't, I talk to the refs to figure out the reason for the discrepancy. Refs are human, and this year's game is intense. Occasionally, it'll happen that - for instance - a ref accidentally hits the foul button instead of the tech foul button. In these cases where there's a discrepancy, I confirm what the fouls should be and get the scorekeeper to adjust them if necessary.

We strive to be accurate during the match, but if a mistake is made, my approach is that it's better to catch it and fix it than to let it go.

Originally Posted by Hoover

However, that being said, in the heat of a match it is incredibly hard to know how much of your score consists of foul points. Who's looking at that? You look up every 30 seconds if even that to view the score. As I told one alliance during qualifications, 'we need more points to stay a fouls width of winning'. If foul points were listed as a second number this would be very helpful.

I've never been a coach myself, but since this year's game only has one game piece per alliance (most of the time), is this something that the coach could track? If they're watching the ball anyhow, they might be able to keep a mental tally of trusses, catches, assists and goals as they happen.

It'd be a lot to keep track of, and I'm not sure how it fits in the rest of their workload, but that might be a possibility.

Originally Posted by Hoover

There is no solution I know of to know if fouls are going to be added on at the end. The only caveat to that is, if there is an outstanding foul call known to the refs during teleop but no points have been added, at least have an indicator that it may happen as it will affect strategy.

When it comes right down to it, you aren't going to ever be sure that fouls won't be added on at the end. Even when everything's working perfectly, there's still a chance of a tech foul right at the end of the game that suddenly shifts the score by a large margin.