St. Louis - A Definite Practice in the Ideals of FIRST

[Richard Wallace]

This is a good thread. Thanks, Amanda.

Two things I'd like to add:

1) The Prank Monkeys, Team 1020, exhibited both gracious professionalism and grace under pressure at the St. Louis regional. They had an ambitious strategy for a rookie team, and struggled mightily to make it work. And while this was happening several of them spent time helping other teams, and one even volunteered with the FIRST crew (thanks, Neil!)

2) I strongly disagree with the suggestion that FIRST should change its scoring philosophy. The component of QP/EP score based on the opponents' raw point total is what gives the game most of its variety and challenge. If each alliance got points based only on its own score, the game would be too easy. In the St Louis SF2 example that DougHogg cited above, Red advanced and that is as it should be -- all teams knew the scoring rules beforehand, and should have planned and played accordingly. That is how life works.