The Fraud of FTC Worlds - How FTC & FIRST have failed me forever.

[bluuwazu2]

I would like to chime in here, as I am a mentor of Team 5026, and have been able to watch all the posts. I do think it is unfortunate that Cougar Robotics was not able to play in the finals, and looking at the video, I would mostly agree that it was a questionable call. I think the referee saw the way Eagle was defending us, and that they pushed us onto the tube, and saw our robot pull it over. If they applied the rule that an opposing robot cannot cause a team to incur their own penalty, I can see how this could have been interpreted. Like I said though, I think it should have gone the other way and I believe 3 of the 4 teams agreed with this in principle.

I would really like to point out just a few things though that need considered. It is interesting to me that it isn't Cougar that feels vilified and torn apart. They aren't complaining about grave injustices, Fraud or eternal failings, at least not that I have seen. I walked by ERX pit several times and noticed that the team was very visibly shaken and HOT, while Cougar was talking to other teams, including mine, and trying to put this in perspective. Now with this petition, all the forums and such, I think ERX, you really don't understand the damage you are doing to yourself, and to the FIRST community.

What is happening is that all of this vitriol is making this look just like High School football and basketball, the two sports funded so highly above robotics. Angry students, coaches and parents that just can't see how that blind zebra is allowed to referee their sport. This isn't what this sport is all about! 5026 Tesla Coils could have just as easily been writing this same post because of a call made in round 1 of the qualifiers. Up against HotWired, there was a penalty called that we pushed our rolling goal into their parking zone. We weren't even close, video replay is very clear that HotWired pushed the tube in, and we lost our first qualifier. Think of how the picking alliances would have changed if this call had been made correctly. We would have been 2nd picking captain instead of 5th, and things could have been much different. Were our kids upset about the call? Of course! Did they go to the box and question the call? Yes, with their mentors encouragement. The point is, the call was not reversed, we lost, had to regain our composure, still won 7 of 9 matches, with the 2nd or 3rd highest RP of the division. What we did not do though, is let it destroy our dreams of the future and completely challenge all the work all the FIRST volunteers are putting into this program. And I know you are going to come back with "but this was the SemiFinals, not the qualifiers, but don't insult all our intelligence! Everyone knows how important those qualifiers are, because only 12 of 68 teams gets to move on, and one bad game can ruin the chances of being a picking captain!

This program is not all about crowning a World Champion. It is about Dean Kaman's vision of becoming leaders in society through STEM fields. The championships are fun, and they are a huge investment, but the real deal is that I have a daughter in her sophomore year already receiving attention from Universities and Engineering programs. She's a Dean's List finalist this year, and already has her first scholarship for school. I'm not bragging her up or I would name names, I'm just saying, WOW. Have we forgotten what this is about just a little bit? Our team pumped a couple thousand dollars and a couple thousand hours into this program just like everyone else. We had to raise an ungodly amount of money to get through Supers and Worlds just like the other 127 teams.

Eagle, I'm sorry about this experience. I know it hurts. I know because last year, you were picked by Hotwired, and Coils moved up to 2nd picking captain, when we thought we probably could have played just a little better with them, and believe me we tried to convince them of that. We lost in our semi's last year because of a very bad call by a referee, which we tried in vain to protest. This year, we were 5th in the standings, and felt like we could have played really well with Cougar, and maybe could have been the combination to take down Redneks in the other division in the finals. You are an awesome team that builds a fantastic product each year, and other teams look to you for guidance.

Don't let this very negative experience destroy 3 years of good work. I would hate for this to end over one bad experience that really means nothing at the start of next season.

We will miss you next year. This was the Tesla Coils final try at the Championship, at least for a while. Graduation and FRC have taken all but a couple of our warm bodies. We have made great friends at World's and at Supers in the West. We made it to Worlds 3 of our 4 years. What an incredible and valuable experience for our kids!

Remember, it's not all about winning.....It is all about teaching!