Ruling Consistancy in Houston

[ColleenShaver]

I went over to watch the matches on Curie.. specifically 126's matches since, well, I'm an alum of their team and my two cousins were drivers.... so I saw it all.

Yes.. pushing matches were engaged in in both matches. 126 got under 121 in the first match and managed to get them stick up on their side. In the 2nd match, 121 went head on into 126 who got stuck there and then kept pushing until 126 flipped completely over onto their back.

The hood, whether or not it was powerful enough, was lifted during that.

At first I kind of laughed.. because knowing the typical 'mentality' of 121, I pretty much guessed they would attack 126 the second match. When the flip occured.. I thought "turnabout's fair play". However, I do not think that the referees were wrong for making the call. They do not know that your wedge "isn't even strong enough to lift a battery", they only know that you were moving it which looked like, to the observer, an attempt to tip their robot. The only thing 126 did when you were on top was drive around. 121 both drove around AND lifted your hood.

I do not think it was unfair, and I think it was consistent with the rest of the calls I saw at nationals.

And Ricksta, given your profile saying that 121 has had '11 Brutal Flips', I would say that your team (or yourself as a representative of your team) thinks that tipping is correct and that you do so with somewhat of an intention, otherwise I'd highly doubt you'd brag about it. So I really don't think the judges were wrong in assuming that was your intent.

The referees calls in both matches were absolutely in line with my interpretation of the rules.