Georgia Dome

[Hallry]

Having joined Team 1676 for the 2010 season, I was fortunate to experience the last year of the FIRST Championship at the Georgia Dome. I can vividly remember staying in the Omni Hotel attached to the CNN Center food court, with news footage of the smoke from the erupting volcano in Iceland affecting European flights playing on the huge hanging TV. The short walk to the Dome was great, and I fondly miss the large outdoor courtyard between the dome and the pits. There were kids playing with RC cars and helicopters, and if I remember correctly the Dean's List presentation was out there was well. 2010 was the closest 1676 ever got to tasting Einstein, being picked by 1986 along with 888 and backup 1421 for the third seeded alliance on Curie before ultimately losing to the beastly 1114-469-2041 alliance in the finals. And I could never forget the "after party" in Centennial Olympic Park, complete with an awesome drum show and an amazing fireworks display. For a freshman, the entire experience was absolutely incredible and definitely left a lasting impact. I certainly hope that with the Mercedes-Benz Dome being finished soon, a FIRST Championship could return back to Atlanta one day.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Billfred

The trash bag art on the upper decks of 2004,
.

I remember telling my kids to hang up out giant 25 x 20 banner we had from the upper deck not realizing that teams were banned from going up there. The two boys who went up there hung the banner up and were immediately perused by security. They claimed they had the most fun at the event hiding in bathrooms and behind garbage cans eluding security and jumping down the ramps to escape them(they were into parkour so they were of course going to take the crazy way down). One of them ended up spraining his ankle doing that and I felt bad enabling them to be in that position and threw the banner away after the event.

[IndySam]

Oh and peeing next to the Woz.

[martin417]

George Bush's speech in 2008:

"like the WWF, but for smart people."

[Rangel]

Watching this live my rookie year of FRC. Was blown away by how exciting the match was and by how great the commentary was. Seven years later, still my favorite match of all time.

[Peyton Yeung]

Originally Posted by Rangel

Watching this live my rookie year of FRC. Was blown away by how exciting the match was and by how great the commentary was. Seven years later, still my favorite match of all time.

That was a close match. I think my favorite match from champs that year was this one. I was the human player for 45 and there was such a rush to return balls to the field. Plus the 4 robots hanging at the end was amazing.

[Mike Wittman]

I have many fond memories of attending events at the Georgia Dome. The one that is most memorable was when I took a wrong turn and ended up somewhere I didn't know. It was an access hall or tunnel. In one of the back tunnels of the Georgia Dome there are a series of posters on the wall, one representing each year, with an event that occurred that year, depicted on the poster. I can't remember the year, but there is one poster where the representative event is FIRST. The picture on the poster is of a founding team member of FIRST Team #1714, MORE Robotics wearing a robot mascot costume. That member went on to captain the team and changing the way we did things. She also went on to earn a Regional Dean's list award. She went on to college and is currently working on changing the world in a positive way.

[Joe Johnson]

I remember looking up and seeing that roof structure for the first time from inside the dome. I was moved.

So clever. How is the magic accomplished? The more you look at the more clever it gets.

Here is my best explanation of the trick:

1. Build a Big Outer Hoop
2. Suspend a Slightly Smaller, Slightly Lower Hoop on cables from BOH
3. Put columns on SSSLH with the tops of the columns higher than BOH,
4. Stablize columns with cables to back to BOH,
5. Use tops of columns to repeat process recursivley.
6. Ring after ring, you eventually reach that high center ridge line of poles over the midline of the field.

SO SO SO CLEVER.

I admit I was sad seeing the roof during the Falcons-Packers game, knowing its days are numbered.

The world will be a little less good when that dome roof structure ceases to exist.

Dr. Joe J.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Billfred

2009: Finally competing with a team! Also, getting screwed on Curie. (11th seed, and we both missed playoffs and Highest Rookie Seed? C'mon, son!)

1676 had a similar experience in Atlanta: 11th seed and never picked. sigh.

Originally Posted by IndySam

Oh and peeing next to the Woz.

You didn't turn to say hello, did you?

Green man group out in the courtyard. The l o n g walk, up and down and over and in and out...then ending up in that magnificent indoor space! The booth full of money. Andymark's booth for the first time! CD Meet & greet & T-shirts. That long escalator when coming from centennial park. Walking all the way from the Marriott as a group voicing the Super Mario Bros music. Watching others get wet in the fountain. And marveling at the efficiency of feeding a HUGE crowd with those long tables at the after-parties.

That being said: the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be awesome. A friend is a steelworker and his stories of putting the roof (and now the petals) in place are, er, interesting. Don't look down!

[Eugene Fang]

https://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=85417

[Nica F.]

Originally Posted by Eugene Fang

https://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=85417

Understood that what you've linked to is a distinct memory, but quite a negative one to have as your "best" memory without much of a sentence to support it. I for one am glad there were no fatalities during the incident you have reminded us all of.

**
On a more cheerful note - I will miss all the Chief Delphi Web Hugs that were had at this venue! Safe to say that the ATL year Web Hugs were the first time I met many people I've grown quite close to (and am still close to today!). Just did a quick image tag search and found all of the old photos uploaded from the years 2005-2009 and they brought back quite the memories! First time I truly felt that the FIRST community was a big welcoming family. Hoping this is a tradition to bring back in the venues to come.

Also - wondering if anyone remembers the name of the place I'm talking about downtown, but I also had my first bison burger in Atlanta and it's left quite the memory as well!

[Eugene Fang]

Originally Posted by Nica F.

Understood that what you've linked to is a distinct memory, but quite a negative one to have as your "best" memory without much of a sentence to support it. I for one am glad there were no fatalities during the incident you have reminded us all of.

Yeah I guess by the time I finished reading all of the posts prior, I thought about distinct memories rather than necessarily good ones.

I'll never forget being so excited when, in 2010, 254 drove into the tunnel in auton in attempt to block 469's robot from getting into scoring position on Einstein. Too bad it didn't work. The volunteers were nice enough to allow some of us who had gotten eliminated earlier spectate from the floor on Einstein, and let us move closer to the field every time a match started. Best seats in the house!

[rspurlin]

Originally Posted by Nica F.

Also - wondering if anyone remembers the name of the place I'm talking about downtown, but I also had my first bison burger in Atlanta and it's left quite the memory as well!

probably Ted's Montana Grill - it is a chain so there might be one near you.

A venture partly owned by Ted Turner of CNN fame. He owns over a billion acres and ranches bison.

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

You didn't turn to say hello, did you?

Why yes I did and he was very nice.

The next year we were in the elevator up to the VIP suite with him and Janet and had a nice chat. He invited us to the Segway Polo Nationals in Indy that year.

He is seriously the most down to earth billionaire you will ever meet.

[DRow]

I miss Sir Charles.

Seriously, does anyone remember the name of the 2010 game?
https://youtu.be/54KG94wJvmc?t=1m21s