FIRST Nationals on "Regular" TV

[Andrew]

On the day when the "Andy Baker Rookie Season FIRST Trading Card" sells for $10,000 on eBay, FIRST will have achieved its objective.

When Dave Lavery becomes wealthy through his official line of FIRST Hawaiian shirts, FIRST will have achieved its objective.

When the nation stops what it is doing on a Saturday in mid-April to watch the FIRST National Championships, FIRST will have achieved its objective. (How's that for getting this back on topic?)

When little Johnny's parents complain to the school board that the mathematics education in their middle school is inadequate and preventing Johnny from making the robotics team when he reaches high school, FIRST will have achieved its objective.

You don't have to be academically brilliant to become an engineer. You just have to work really hard from an early age developing your mind and your imagination. It is far easier to become a good engineer and contribute to the development of society than to become a great baseball player and contribute to society's decline.

It is far easier for an inner city youth to climb out of his situation through education than through developing the uncanny ability to hurl a spherical object through a hoop from 20 feet away.

Why don't more people do this?

Because the culture:
1. doesn't communicate that it is an option
2. doesn't obviously value this option
3. does adulate the very few (ie the elite) men who can hit rocks with sticks

FIRST's mechanism to change this is to invest an elite of engineering talent with a "sports-like" reward, to involve these people with the younger generation who will supercede them, and to disseminate this message as widely as possible.

If FIRST rewarded mediocrity, where would we be? [The answer is "Nowheresville, man."]

That having been said, I don't think any one of the luminaries who have advocated for an elite are trying to say limit who you try to reach. Most of the elite teams will give anyone a chance. That chance may take a variety of forms and there may be a standard that you have to reach before you are given that chance.

However, few teams have the resources to carry a lot of dead weight. Chances are, if you are not moving towards the team's objectives, you're going to get cut. Better luck next year.

There are other teams who are in it for the fun and comaraderie. Who just want to put together a little robot, get to competition, and have a good time. THAT's OK, TOO. Just don't expect to win big Cupie Doll.