Music / Noise "Restrictions"

[Lil' Lavery]

Keep in mind air horns havnt been alowd for a while, its just moe sticks now. And you can still cheer your heart out, and wave flags and stuff. My team was the one in annapolis with the overly large flag, and the 2 smaller ones. I think we sat just above and to the right of MOE. And MOE still have the large walking "miracle worker" puppet suit thing. And my team can still have "richie bot". hehehe

[richardp]

Yeah go Richiebot!!! (AKA ME!!!) I think that the MOE stick should be banned i hated them because they would clap so loud whenever their team did good (which was often) and sometimes just out of randomness. I mean it sucked having them sit behing you.

[Swan217]

Ah, yes. It was actually we - Team 217, back when we were the Macomb Knights - that got Air Horns banned back in 1999. That was because in Ypsilanti we brought about a dozen and laid them on every time we won a match ^_^. Good times. Very annoying when other teams caught on though ;-)

On the subject of whether the rule will stick, I predict that many teams will get away with noisemakers (shakers, MOEsticks, etc.) anyways, just because it's such a big part of the competitions. I do agree that the drum corps, the boombox-carts, and the like have to go, though.

[Lil' Lavery]

We dont realize it, but it is actually REALLY lound at the competitions. I know people who attended the competetions and need MOEs earplugs just for the music. And if the noisemakers have to go over that sound, it must be painful to them.

[miketwalker]

Well, I see some people are upset about not getting to use noisemakers. I really feel that if you want to get "Spirit" award or get noticed... do it yourself. That's one lesson I've learned from ComBBAT. Yes, I know the MOE clap, we all do... and yea, I will admit I will miss it. But... you still have hands. I know people can be drowned in our "Who dat BBAT? COMBBAT!" chant.. even though we have fewer people on our team than most teams have.

If your team really has the emotion and the spirit, you can be just as powerful without noisemakers. I know my team has, we've avoided the temptation to use noisemakers on many occasions... but you can still hear us cheering. I agree this will help the pit announcements. If teams want to cheer, they still can because that's not going to last too awful long. But with those speaker carts and such, those can cause quite a disruption.

I really hope to see that this will push teams to show their true spirit, and not need to use the assistance of noisemakers which make it easy. I know that after a competition I am on menthol-lyptus cough drops for a week.... but it's worth it. Bring out the true you, it'll be much better without the need for noisemakers

[richardp]

Ok so accourding to this new rule there is more to it than no MOE sticks accourding to al the otherstuff they banned and you cant do i would almost perfer the MOE sticks over this new rule. I mean no food @ all and no banners or saving seats for your team. I have decided i hate the rule as a whole more than the MOE sticks but none the less i hate MOEsticks.

[Nick Mac]

I have to say that I am definitely against this rule. Being from a team thats about as loud as their shirts, we've always been high energy and fun. I have really noticed though that since the transition from last year's season to the post season, teams have asked for other teams to quiet down. I'm not really sure in what other way(s), can we show excitement and support for our team.

[Lil' Lavery]

Im fine with the noise restriction rule, but its the other section 10 rules that I HATE. No saving seats, no banners outside the pit, I assume that includes flags, no fundraising during the competition, no outside food or drink or candy... GRRRR....

[Kevin Sevcik]

<SOAPBOX>
The no outside food bit is actually pretty standard for a lot of venues. Usually you can thank Aramark or some other catering service for that. As for candy... well candy is dangerous when people unthinkingly throw it into the crowds.

And saving seats? First off, they're asking teams to clear the pits as much as possible, so most of your team should be in the stands. If you need a few extra seats in the stands, just leave a few open in the middle of your group, and social dynamics will save the seats for you. Besides, there's two options. Either there are enough seats for everyone and you shouldn't have to save them, or there aren't enough seats for everyone and you should let other people sit down since they might have a round coming up.

And banners... Sponsors shell out large amounts of money to put on regionals, and I think they earn the right to not have to compete with other banners for just team sponsors. If it's a banner for just your team, well you should have enough spirit to stand out without it. And flags tend to block the view of people behind you, or worse the video crew behind you. I work scoring at Lonestar and I've seen it happen and it's just silly.

Mostly, I'm saying all these rules do make sense if you calm down a bit and look at them. They're intended to make the competitions more venue and audience friendly so FIRST will have an easier time expanding. They're not arbitrary and certainly not an attempt to crush team spirit, cause what would the point of that be? FIRST knows spirit is vital to the competition. If they didn't, they might've enacted MUCH more restrictive rules.
</SOAPBOX>

[Koko Ed]

Looking over the rules, I don't think FIRST banned clappers like the X-Cats have or Moe Sticks. Just bang sticks which damage the floor. FIRST had banned those before and I have seen teams still bring them to competitions.

[KenWittlief]

Looking over the rules, I don't think FIRST banned clappers like the X-Cats have

I dont know Ed, I think the 2X4 clappers are being dragging to FIRST history this year. They are clearly talking about the noise level and possible hearing damage in seciton 10.

The clappers are cool. Bluelightning cloned them and brought them to Toronto last year. But I think FIRST is silencing the clappers :c(

[Tom Bottiglieri]

we have a cool idea to still atract ppls attention without making noise... a stick with an array of 100+ leds that come on in different patterns and such.. that should be pretty cool i just gotta go down to radio shack and get some binary counter chips. (Note: These are also very useful if u have a member of the team who is always there for the fun stuff, but miraculously "dissapears" when u want him to do work... just get about 40 feet of duck tape and wrap it adound him.. ull have a 10 foot blinking weasel)

[Lil' Lavery]

The banner rule was for those who attach them to the walls and cause damage. And most venues still alowed bottled water. And in certain regionals there were area wouldnt block views, like the one wall in annapolis or the top of the stands in richmond.

[Pin Man]

.................................. I can't believe this rule... I really can't... I bet in 5 or 10 years they won't allow cheering or anything...

[Elgin Clock]

I have very mixed feelings about this ruling.

Last summer we approached Boomer McCloud and asked them to donate a sound system that we could use during competitions like many of the other teams had. They graciously provided us with a head unit, amp, speakers and wiring stuff. Some of you have seen this sound system since it's inception at the mini comps we went to this summer.
River Rage was the most memorable with the system cranked up at lunch time playing the chicken dance and many people jumping in on the field to do the chicken dance with us.

I understand FIRST's view of this problem, but I don't want this event turning into a "science fair" with a noise limit.

I do agree that at competitions it is hard to hear announcements sometimes with or without these sound systems playing in the background.

I also LOVE the idea of a certain audible tone playing over the announcement speakers before announcements are made. This would mean that everyone would stop what they were doing and actually listen to the announcements - important or not.

I remember two years ago at the NYC regional and that really annoying lady that made the announcements in the pits there. But you know what, she was lound and kind of obnoxious, but she did get the point across (most of the time lol)

The comparison to FIRST events to a sporting event in this particular area is false. In no sporting event there are no music allowed other than venue played competition music. While this may be a good idea for sporting events (which are mainly spectator sports, it is not the wisest descision for an event where most of the spectators are the one's who are also competing.

In closing I don't want to see it be so loud that you can't hear announcements in the pits, but I also feel it is impossible to put a noise limit on a competitive event where you have at least 1000 people in the venue. It just won't happen!! Don't make it as quiet as a "science fair" when it is not!

We need motivation which leads to energy which leads to the very competitve spirit that we all have come to love!

(BTW, all this is coming from the person who designed and built a FIRST inspired subwoofer box for his car!! ME!! )