FIRST really affects the WORLD!!!

[KenWittlief]

13" balls are too big for dodge ball, you can not easily grip one in one hand.
Nice 8" balls you can whip much better.

I can pickup the one that was in the KOP with one hand

but only becasue its flexible enough to pinch it.

[Justin Stiltner]

Actually from attempting to order balls for the UK team i have found out that we have wiped out palos-sport's supply of the offical ball, and the substitute ball... "we have nothing" is the quote from jessica at palos

[Tytus Gerrish]

HA HA! we caused a shortage

[Kiwi_queen]

i think this calls for a round of applause...we wiped out a whole stock of 13" balls!

[Jessica Boucher]

< business student talking >
Well, after looking at the company profile, they look like they like to keep their inventory levels low...thus, a shortage occurred. I'm surprised that FIRST didn't talk to these companies beforehand so that they could compensate for the added demand.

Give them a week and they'll be back up to full capacity.
< /business student talking >

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by Jessica Boucher

< business student talking > I'm surprised that FIRST didn't talk to these companies beforehand so that they could compensate for the added demand.< /business student talking >

They did. But it didn't sink in that if 1000 teams ordered 20-30 balls each, that means they would need ~25,000 balls. Somewhere along the line, someone didn't believe the teams would really want that many. So instead the company prepared 1 ball per team. And since they are manufactured in China, the reaction time to make new balls, once the error was recognized, is measured in months instead of days. Thus, we are now where we are.

Next time, I am voting to have all the playfield pieces made of REALLY commonly available materials - like driveway gravel or small twigs.

-dave

[JVN]

Originally Posted by dlavery

Next time, I am voting to have all the playfield pieces made of REALLY commonly available materials - like driveway gravel or small twigs.

-dave

How about snow?
We've got plenty up here.

Since us New Englanders are so nice -- we'll even ship it to those more fortunate teams who don't have it!

[shyra1353]

Originally Posted by JVN

How about snow?
We've got plenty up here.

Since us New Englanders are so nice -- we'll even ship it to those more fortunate teams who don't have it!

i like this .. us canadians can share on this one .. and we can almost guarantee that there wont be a shortage ...

[Matt D]

Originally Posted by JVN

How about snow?
We've got plenty up here.

Since us New Englanders are so nice -- we'll even ship it to those more fortunate teams who don't have it!

It would probably melt by the time it got out here to sunny california. I think that might be an even bigger problem for those teams from Hawaii and Brazil. At least snow is not limited by production. We might have trouble for our off season competitions.

[Andy Grady]

Originally Posted by JVN

How about snow?
We've got plenty up here.

Since us New Englanders are so nice -- we'll even ship it to those more fortunate teams who don't have it!

Yeah, and hopefully we'll go out of stock too!

By the way, who is up for an old school game of "kickball" in Atlanta to honor the extinction of 13" balls across America?

[Jeff Waegelin]

Originally Posted by dlavery

Next time, I am voting to have all the playfield pieces made of REALLY commonly available materials - like driveway gravel or small twigs.

-dave

Oh no.... I'm trying to think which is worse, clowns or gravel and twigs.... ahhhh!!!

[Jessica Boucher]

Originally Posted by dlavery

They did. But it didn't sink in that if 1000 teams ordered 20-30 balls each, that means they would need ~25,000 balls. Somewhere along the line, someone didn't believe the teams would really want that many.

I feel weird conversing with you about this, but.....

I dont know, I feel that by looking at past precedent the balls are what teams usually buy in large quantities, no matter how much of the field they build. It's easier to train HPs that way...if one is broken there are some readily available...they get stolen/lost along the way...it's an easy and compact presentation tool....out of any piece on the field the balls are the most important.
But hey, it happens. Next year it'll be something else that goes awry

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by Jessica Boucher

I feel weird conversing with you about this, but.....

I dont know, I feel that by looking at past precedent the balls are what teams usually buy in large quantities, no matter how much of the field they build. It's easier to train HPs that way...if one is broken there are some readily available...they get stolen/lost along the way...it's an easy and compact presentation tool....out of any piece on the field the balls are the most important.
But hey, it happens. Next year it'll be something else that goes awry

All your points are absolutely correct. At the beginning of the process, one person at FIRST knew that each team would be ordering 20+ small balls. But through multiple communications links between that person and the end of the manufacturing process, someone dropped the ball (Ha! I crack me up! I have been waiting for three days to use that one!), and the message just didn't get all the way through the system.

They will figure a way out of this one, primarily because there is no choice - they have to fix it or the whole season goes bust. But I would implore everyone to remain as patient and understanding as possible. The staff at FIRST is working every bit as hard as the teams are to make the season work, and trying like mad to keep everything going when several of the problems involve third parties that are beyond their control. The simple reality is that this sort of stuff happens, and we all have to figure out how to survive it and keep moving. This is not an effort to excuse it, but to at least understand how we got here.

You are also correct that there will be problems next year (and every following year), it is just the nature of endeavors like this that try something completely new each year. Not everything will get completely worked out. But just as in past years, the teams will overcome it and make the best of it.

But in the mean time, I want to start a pool on what goes wrong next year. I am betting that someone forgets to actually make the field, and we end up with no where to put the inflatable clowns...

-dave

[BIG BANANA]

I can see it now.......first ten sec. human players place inflatable clowns around holes surounded with orange cones on field.....next comes 15 sec. auton mode ...robots proceed to gravel filling station and fill up....manual mode starts and robots start filling holes,and collecting cones.......holes filled = points...cones collected=multplyer....clowns hit=robot dissabled for 5 sec.......clowns deflated= very bad.......gravel is available allmost anywhere....cones will never be in short supply.....holes seem to be easy to find......clowns.....well, all I had to do was look in the mirror!........................sorry Dave, I couldn't find a way to use twigs, but in a snowman building game they would work well for arms .....and the snow here in Michigan doesn't seem to be able to melt! ...FIRST is welcome to have all of mine!