Your Worst FIRST experience

[Jeff Waegelin]

My worst FIRST experience is sortof a personal mistake. I was human player during the 2003 season, and did a remarkably good job. I played 47 straight matches without dropping a single bin, or receiving a single penalty. I'd done all sorts of risky moves, like carrying all four bins at one time (most people carried them 2 and 2) and running stacks across the field with no problems. Then, in the first match of the division quarterfinals at the Championship, I missed my balance ever so slightly, and dropped my 4-stack. I knew, as soon as I stepped on to the field, that it was going to fall, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I tried to recover the bins, got flagged for a penalty, and then missed the 10-second timer (the only time I missed it all season). On top of that, the scoring table disabled our partner, Chief Delphi, instead of our robot, causing us to miss autonomous and lose the match. It felt terrible to know that losing the match was my own personal fault. Fortunately, we managed to come back from a first-round loss and win the series, but it still remains my worst FIRST experience.