Yellow card / Red card usage at 2004 IRI

[Steve W]

I also was not at IRI. Work is such a pain at times. I would like to start by saying that it is good that people are trying to make things better. I am also one person with one persons outlook on things. That being said .....

I still don't like this card thing. The refs this year had a hard enough time knowing what the rules were. Every event that I attended (6 in all) had different rulings and many rule changes. As a hockey ref, baseball ump and player of many sports, one thing is for sure. The rules must be set in concrete before the season starts and they must not change. This is not an option! For some reason FIRST believes that it is their mandate to screw up the teams and their machines by changing the rules. There is no reason for a yellow card. You state that a team does something questionable or not quite bad enough to DQ then they get a yellow card. If they do it again then they will get DQ'd. If there was no foul the first time then there is no foul the second time. They still have not broken the rules. They have, in your ( or the refs ) mind come close to the edge but not quite crossed. That's what this game as well as the world is about. Do your best WITHIN the rules and compete hard to be your best. Will you or others sometime go over the line, yes of course and then you get penalized. But to give warnings that 'you are too close for us and if you make me uncomfortable agin then I will penalize you', are just not in true sportsmanship or in the spirit of competition. Measures are in place to penalize teams that deserve it. Let's just use them and get the rules down before we start the season. Robots are to be make sturdy and designed to the game. Teams that have not protected their electronics should be DQ'd for poor design with safety being sooooo important.

Please excuse my rantings but certain things need to be fixed before we start adding more, less defined, decisions for the refs. I believe that most refs do a great job and do not favor any teams. I believe that they try to call plays according to the interpratation (spelling) they they are given at the time. I believe that they can have one of the most stressfull jobs at the event and they are not given enough credit for wat they do. I would like to thank all of the refs for their willingness to put themselves into this situation

As for the flags, forget it.