Andrew,
Yeah, we know what you mean. I personally didn't attend the competition (I'm not really a BB fan, and I had a busy day anyway), but I heard all the YMCA and snakeriding stories. It struck me as business as usual, until they started talking about how everyone stared at them like they were crazy, but nobody joined in.
FIRST may not end up as widely known as Battlebots, but that doesn't say much. I guess we'll just end up like diehard fans of a really good band that doesn't get the exposure they deserve.
Battlebots is to FIRST as N*Sync is to
The Velvet Teen
Unfortunately, by its very nature, the mission to change society requires widespread attention. I think it would help if we could get better media coverage (for instance, getting ESPN to air us again or have a team that specifically pays attention to local news crews and prevents them from calling us "Robot Wars" or "Battling Bots" or anything like that)