On Rules, Referees, and Rewards (aka Penalties)

[RyanMcE]

Originally Posted by Steve W

Are penalties too large? Yes.

I can sympathize with with - I mean, penalties basically got 2x to 6x bigger this year while scoring was divided by 2x to 6x. So thats a 4x to 36x bigger penalty versus the score. Thats probably too big of a swing for one year, even if it does seem to be working to my team's advantage.

Originally Posted by Steve W

Are they being called consistently? No.

At the PNW regional, my impression is that it was consistent. This says nothing about other regionals. And maybe even I am not right in this impression. But I can only speak from what I noticed. The inconsistencies I pointed out in the original thread were definitely the exceptions in my experience at the PNW regional.

Originally Posted by Steve W

Are rules changing again? Yes.

This is far too true. A rule change a week after regionals have started is pretty ridiculous. Maybe the time in loading zone change and "tetra will not be scored" changed were necessary to allow refs to figure the game out, but the additional penalty probably wasn't necessary.

Originally Posted by Steve W

Are rules being called that are not rules? Yes.

Could you explain what you mean by this?

Originally Posted by Steve W

Has FIRST gotten the fact that we don't mind rules we just don't like them being changed? No.

Sign. Yeah. And really, all this changing of rules generates disrespect for whatever rules remain. Its not a healthy way to run a competition.

Originally Posted by Steve W

FIRST is the only place I know of that a foul basically can cause you to lose the match and your team mates. Penalties should be enforced and be there to deter fouls. In the past FIRST was a little to lenient on penalties. Now they have swung the other way. They need to find the mid point.

Well, in basketball, when the score is close, a single foul can decide the match. Granted, there are not 30-shot fouls in basketball. So you're probably right about finding the mid-point.

Originally Posted by Steve W

The referees must have definitive rules that they can call. This will allow them to be more consistent. This is not meant as a slam on refs as they do the job the best that they can and they are all volunteers. The issue is that many of us attend multiple regionals and can see the inconsistencies.

Well, maybe thats why I was so happy this year, because I've only seen one interpretation of the rules, which I felt definitely stopped the robot bashers from simply bashing, and forced defense to be played intelligently. I am under the impression that the Championship will be the same - I hope that it is. But what you say never should have been interpreted as a slam on the refs. Rather, its a slam on FIRST. I said this last year as well. The inconsistencies are NOT the ref's fault. They are due to inconsistent training, inadequate examples, and rules that never seem to be the same two weeks in a row. I totally agree with you on this one.

Originally Posted by Steve W

Last question. Have I ranted enough and should I stop? YES!

Haha, thanks for your input Steve!