2005 West Michigan

[Not2B]

1213 was awesome. Talk about eligant design. That arm-string combo really worked great. And FAST!

[Mini-D67]

Originally Posted by Jack Jones

Whoa Mini-D! A little graciousness please? I can't imagine your loosing partners warming up to your assesment of them; nor can I see the rest of your team supporting the idea that you might not do sweet without 'good' partners.

FYI, we (1213) were never alligned with 66, 67, 245, nor 494; yet we faced all of them - twice each! - twice paired against us. We won many; and, I can point to a tactical or temporal error on our part as the reason for not winning the rest.
Many thanks to all the partners who went up against this year's champions with us.

I think you misinterpeted my message... the last thing I'm trying to be is ungracious/critical of the partners assigner to us in the Q matches.

What I was trying to say was that it always seem that were with new, less expirenced teams in everymatch. I'm not trying to knock them or anything, I know that at one time my team was just like them.

I dont know, maybe its just that I was getting a little frustrated or that I haven't beenable to get much sleep lately or that Nationals is just around the corner...

Sorry if that last post offened anyone...

[Joe J.]

Thanks to 573 and 322 both of you were great alliance partners. It was a lot of fun to be picked and compete with you. Good job to teams 868, 858, 494 you played really well in all three quarter final matches. Congrats to teams 66, 93, 107 you all had great robots.

[Phil 33]

I think you misinterpeted my message... the last thing I'm trying to be is ungracious/critical of the partners assigner to us in the Q matches.

What I was trying to say was that it always seem that were with new, less expirenced teams in everymatch. I'm not trying to knock them or anything, I know that at one time my team was just like them.

I completely understand what you mean. Sometimes, the "random" pairings of allinaces do not work out in your favor. That's just part of the way this game is designed. You may have an amazing robot, but one amazing robot cannot win against 2 or 3 good robots. If it just so happens that you are continually facing good alliances, you will not win on your own. You may think it is ungracious to say this, but all robots are not created equal. If your allinace of 3 robots is not up to par with their alliance of 3 robots, you will almost always lose.

From what I saw at the West Michigan Regional, it looks like this is what happened to 67. It's just the luck of the draw. They faced some very tough opponents under tough conditions, and in some cases they didn't have much help. Every semi-experienced team out there knows what this is like. Sometimes you just have bad luck like that.

I know someone will probably go out of their way to be offended by this post. Please understand that I am not criticizing any team or individual. This is just the way things are.

[JoeXIII'007]

YEAH TOAST! (theme of the weekend)

107 & 93: Huge thanks! 107, thanks for leading the alliance prayer, it makes the victory that much sweeter.

67: 2 regionals and chairmans. I wonder what you guys are going to do next.

Last but not least, this was a GREAT regional. Very competitive, very unpredictable, and a TREMENDOUS difference from what was seen @ GLR. Fantastic job and very very great thanks to all who participated.

(I cease to not be shocked)

[Mini-D67]

Originally Posted by Phil 33

I completely understand what you mean. Sometimes, the "random" pairings of allinaces do not work out in your favor. That's just part of the way this game is designed. You may have an amazing robot, but one amazing robot cannot win against 2 or 3 good robots. If it just so happens that you are continually facing good alliances, you will not win on your own. You may think it is ungracious to say this, but all robots are not created equal. If your allinace of 3 robots is not up to par with their alliance of 3 robots, you will almost always lose.

From what I saw at the West Michigan Regional, it looks like this is what happened to 67. It's just the luck of the draw. They faced some very tough opponents under tough conditions, and in some cases they didn't have much help. Every semi-experienced team out there knows what this is like. Sometimes you just have bad luck like that.

I know someone will probably go out of their way to be offended by this post. Please understand that I am not criticizing any team or individual. This is just the way things are.

I wish I could put things so eloquently, thanks for speaking my mind more clearly

[Kyle Love]

Way to go 107...you guys deserve something reall good!

[Justin_302]

Over all West Michigan was a good regional. I was dissipointed about getting hit twice with tetras over the drivers stations and small penalties being thrown for them, the second time being in the quarter finals causing us to lose. Congrats to our alliance partner 67 for winning the chairmans award. We really didnt have a chance at the awards seeing as not 1 judge talked to our team. They didnt even enter our pit area. Its a good regional to attend.

Thanks to teams 67 and 904 for being great alliance partners.

[Tyler Olds]

I had the fortunate opportunity of taking the 6 hour drive to watch this regional, and what a regional it was! I was overly impressed with the performances of the teams. This definitely has to be one of the best regionals that I have seen yet! There were some teams that really stuck out in my mind that I would make sure that I pay attention to if you happen to encounter them at any other competition:

868: What a great strategy of having the human player stack four tetras and than depositing them for a 12 point play. I was also impressed on how study those tetra's stayed on your "tray". A lot of teams tried to bash the heck out of you and rarely did you drop the stack.

67: I really think that you guys had a lot of bad luck and penalties in the qualifying matches; you guys have a suburb machine, very consistent and very fluent.

1213: You guys were my favorite! The robot followed the KISS principle and had the ability to be one of the fastest cappers I have seen.

33: Very sturdy and consistent bot with a great autonomous mode, you guys have always been a powerhouse and you still are. Overall I believe that you were the best bot at the regional.

To the winning alliance:
107: It was an honor to work with you guys when I was a driver last year, and an human player the two previous years and I am sure it was no less for the operators this year. You guys not only have had great robots every year that I have known about FIRST, but you are the nicest, courteous and friendly team that I have ever met. Thanks for picking my old team, you guys are great.

66: You guys had a great robot. Very compact, agile and fast to cap, you made a great alliance partner!

93: I cannot describe how proud I am of you guys. You guys made one heck of a robot. Very robust (not mechanically breaking down once) and consistent in each match. Not to mention one heck of a drive team. You have broken the team roller coaster that we have been on forever. I look forward to seeing you guys succeed at nationals and I foresee great things for team 93 in the future.

Congratulations to all teams, you certainly made WMR on of the best regionals in FIRST.

[dan 322]

Thanks 573 and 862, you guys were awesome. I thought we had it when we won the first match bigtime. 494 is a great defensive bot and I new what their strategy would be, defense and more defense. Our bot took a beat'n playing defense, it was a fun role we hadn't had to play before. Hopefully we'll see some of ya at Atlanta.

[Mini-D67]

Originally Posted by Tyler Olds

67: I really think that you guys had a lot of bad luck and penalties in the qualifying matches; you guys have a suburb machine, very consistent and very fluent.

I just have to add - None of the penalties were on our team Thanks though

[Jim Schaddelee]

First I would like to say thank you to all the people who have posted and called to congratulate our team and alliance partners .This really means alot . Also I would say how nice it was to see Al and Dotty form team 111 at the regional ,they are such great people. They are what inspire me ,When I got involved with FIRST in 1997 I thought it was about robots, After 8 year I have finally figured it out .First is about people .For me its the relationships you build with your team , mentors ,students,teachers and other teams .The robot from Our first year has long been destroyed , but friends are still around like Andy Baker from team 45 and Z from team 108 and Darryl from team 71 just to name a few .
The second reason for this post was a request for any pictures you or your team might have from the event .

Thank you .

Jim Schaddelee
Team 107

[Jack Jones]

Originally Posted by Jim Schaddelee

...
The second reason for this post was a request for any pictures you or your team might have from the event .

Thank you .

Jim Schaddelee
Team 107

I put the one of your robot first in picture list HERE

Enjoy,

Jack

[Collmandoman]

You really have to make due with poor alliance pairings~~ it's all about strategy and a clear understanding of that strategy~well and a little luck

[Mini-D67]

Originally Posted by Collmandoman

it's all about strategy and a clear understanding of that strategy

Exactly... Hopefully we'll be more lucky with our partners at Nats...