Scoring For Your Opponents

[GaryVoshol]

There has to be a tie-breaker for teams with equal w/l/t records. FIRST has elected to set that up to be the losing team's score. This certainly can cause scoring for the opponents - as the triplets did this year. I recall seeing 67 pick up an opponent's tetra last year to score a row for them, for the same reason.

While it can be seen as insulting, it isn't meant to be so. The alternative is to have rankings based on your own scores - which would encourage running up the score. In my mind, that is more insulting. FIRST has created a solution to one problem that creates a lesser problem. It's a trade-off - you can't have everything perfect.

The fact that scoring for your opponent also increases their ranking makes this option better than the "running up the score" option, IMO.

Even more insulting would be to get ahead, then step back from your controls and stop playing. That's the "I can beat you with one hand tied behind my back" taunt.