pic: BAE Systems-Granite State Regional High Score

[katiyeh07]

Originally Posted by Billfred

I have to strenuously disagree on two fronts.

First, it's been discussed over and over that GP can not be used to measure others; it's only really used well as an internal measurement of what you should be doing as opposed to what you are doing. But Rich Kressly has gone far deeper into the subject than I, so I'll leave it to him.

Second, and perhaps more important: there is nothing that 1824/175/501 alliance could have done to help their opponents; they can't score for the opponents without penalty, and they can't go up the opposing ramp without a DQ. I can only assume (and feel free to correct me if this wasn't the case) that taking a sip of the mighty Eighterade doesn't involve much defense on the part of the alliance scoring it, either. When you're in a match, you have to remain focused on a million things other than how far ahead or behind you are.

Back in 2005, my old team (1293) had the distinct misfortune of competing against 179 at Palmetto--twice. (Anybody who was around 179 that year knows how crazy that robot was.) While we groaned both times we came up short, I couldn't fault 179 at all--they went hard, played smart, and took their four QPs (and oh so many others) all the way to a Palmetto Regional title. In the end, I wasn't bitter because of it; rather, I wanted to figure out how the heck they did what they did so well.

I fully expect my team to put up the best effort possible, whether we're up against Beatty or a brick. Sandbagging because of the opponent is both a poor strategy (what if they pull out a fluke hang at the end of the match?) and a really lame thing to do, both for the spectators (they see a boring match), your team (scouts see you only hanging a few ringers instead of your true potential), and for the opponents (many of whom, I imagine, feel like I did in the above paragraph).

You have just put every thought of mine on this topic into magical words...thank you