Predictions Week 5: Last Stop Before the Big Show... ...Part 1

[LightWaves1636]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

COLORADO
Colorado is in that middle ground. There are so many noisier regions: South, North East, MidWest, West Coast, Mid-Atlantic. Given all the fireworks going around on this week I am at a loss as to what to expect from The Rockies in Week 5.

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159 had a competitive bot last year, but they were plagued with mechanical
failures during the elimination rounds, getting subbed out in both Denver and Atlanta. 662 had a dumper last year, they might go defensive/ramp this year?

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This is going to be a tough one. There isn't a single regional champion or regional finalist in this group.

Hard to tell who will do good...

So tipster notes:
Not exactly a lot to work with there fellas! You guys in the Mountain Time Zone, had better make some noise about the great things that are happening in your region. Let's hear what you've got to say.

Looking at the numbers, this should be a rough regional. 48 teams competing, 42 of them for the first time in Week 5. The median team number is over 1600 (the highest of any of the 10 Regionals this weekend except the one in Israel). There are no 2007 Champions or Finalist attending and, perhaps the strongest contributor to a bruising competition, This is the last scheduled competition this season for 45 of the 48 teams.

Bottom line: The Defensive Meat Grinder that I wrongly predicted for Waterloo in Week 4 is cranking out the robo-sausages in Denver this weekend.

We are a pretty quiet regional but it's just as hectic as any other. 662 has gone with a scoring bot. The 159 ordeal last year during regionals(we were the team that brought them up to elims but they got Chairman's anyway), most pressured time out for us then not only did the pin fall into their drive train, we found something wrong with our launcher and had to get it off, it sucked to watch the entire alliance go down during a time out during elims .

I know team
207 - competed at the Los Angelos Regional
555 - competed at the New Jersey Regional
945 - competed at the Florida Regional
1158 - competed at the Arizona Regional
1515 - competed at the Los Angelos Regional
1984 - competed at the Greater Kansas Regional
can't think of any that were at Waterloo

As for my predictions:
159: I think they're going with a score bot and it's similar to their 2005 bot, I could be wrong but I really wish I knew, I love that team every time the Colorado Regional comes around
207:I expect a mean game out of them, they made it to semi's I believe, at LA and so I think they'll be able to make it to elims
555:Their bot looks small in the picture compared to the tube, but the look of the standings at New Jersey, I don't think they will go far here, unless they have really really really good drivers because looking from Colorado team to Colorado Team, the drivers are just wow this year.
662: From scrimmage videos, they look to have pretty excellent drivers, I do expect them to be in elims.
945: eesh, I hope their bot is ready, Florida didn't look too good on them(of course I don't know what happened, I just know watching all the Florida matches, their bot was in two of the matches and they broke down pretty badly in the second match.)
1158:I defiantly expect them to be in elims., they always put out a pretty tough game when they come back from Arizona every year
1552:AH, 1636's favorite as always, they have a pretty sharp looking bot, we're excited to compete with them adn excited to see it in action
1583: A ramp bot, I believe it's 6ft. tall, from what I've seen at the scrimmage(I know, but that was a month ago), really good defense, appreciate the windows
1619:They had a really good bot last year, when we got eighth, we wanted team 159 and team 1619 but I don't remember what happened during the alliance pickings
1800:Most I can gather out of one of their teammates, they're a ramp bot, but I don't think they're done putting it together but he could be wrong, he wasn't there the last couple days, he said they still needed to get work done on it though

1636(I try not to make predictions about my own team but...):The robot is a more advanced version of the 2005 bot. The jack lift goes faster, the bot has even more torque, better drive train, and it's smooth. With the right drivers, it scores extremely well(from when it was just me running it in one minute), and our bot is quiet this year(2005, our jack lift, everyone knew when we ran it, 2006, our launcher, everyone defiantly knew when we ran it. Everyone was impressed by the hockey pucks), we have a ramp but it's so steep, that's why I think our ramp won't work, I predict we'll be taking it off on practice day *crosses fingers*. I think we'll make it to elims defiantly.

Predicting Finals is really iffy. It is every year.

My final thoughts for CO:
-Our dogtag give-a-aways are going to run out practice day
-A team 1636 member is going to win one of the IPOD shuffle raffle give-a-ways by DeVry and if Ms. Simmons was still the DeVry Rep she would freak out about it(because every year, someone on team 1636 always wins the first one.)
-There are a lot of mediocre looking bots but the majority of the teams have really mean drivers
-I expect a huge crowd this year because our competition is occurring our spring break.
-I've got more but it's getting pretty late for me.