Best Teams to Be Left out of the Finals

[4throck]

Originally Posted by XaulZan11

From Curie 180 was a surprise. We had the pleasure to play with them the final qualification match. They scored 3 (I think) ringers and we were able to climb their huge ramps for 30 pts. They were also great alliance partners. I don't remember exactly our list of teams for picking, but if it wasn't for 48 dropping so far (I was very surprised, yet very happy that they did) there was a good chance we would have picked them.

We played with you in that match too, and we scored 5 ringers. And you did pick our opponents from that match.

That is a not so subtle intro into who I think was one of the better teams left out of finals: Us. Aside from the 2 matches where we were crippled by mechanical problems, we scored five rings in four matches and four rings in one. I understand that we are a relatively unknown team, and that our robot wasn't visibly impressive (okay, it looks kind of stupid, see these pics http://www.flickr.com/photos/66218484@N00/406328583/ ), but still, we were scoring more than other offensive bots that were selected. Someone had to recognize us, as after the third match we had at least one defensive bot on us for the majority of the time.

This might all seem like I am being bitter (and I am, a little), but the reception we got from other teams was a little insulting. The question I was asked most often was why we had pink pool noodles on the top of our robot. One scout asked me the following question, verbatim: "So why do you have omniwheels? Could you not afford mecs?". The rest of the conversation went like this, the kid sneering at me, asking why we used part x instead of part y, all the time implying that our robot looked terrible and was obviously not professionally made. Our drivers were ignored when they tried to strategize with our alliance members.

So, just to say it: Stop judging based on appearances. It shouldn't have to be said, but the reaction our robot got was proof of this. Our robot was built mostly out of spare parts lying around our shop, and it shows, but people didn't have to be as dismissive as they were about our robot. I don't like being this unhumble or unsubtle, but the reaction we got at championships was disappointing to say the least.