<T19> Cannot Offer Time-Out To Opponent

[aaeamdar]

Originally Posted by Section9Manual

<T19>An
opposing ALLIANCE may not offer their unused TIME-OUT to their opponent.

(Note: please consult the manual section 9 for the full text of the rule.)

It seems to me that this is a new rule to 2008 and I'm wondering if it means what I think it means. It seems to suggest that if you want to offer your opponents the opportunity to fix their robot, you are unable to do so. Now, I remember back in... 2006 I think it was at Chesepeake, and this very scenario happened. Namely, one alliance in the finals had a broken robot, and needed time to fix it, but had already used their time-out. The other alliance called their time-out to allow them to do so, which was (correctly, I think) hailed as extremely graciously proffesional and a great thing to do.

So, am I misinterpreting the rule? I mean, I guess you could say "oh, our robot needs fixing. Look at that speck of dust, we need to clean it." And call your time-out. Maybe the internt of the rule is to keep the game going? But it seems weird to laud the people who take a given action and then make that action illegal in following years.

Any other thoughts/interpretations?
-Paul Dennis