2 strange stories, intertwined...

[archiver]

Posted by Nate Smith.

Other on team #66, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS, from Eastern Michigan University and GM Powertrain.

Posted on 2/28/2000 6:43 PM MST



The year: 1998. My first year on a competing team in the FIRST Robotics Competition. After a top-12 showing in Chicago, I was naturally pumped for my trip to the national competition. In preparations for the national competition, I convinced a member of my family to create a team mascot outfit for me to use. That year, our team name was 'Phantom', so my outfit consisted of a full-length black robe with hood.
Of course, I did not consider at the time that I would be wearing this outfit in 90+ degree Florida heat. However, I stuck it out, and kept the costume a secret except for among a few close friends in the days leading up to the trip and the first actual day of competition. When Friday arrived, I put on my outfit(after breakfast), and went to the buses to travel to the competition site. I arrived before the rest of the team, and waited outside the pit area for them to arrive. A friend of mine, who was also in the same hotel room, was with me, looking for the rest of the team to show up. When they first arrived, they saw me, not recognizing me as a member of their team, and one team member commented that the team should have made something like that to bring. Well, then they recognized the team member standing next to me, and came over to see who the crazy person in the black robe was.

Well, in the end, I got quite a response from the team as well as the other teams in general. In several instances, I was asked to pose for a picture with one or more team members of various teams other than my own. Also, after I had the front of the outfit covered in pins that I had traded(note: people like to trade with mascots), I was stopped by the ESPN2 crew doing a short segment on the pin trading aspect of the competition.

And this leads into the second part of my story. One day while walking through the lobby of the all-star sports to head to our room, and to get me out of my costume, myself and a friend passed a member of another team. Well, we stopped and started talking with her, and as it turns out, she had seen me wandering the competition and thought that I was someone from her hometown. After talking, we discovered that I had much more in common with this mystery third party than just appearance(same interests, similar voice,etc.) Well, I actually e-mailed this mystery man a couple times and kept in touch with the person from the lobby for a few months after we went home from nationals.

And that's my story...

Nate