Great Lakes Regional 08

[Paul Copioli]

This year was the first time we have been back to GLR since 2003 where we lost in the finals to, guess who ... 67. This is really getting old Seriously though, GLR is my favorite regional as I have been the game announcer since 2004. I want to say thank-you to Dave Noff for finding a great replacement for me this weekend on short notice. The announcer did an excellent job.

Congratulations to the winning alliance, especially 326 who received their first regional win ever! I hope you are going to the Championships. The 60 points in hybrid in Finals 3 was awe inspiring.

On behalf of team 217, I apologize to our alliance partners during the finals for our hardware issues ... they kind of just snuck up on us as we have not seen the intermittent connection issue all season long. A disappointing loss, but some of the best fun our drive team has had.

Team 66 - Thanks for picking us and thanks for being a great strategic partner. Your positional defense was excellent and we worked very well together.

Team 910 - I can't believe you guys were left available to us in the second round. You have a great team and your strategic play was also very amazing. The ball hand-off was one of the most memorable plays we had this year. It wa a fun set of elimination matches.

Team 201 - You opened our eyes to how clean, strong defense can be a major factor in this game and we will be watching the videos of our matches against you many times over in preparation for the Championship.

Team 68 - Congratulations on Chariman's Award. You definitely desserve it.

Team 67 and 503 - This seriously has to stop. We have to stop being on the opposite side of the glass ... 2005 on Einstien (67 & 503), 2006 on Einstein (503), and now 2008 GLR Finals (67 & 503) ... enough is enough.


To the GLR planning committe and all the volunteers: Thank-you for putting on such a wonderful event. Hopefully the schedule works out next year so team 217 can attend.