Great Lakes Regional 08

[Beth Sweet]

Originally Posted by MishraArtificer

Mr. Aubry, I must protest.
These behind-the-scenes arrangements, in ANY national sport or even in the Olympics, would be considered Game-fixing, and all of you would have gone the way of the Black Sox and Pete Rose. It also denied almost any chance teams outside the top 16 had to make it into the final rounds.
So, with respect, shame on you all. This should be reported to FIRST.

Yet you forget, this is the Superbowl of Smarts. While these sports you refer to use strategy, FIRST encourages the smartest minds out there to use their minds to the max. This means using strategy to the most that the rules allow. I am sure that 66 would have been thrilled to have been teamed with any of their selected teams. However the other teams fought hard for where they seeded, they deserved the right to their spot. Top 8 deserve where they are, and they have won their right to pick whom they please and to decline if they so desire.

Gracious professionalism has been, since I entered 6 years ago at least, acting in a way that would make your grandmother proud. I know that my grandmother would not be proud unless I competed to the best of my ability. She would also be proud if I helped out others. To my interpretation, GP is competing like crazy while helping like crazy. In the same regard, there is nothing anti-GP about being competitive (though if it reaches an overly competitive level, it reaches anti-GP). Selecting teams who may turn you down is not anti-GP. Turning down another team in preference of your own best strategy is also not anti-GP. I have often said that it is not what you do, it's how you do it. There are some things that no matter how you do them are wrong. This action, if tactically done, is not bad.

Now onto the regional comments.

I was incredibly impressed with what I saw at GLR. I was in pit admin for Friday and Saturday and got to bounce out to the field from time to time. The level of competition was out of this world. The preparedness of the teams was great. But what I was most impressed with was something that I have been frustrated with for a couple of years. This weekend, I can only recall 1 instance of someone being absolutely rude. Most of the people that I saw were not only polite, but overly so. In past years, I have heard/seen a bit of disrespect and overall inappropriate behavior at this competition. People being overly competitive, people just not... getting the whole GP thing. This year, I did not see that.

This was most prevalent with the overwhelming support for the rookies, particularly the Chilean team. People, particularly veterans, even some who haven't been traditionally well known for being the go to teams for help, were really going out of their way to be a huge help. I was more than thrilled.

Thank you teams at GLR, this weekend really was a huge reassurance that FIRST is turning back to the direction I like to see it in. Thank you to all of the teams who came and talked to us in pit admin and shared your stories. I loved hearing from members from teams 1941 & 2576.

Para el equipo de Chile, muchas gracias para la oportunidad a practicar hablando espanol. !Los miembros del equipo 2576 iba asi social con toda la gente al concurso, iban como los estudiantes estadounidenses! !!!Buena suerte a todo en el futuro, fue un placer para encontrar todos de ustedes!!!