2008 Greater Toronto Regional!

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Karthik

A special thanks to Team 703, who made one of the classiest moves that I have ever seen in FIRST. On Saturday morning, they realized their despite the fact their drivetrain was still working, they were on the verge of a possible catastrophic failure. They gave a letter to the other 65 teams, letting them know the situation, and recommending that they not pick them.

I agree completely. I spoke to some of the team out in the parking lot later that day, and basically said what Karthik said above, emphasizing the class act they are. That bears repeating: Team 703 is a Class Act.

Originally Posted by MWTrek

Next I want to thank specifically the MC, Karthik and the announcer, Steve. We all noticed how you guys understand what FIRST is really about. I appreciated what Kartik said during alliance pickings about the crowd's reaction about teams declined an alliance.

I partially agree. The first time, when someone actually Boo'd, absolutely 100% agree, Karthik did the right thing. But the second time, when a team respectfully declined an invitation, I didn't hear it as Booing, I heard it as a lot of people saying "Ooooh" - which is what I was saying. Ooooh as in "how dramatic", and not expressing any negative thoughts or feelings at all.

No disrespect to Karthik - from the field, sounds are different, he may have heard something that I (way up top) couldn't, and I don't have any problem with what he said or did.

(For those of you not there: during alliance selection, one team was Boo'd when they were announced, and Karthik laid into the Boo-ers, and rightly so, for their lack of GP. The second time, just a few seconds later, when a seeded team declined to join an alliance, the whole stadium went "ooooh"*, which probably sounded like a big "Boooo" on the field, and he repeated his message.)
*My interpretation only

Big Props to our Game MC, extremely professional and enthusiastic, right there with the best I have seen. Not to diminish Steve's efforts, either, which were also world-class. How these guys keep their voices after 3 days of this stuff baffles me.

Don