Defense, It's still here.

[XaulZan11]

After watching a fair amount of the regionals, I'm disapointed with the lack of 'traditional' defense found in the past two years. Instead of pushing the opposing alliance, teams are trying to get too cute with ball defense and thus not as effective. I think many teams are under the impression that 'defense is illegal', while its clearly not. Yes, there are some stricter rules (such as no defense on a robot in the act of hurdling--but how is that different from playing defense in the opponents homezone like last year?), but teams can still do many of the strategies and tactics that were super effective the past two years.

For example, why don't more teams push the opposing alliance while they are picking up the ball or moving around the track (not in thier homestrech)? Or, why don't more teams pin the other teams against the wall for 5 seconds (again, not while they are attempting to hurdler)? According to <G41>, "When a ROBOT has received a signal to pass (see Rule <G38>), or when the REFEREE signals that a ROBOT is pinning an opponent in place, the ROBOT shall have 6 seconds to move out of the way and create a “passing lane” to allow the opposing ROBOT through." I don't see why a team couldn't pin a team against the wall for 5 seconds, let them pass and move to the next quadrent, pin them again, and so on.

I know some may feel this is 'against the intent of the rules'. I feel that as long as the rules don't prohibit the action, its a viable strategy. Unless you are part of the game creators, you cannont know the full intent of the rules.