A New Thought...

[Jay Lundy]

The FIRST Robotics Competition is fairly different than sporting events in that it cannot be called an invitational or a competition, it is both. It couldn't be strictly an invitational for the obvious reasons of size restraints, and it can't be strictly a competition because everyone knows that would generate many more negative comments than the way it is now (rookies would be extremely disadvantaged).

As for the reference to Cross Country, the robotics regionals ARE the invitationals. Everyone seems to be forgetting about these, even thought the number of regionals is now at 17, a 30% increase over last year. Also, correct me if I'm wrong (I've never done x-country before), but if one team has 100 runners, and another team has 10, then the team with 100 will most likely send more runners to the state and nationals than the team with 10. This is assuming that runners advance individually and the ranking is not based on the team average (I could be completely wrong on this).

And no, the new qualification rules are not fair to everyone, but they are the MOST fair. Examine the alternatives before judging the decision.