Lesson Learned: The Negative

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by Lavapicker

4. The Finals this year went WAY too long in Atlanta...I know bots need time to get back in shape but we started with only 3 matches in one in a half hours! Half hour between matches....cmon...less talk please, please!

Possibly the second-funniest moment of the entire weekend (surpassed only by President Bush's "FIRST is like WWF ... but for smart people!" line) was when Woodie was opening up the Einstein field and introducing the activities for the afternoon. He started with the line "the 2008 FIRST competition season will be completed in just two short hours." I just started laughing and laughing...

-dave




.

[OScubed]

Regarding the wrap party: I think the idea of forcing everyone through a 5 foot wide hole as the only entrance to the park was both dangerous and silly. Of course thousands of people are going to show up - have at least a couple entrances for people into the olympic park so that you don't end up with a crush of people.

[David Brinza]

Originally Posted by dlavery

Possibly the second-funniest moment of the entire weekend (surpassed only by President Bush's "FIRST is like WWF ... but for smart people!" line) was when Woodie was opening up the Einstein field and introducing the activities for the afternoon. He started with the line "the 2008 FIRST competition season will be completed in just two short hours." I just started laughing and laughing...

-dave




.

I guess I didn't see the "two short hours" statement as humorous. In fact, I was a bit torqued. I knew that the final matches again would not be telecast on NASA TV. Bad news for those who don't want to watch "jumpy", pixelated webcasts instead of televised coverage.

The sports model for FIRST fails when the ultimate outcome of the Championship is so trivialized because its "not about the points". For the students, schools, sponsors and family members who couldn't make the trip to Atlanta, watching their team perform on Einstein is incredibly important. To know your team is reaching for the pinnacle of the competition only to be left in the dark is SO frustrating.

If FRC wants to "make it" as a televised spectator sport, covering the event through the Championship finals is imperative. Last year, I made an analogy to a network TV faux pas that occurred 40 years ago that led to changes in broadcast practices for live sporting events. I blamed the wrong party for the problem: it's not NASA's fault. Woodie's statement makes it clear that FIRST doesn't have a grasp on its own schedule and, worse yet, fails to understand the importance to the FIRST community and the general public of watching the competition to the end. That event supposed to determine who is the best in the world, seeing the celebration by the teams that was so hard fought that day, that season is an essential part of sports.

This situation can still be salvaged: create an hour-long highlight show that describes FIRST, explains Overdrive, summarizes the division qualification/elimination matches, then show all of the Einstein matches. Include slow-motion replays of critical plays with expert commentary, showcase the Chairman's Award winners. Then tell people how they can participate or support the program. A well-produced program on ESPN, Fox Sports Network would attract viewership and increased interest in FIRST. Ending the program with: "FIRST is the only high-school sport where everyone can become a pro" would send a powerful message to the public. Isn't this something that FIRST should pursue??

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by David Brinza

This situation can still be salvaged: create an hour-long highlight show that describes FIRST, explains Overdrive, summarizes the division qualification/elimination matches, then show all of the Einstein matches. Include slow-motion replays of critical plays with expert commentary, showcase the Chairman's Award winners. Then tell people how they can participate or support the program. A well-produced program on ESPN, Fox Sports Network would attract viewership and increased interest in FIRST. Ending the program with: "FIRST is the only high-school sport where everyone can become a pro" would send a powerful message to the public. Isn't this something that FIRST should pursue??

FIRST would have to either sell the ad space or find sponsors for a program like this. Combined with the production costs, and placement on fairly high-ratings networks like FSN or ESPN, this project could easily be $1 million. Sales of ad space could offset part of this, but if not, FIRST would be using a big part of its annual income to put on an infomercial. I don't see it happening. It might be just interesting enough to run on TLC, ESPN2, or the Science Network, but in that case any ad placements would bring a lot less money. I don't think it would be a good use of FIRST's money, unless they could find a corporate sponsor. Even then, what if that corporate sponsor was willing to underwrite a $500,000 program -- wouldn't you rather use that money to fund 50 new FRC or 300 new FTC teams? I would.

[TKM.368]

One thing missing throughout the season was the announcement of robot names throughout the matches. The printouts the game announcers had for each match unfortunately never listed them, so from the three events I witnessed, none were ever used. We came up with a name we liked and hoped it would be used in the play-by-play, but it didn't happen.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by TKM.368

One thing missing throughout the season was the announcement of robot names throughout the matches. The printouts the game announcers had for each match unfortunately never listed them, so from the three events I witnessed, none were ever used. We came up with a name we liked and hoped it would be used in the play-by-play, but it didn't happen.

Robot names are often more inside team information than public information. The public watching the game will have a hard enough time as the announcer switches back and forth between team name and team number. Adding a robot name to the mix will be more confusing.

[ebarker]

Originally Posted by TKM.368

One thing missing throughout the season was the announcement of robot names throughout the matches. The printouts the game announcers had for each match unfortunately never listed them, so from the three events I witnessed, none were ever used. We came up with a name we liked and hoped it would be used in the play-by-play, but it didn't happen.

Did the printouts not list them or was the listing empty ?

In our case the listing is empty, there is no robot name. The announcer, at least for us, uses the team nickname - longhorns. Which is the outcome we wanted.

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by TKM.368

One thing missing throughout the season was the announcement of robot names throughout the matches. The printouts the game announcers had for each match unfortunately never listed them, so from the three events I witnessed, none were ever used. We came up with a name we liked and hoped it would be used in the play-by-play, but it didn't happen.

The scorekeeping software is what is used to print those lists. They include whatever was put into the TIMS system when your team registered -- usually long before the robot is built. I know that on Edison the announcer asked teams for the robot names and started announcing them as he learned them: "This is Exothermic Robotics from Bellevue Washington [should have been Redmond, but TIMS has Bellevue as our mailing address] and their robot Chopstix!" In Seattle, Don Knight did the same thing -- and I'm sure the teams appreciated the effort.