2009 Season Looking Forward

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by commodoredl

Next year, it would be great if you could cover every regional; I know you missed a few this year.

Perhaps you could do the whole dark horse and sleeper thing for each week, not just the championship?

Yeah, I agree with this. Also, will you be predicting for some of the off seasons? I'd love to read yours about IRI and also some of the NJ off seasons. And perhaps Beantown Blitz.

Ditto on the email blasts.

All in all, it was awesome to be able to read these each week. Keep up the good work!

(oh, and if you ever have an opening for a West Coaster, I'm always available...)

[EricH]

Originally Posted by CraigHickman

(oh, and if you ever have an opening for a West Coaster, I'm always available...)

As am I.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by EricH

As am I.

me too

[The Lucas]

Great job Looking Forward! I would like to see the AP Poll Top 25 start in Week 2 Look Back (with a Top 10).

Originally Posted by CraigHickman

(oh, and if you ever have an opening for a West Coaster, I'm always available...)

Now that LF has a good following going I think it is time for them to contribute more than just saying "You forgot team XXXX". I want to see more tipsters next year. So if you think you know your regional, our just have a hot tip on a team drop LF a PM. Give LF all the good info possible and let him/her/them decide what is fit to print (it is fun getting your stuff "published"). Note: Please don't hype your own team , CD has enough of this noise and we want "Honest Analysis" from LF. Plus I don't want to partially responsible for a SPAM-like attack of "Pick Me PMs" on LF. Look Back stories of your team in the finals etc. are good.

Originally Posted by richardmcc2

I mean, seriously, ESPN already airs poker tournaments and spelling bees as sports. The only hesitation I might have would be for FIRST to get lost in the mix with the other sports which have all of the trappings and negative aspects that FIRST is trying to avoid. But I think it would be a good thing. What do you think?

This ESPN mention kinda gave me an idea that I'll throw out there. What if the community (LF, CD, TBA, SOAP) produced a 5 min Sportscenter like highlight video of each week to compliment Look Back. Of course for this to work the Coordinated Regional Archiving needs to get a little better, but it grew by leaps and bounds this year along with more webcasts, SOAP Gameday and TBA. I think this would be great for the causal FIRST Fan (who doest necessarily watch webcasts or archived match vids). I was surprised how many people on my team hadn't seen Simbots run before Championship. If it was condensed to the just the exciting stuff (w/commentary) fans expect people may take more of an interest in robots other than their own. Maybe if it is really good we can get someone (PBS etc) to air it. What do you guys think?

[Nawaid Ladak]

LF, you have done a great job in analyzing regional and championship events in FRC events. it would be nice to do the same for those FTC people, um i mean training another looking forward"...

i second the dark horse, sleeper, and lock theory for EACH regional, i know it would be a stretch, but i know you can do it.

I would also suggest one more thing, im not sure if it has been mentioned, but i would LOVE to see a top 25 list for every weeks events. sort of like a AP poll and to see teams rise and fall.

overall, you have done a great job, keep it up!

[Richard McClellan]

Originally Posted by The Lucas

This ESPN mention kinda gave me an idea that I'll throw out there. What if the community (LF, CD, TBA, SOAP) produced a 5 min Sportscenter like highlight video of each week to compliment Look Back. Of course for this to work the Coordinated Regional Archiving needs to get a little better, but it grew by leaps and bounds this year along with more webcasts, SOAP Gameday and TBA. I think this would be great for the causal FIRST Fan (who doest necessarily watch webcasts or archived match vids). I was surprised how many people on my team hadn't seen Simbots run before Championship. If it was condensed to the just the exciting stuff (w/commentary) fans expect people may take more of an interest in robots other than their own. What do you guys think?

Sounds like a great idea to me. What are the chances of getting higher quality video for something like this?

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by The Lucas

This ESPN mention kinda gave me an idea that I'll throw out there. What if the community (LF, CD, TBA, SOAP) produced a 5 min Sportscenter like highlight video of each week to compliment Look Back. Of course for this to work the Coordinated Regional Archiving needs to get a little better, but it grew by leaps and bounds this year along with more webcasts, SOAP Gameday and TBA. I think this would be great for the causal FIRST Fan (who doest necessarily watch webcasts or archived match vids). I was surprised how many people on my team hadn't seen Simbots run before Championship. If it was condensed to the just the exciting stuff (w/commentary) fans expect people may take more of an interest in robots other than their own. Maybe if it good we can get someone (PBS etc) to air it. What do you guys think?

I totally love that idea. Maybe the reporting desk can be made by someone out of some extrusions and lots and lots of 80/20. Don't forget the diamond plate and lexan you could include in all that.

...and speakers
...and and neon lights

This is beginning to sound like a robot cart.

[chaoticprout]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

me too

lol.

[waialua359]

I saw LF right before we won the EI award!
No joke!
In person and NOT on the big screen.

See ya next year!

[sgreco]

I liked how Looking Forward didn't jinx 1114 by selecting them to win it all. Great move.

Looking Forward was soooo close to picking the entire winning alliance. 968's alliance definitely could have won that semis match on Einstein(nothing against 1114, 217 and 148). If they did win they most likely would have won the championships.

Great job with the picks!!!

[Qbranch]

Thanks for all the great work this season, Looking Forward team. It made the season a whole lot more exciting with your expert analysis.

Will you be doing looking backs for Atlanta?

I'd be interested in an IRI prediction too... though our team uses IRI to figure out new drive teams... so... we usually don't do so hot at IRI.

Thanks again,

-q

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by The Lucas

This ESPN mention kinda gave me an idea that I'll throw out there. What if the community (LF, CD, TBA, SOAP) produced a 5 min Sportscenter like highlight video of each week to compliment Look Back. Of course for this to work the Coordinated Regional Archiving needs to get a little better, but it grew by leaps and bounds this year along with more webcasts, SOAP Gameday and TBA. I think this would be great for the causal FIRST Fan (who doest necessarily watch webcasts or archived match vids). I was surprised how many people on my team hadn't seen Simbots run before Championship. If it was condensed to the just the exciting stuff (w/commentary) fans expect people may take more of an interest in robots other than their own. Maybe if it is really good we can get someone (PBS etc) to air it. What do you guys think?

I like that whole idea. If you take it further, I'd like to help coordinate it in my spare time.

Originally Posted by richardmcc2

Sounds like a great idea to me. What are the chances of getting higher quality video for something like this?

Well I know some teams/services already use nice quality cameras (MorqTV, TBATV, etc) but if we could get some local PBS' involved throughout the country, it'd help. Also, you really don't have to spend too much these days to get really good quality equipment. One last thing is a universal file-format would make it a heck of a lot easier to keep track of.

[Gene F]

How about taking one more step (look) forward and turning it into a web page with photos and team spotlights. the insights and research that go into the predictions are awesome and could really benefit from some added color (literally and figuratively) to the presentation.

I was an avid reader and will continue to do so! Thank you for sharing with the community!

This could develop into a FIRST magazine!

[Greg Peshek]

Originally Posted by Gene F

How about taking one more step (look) forward and turning it into a web page with photos and team spotlights. the insights and research that go into the predictions are awesome and could really benefit from some added color (literally and figuratively) to the presentation.

I was an avid reader and will continue to do so! Thank you for sharing with the community!

This could develop into a FIRST magazine!

Developing on that idea,

Why not just make the Looking Forward franchise into an addendum of The Blue Alliance website? It already has pictures of robots, the match results from previous regionals, and all the name recognition. I don't know if it could be worked out with the admin's of TBA and the person/ squad behind LF, but I would think it could boost both TBA and LF.

-Greg