Competition.....or touchy feely happy bonding time?

[archiver]

Posted by aTm at 1/6/2001 12:03 PM EST


Student on team #111, Wildstang, from Wheeling High School and Motorola.



Yes yes, I realize that the whole 4 robots on the field at the same time on the same team works to help people cooperate, and yes I realize that it will be much easier to watch the competition and understand what is going on...but does anyone else feel a bloodthirst that will go perhaps totally unquenched this year?
The puck led for fiercely dangerous rounds, last year led for insanely competitive scoring and counterscoring. What happened to the forming on solid friendships with some teams, and solid rivalries with others? I personally love the whole aspect of blocking, pushing, tipping, and manuevering the robot around your opponents. Granted, I haven't seen this competition in action, but I yearn for another year of the puck, a year of fierce and furious rounds. I also believe that a side-goal of FIRST was to introduce robo-sports into the mainstream of the world. I fail to recall any major televised sports, which gained considerable attention, where all the teams "worked together." A competition, where everyone that's on the field at the same time, weren't truly against each other.
I for one will still contribute my all, spend hours upon hours helping my team, and undoubtedly enjoy this year immensely, but I believe that my bloodthirst and others will go quite neglected by this year's FIRST competition. Maybe I'm wrong, and I tell ya, HOPEFULLY I'm wrong. I really hope that I am wrong in every way. I thought that since BatlleBots had completed what FIRST has failed to in so many years, attain mainstream attention, in such a short time span, perhaps this year's competition would borrow some from the winning formula of BattleBots. I was wrong about that, and I PRAY that I am wrong about many other things. Regardless, I will have fun, I will enjoy it, and I will look forward to seeing all the teams at the competitions, or, semi-competitions.

aTm