2002--Here we go again

[patrickrd]

Originally posted by Ken Leung
For last year, turn out 4 vs. 0 was really good at bonding teams together. Teams in west coast work with each other a lot more now... it never would've happened if it was always head to head competition. And then, there were downsides to that format, such as unfriendly to spectators or media...

At New York City (the regional our team attended), the 4v0 had exactly the opposite effect. Due to one disappointing match after another (the ramp was balanced very few times), teams tended to blame each other. Rules such as disqualifying the whole alliance when a certain team's coach hits the stop button don't help teams bond together either.

Originally posted by Ken Leung
I will be thrilled if there will be 20 regionals the year after. Talk about growth rate!

While 20 would be nice, let's not settle for that. We currently have 17. This year, california clearly needs at least 1 more, perhaps 2. We need one more in the midwest, and one more on the east coast. We need 20 this year, and factor in projected growth for after this year (the "competition format" ought to get a lot more interested in starting new teams), and we're looking at a need for about 24-25 regionals.

Perhaps I'm too optimistic, but that's the way I see it.