Did Lunacy really level the playing field?

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I don't think you can entirely discount the greater presence and competitiveness of rookie teams this year. Perhaps I'm misrememebring, but I've heard that Team 2970 had very little in the way of experience prior to build season, and a falling-out happened with their mentor team. Despite all of this they managed to build an extremely competitive robot this year that got 2nd and 1st at two regionals and led a Newton team to the semis.

While it's my understanding that 2741, 2826, and 2775 (?) had help (as all rookie teams ought to), they were still extremely competitive robots that would not seem a bit out of place if you dropped the first digit from their team numbers.

I mean, _something_ was different than in 2008. I'm not sure what exactly, be it the wheels or not having a gigantic game piece, but it's my understanding that rookies at least did a little better.

Every year there's always a handful of rookie teams who's performance on the field is far above their team's experience level. I don't have any data to back this up, but it doesn't feel like there's significantly more or less of these high achievers this year than any previous year in recent memory.