What happened at IRI?

[Andy Baker]

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone for attending and playing hard at the IRI. Thanks to Cyberblue, team 234, for leading the way and thanks to team 393, Full Metal Jackets for helping along side the TechnoKats in putting on a great comp.

There are many memories from this year's IRI. All are good, believe it or not.

As for the DQs and the entanglement call, the other 4 referees and I did our best. I'm not going to say much about this, except for these things:

1. There would still be controversy if the entanglement call of the last match was not made. Ideally, we all wish that 201 would have never gotten tangled up on 71's winch cord and all the refs had to do was tally the score.

2. Many suggestions were made at the time of the call to simply replay the match. I understand this mentality. However, FIRST has never re-ran a match in this sort of situation where people have disagreed with the referee's call. We made a decision and stuck with it.

3. Everyone who has given me feedback about the entanglement call has either supported the call or they have simply disagreed without getting personal. Everyone showed class and GP.

All in all, I totally agree with Mike Soukup about these two things:
There were too many DQs
This shows that FIRST really needs to define their rules better.

He is right about both, but if a rule is written, then we should follow it. Also, some of the rules definitely need better explaination. An entanglement to some was not entanglement to others, and it is up to interpretation. Stuff like this needs more specific details on what is allowed and not allowed.

It is good that the IRI took place only 10 days before the FIRST Forum, so that these issues of carpet damage and entanglement are fresh in our minds. We as a FIRST community should come up with positive suggestions and pose them to FIRST as possible solutions.

In my mind, I hope that this one unfortuneate incident of the last match entanglement is not the main thing remembered from the 2002 IRI. I hope that the teamwork shown between teams 393, 234 and 45 is what is remembered along with the spirit and inspiration is what lives on in each attending team.

Sincerely,
Andy B.