Thank You and Congrats to Teams 20, 2079, 195, and 1124!

[Chris is me]

Hi! After the WPI regional, team 2791 and I have a lot of people to thank, for a lot of reasons. I apologize in advance for the long post, but I really need to thank these great teams again, and I figure people can learn from their example as my teammates have at competition today.

Thank you Team 20. As you're a team very nearby us in build, you've helped us throughout build with programming, practice field use, parts, and the like. When we got to WPI regional, everything that could go wrong did... until you guys gave us more help and exhibited more gracious professionalism than I've ever personally seen at a FIRST event. It started with some programming advice... then details on your vaccumm, then the lexan we so vitally needed to pass inspection, then a hand tap, then a battery, then hours of more programming assistance... Your team was a true class act throughout. Clearly you guys were taking time away from your own robot which needed adjusting to help with ours, and for that we thank you. But wait, there's more! They ALSO lent us their scouting data and some of their scouts collaborated with us on our Friday pick list! Without 20's data, 2791 would not have been able to form the amazing alliance we had.

So thank you, Team 20. Not just for the unbelievable amount of help and spare parts and minds, but for inspiring my entire team. Through your example, the rookies "get it". They've caught the FIRST bug, and understand just how Gracious Professionalism comes into play. They have a new role model to look up to. Everyone on my team LOVES you guys and the amount of support you've given us. And congrats on that event win, you guys definitely earned it. I think you're one of the best front robots in FIRST at this point with your kicker that lofts over most defenders and your vacuum.

Aside from 20, team 2079 was a team of gracious professionals as well. Offering everything from help and parts to just a friendly group of people to vent and talk to, you guys are a great team and if it weren't for those early bugs, you'd have made elims for sure. We still have your aluminum billet, by the way, so we'll return what's left of it to you at our next event. Watch for these guys at CT, they're way better than you might think.

And who's next? Team 195 and 1124. I honestly was in complete shock that 195 fell to the 5th pick, and just as much shock that 1124 was around for the 12th. When my head scout read "1124", I was excited just based on our robots. Then we met for the huddle and had a thorough, intelligent, intense strategy discussion that allowed us to form the action plan that we needed to play as well as we did. Other than some code issues with 1124 (sorry about all the stress and drama with the timeout call, by the way), we performed very well as one alliance, and if things broke our way, I think we'd have at least had a shot at trying to stop the powerhouse #1 alliance. You'll all be at CT, so hopefully we'll get to work with you guys again. I would honestly be happy with the same alliance, but we'll see how that goes..

To WPI's volunteer staff and 195: I was a little... overly excited today when my team's final match wasn't factored in for elims (and in 195's case, on strategy, so overexcited i planned a strategy with the goals backward...). I don't want to go into detail (it's nothing terrible), but I'm not actually normally like that, something just happened and I was basically overstimulated all day. Not the best impression, but I'm really much more calm than that

Congrats to 1124 on Chairman's as well! What a wonderful event. I've been inspired by all of you, as has my whole team, and we'll see you in CT.