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#76
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
I'll let you all in on a little secret. Dean likes the big, successful, mentor driven, powerhouse teams who constantly raise the bar. He said so during the opening ceremonies in Chicago this past weekend. He specifically called out Beatty, Wildstang, and Bomb Squad as teams he is grateful for. If he gave the same speech in Michigan, he would have mentioned HOT and the Thunderchickens. If Dean thinks they're right for FIRST, you should too.
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#77
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
Quote:
It's so that the guys who have to build and maintain the stuff you just built aren't consigning you to the devil every time they have to get to that one bolt that has to be removed before any other maintenance is performed, but is in a place that needs a 5-foot arm to reach. |
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#78
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
Quote:
The anonymous poster might have worded this point differently and started the 1000th iteration of the "should robots be 100% student-built" discussion. It would have been repetitive, but it wouldn't have been rude. It probably also wouldn't belong in a thread with this title. To say something at least remotely relevant to this thread, I'm only sorry that 217 doesn't participate in the VRC or FTC. Then, our club would have a chance to beat both 148 AND 217 at Worlds... ![]() |
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#79
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
Team 217 is an inspiration for this "have-nots-turning-into-a-haves-through-a-lot-of-hard-work" team.
Thank you Paul, and the rest of 217, for giving us something to strive for. Someday, I hope 1551 is looked up to with as much earned admiration as 217. You guys rock. We'll never have your funding. We'll never have your number of students or mentors (being extremely rural). But if we have your spirit, we can share in your success, and every year become better than what we were the year before. Good on you, guys. |
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#80
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
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#81
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
This story may be interesting:
I had the pleasure of meeting a student on a FIRST team in 1999 named Eric Gargus. He was the senior student leader on this team. We had an a match together at the Midwest Regional. He was his team's driver and I was our drive team coach. His team was having a tough time, as their robot was not good. He was venting to me about drama within his team and I just listened, not really knowing what sort of advice to give. I saw Eric again at the Championships, and he said that his team was doing better, but he was still frustrated. He told me that his team did not like my team, since our team has too many engineers involved and we have this huge sponsor (Delphi) who gives us everything. He also said that they don't like us because we won too much (we won the Championships during the prior year). Guess what team Eric was on? At the time, this team was called "Team McComb", and their team number was 217. Yep, this is the same 217, and now they are known as the Thunderchickens. It looks to me like the Thunderchickens decided to DO SOMETHING about their frustration instead of whine about it. Good for them, and good for the rest of FIRST. We are all better because of this can-do attitude. So, if your team gets trounced by one of these top-notch teams, you can do two things: 1. Whine and complain 2. Go to their pits, talk to their team, and learn what makes them excellent I bet it won't take more than 2-3 years for your team to become great like the Thunderchickens. It is very hard work, but it will be worth it. Go, be excellent. Sincerely, Andy Baker |
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#82
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
In an attempt to be interesting and entertaining, I offer you this observation/confession:
Back in my freshman year (2002 Zone Zeal) I was very much to the idea that FIRST was nothing but competitive. And my first regional, one of our first matches put an impression on me. We got our butts handed to us by team 175. I mean we got our butts hhhhhhhaaaanded to us. Considering that 175 was so good in that regional that year, and the fact they were 175 and we were 174, I immediately called "Rival!". No one else on the team paid much heed to me when I called 175 "our rivals" and it confused me to no end why everyone thought that it was silly to have a rival. Turn the page to the next year and I figured out why: I called out a new "Rival" that was just better then us. And the next year there were those who were "much better then us" and eventually I found out that every year, the teams that were much better then us were so because they...well...were. Our team was rag-tag, it was scattered and did little real design work. Our robots failed because we tried to put so many mechanisms on it that didn't work. We were SO inefficient. Turn the page to 2006 my senior year and those of you know know the story of the Team Spirit award will know, that was the year we turned it around. And we did turn it around. We gathered new mentors, new sponsors, and new types of students. After 2006 we have been regional champs 4 out of the past 5 years. And the best part is, we STILL don't have all the resources that other teams have. We are a minimal team still, and yet all it took was just the right change. Take the word from someone who was apart of a team that literally went from laughable to three time FLR champ: You have to change your perspective. You will never reach 217 potential without having 217 perspective. There are times to say "teams are way too good, their robots are too cheap, their resources too vast, and their designs are too game-breaking." But thats only if you can find one, and no one has found one yet. Last edited by Tetraman : 23-03-2010 at 14:56. |
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#83
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
Their machine is a beast. They have excellent drivers. And have some of the best mentors in all of FIRST. Frankly, It could be the biggest upset I've ever seen if they are NOT on Einstein. Simply put, if you don't defeat them in the first 20 seconds by Championship time, you won't beat them at all.
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#84
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
We might not be as good as 217, or the other traditional "powerhouse" teams... but we are better because of them.
Jason |
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#85
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
Quote:
My friends, my team, and myself look up to Team IFI for many reasons. We do NOT always agree with their methods, but we always agree with their outputs and results. I have kids on team 11 who out right hate the CADing of parts and sending them out to a shop, these are kids who don't get what exactly Team IFI is all about. But they do learn a heck of a lot each year when these teams unveil their robots and help us out each and ever year. Of course, I would never want to leave out teams outside of IFI such as 111 and 71 in a "thank you for inspiring our team" thread. |
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#86
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
I would have to say 217 is probably the most inspiring team for my team, 2851. Besides being the "little brother" of 217, our teams didn't have the best 'feelings' for eachother last year. And yet despite all of this we still respect eachother as amazing teams. If it weren't for 217, Crevolution wouldn't be the team it is now, to thrive to be as good as the Thunderchickens (and eventually beat them
) is our goal. It is not a very fun time when people mention a Sterling Heights team and they all of a suden think 217. It is because of this I love the Thunderchickens, they make us strive. O the leaps and bounds we made from our rookie year last year to this year, absolutely stunning in my opinion.And also, i have heard the rumors about the TC robot being "mentor designed" and I know this not to be true. Many of my school mates on TC have told me so, and i highly doubt all 20 of my closest friends would be lying to me. Sterling Heights does not know that word 'conspiracy'. So in the end, I want to thank the Thunderchickens. You handed us our biggest lose this year, and because of it our robot...well let's just say it's got a little more bit (see my profile picture to understand the pun) |
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#87
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
Bite!!! puns work best when they are actual puns!
love to see the good out ways the bad by a large margin on this post, just like FIRST Big Shoes Chickens and unfortunately you out grow them every year |
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#88
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
Quote:
I LOVED the story from Andy in 1999. That just goes to show how you too can be like the Chickens, if you're willing to work at it. Teams that think the "have's" like 1114, 217, 148, 254, 67, 111, et al. just have things handed to them are sorely mistaken. They work hard, and they deserve what they get, even if it is frustrating to the rest of us striving to be like them. |
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#89
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
I just want to throw out my two cents.
Being from team 2851 and attending the same school as most of the Thunderchickens, I can say that I have interacted with their members pretty closely and they are all great people. Even after beating us 26-1 at Cass Tech, they showed respect for us and many of them showed up to our next regional to cheer us on and help us. The Thunderchickens are a great team and I think it is sad for anyone to bash them for their success. Don't hate on them because they are good or do things differently than your team. |
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#90
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Re: Team 217 - Thunderchickens
Thunderchickens are great this year.
They're robot is the best I've seen for this game (scoring goals) 469 is another story, they're very imaginative and they're robot is brilliant. But, I believe that without 217 or any other good scoring robot, They would not have won the regionals that they did, and we've seen that when they had games that they had to score themselves and they were good but not as 217. Eventually, in my opinion 469 217 are the best alliance I've seen. (and any medium scoring + defensive robot) I believe we'll see them on Einstein this year! |
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