Update #20

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Formerly Famous

Maybe it is just me, but I find this very humorous. Yes, 469 made an AMAZING robot this year; I personally applaud them! I love the fact that they took the risk to make such an amazing robot. I know that if I was them, I would at the same way they have. Heck, I would just sit back and let people yell about me. What do I care? It's not like what they think really matters all that much.

Why can we not joke about that which is serious? I do, it always helps to lighten the mood.

Simple, because EVERY year whatever teams that do well are belittled and insulted because they are successful. Personally I don't want my students getting the impression that being great means you will be picked on and insulted. Every year, lately it has been bashing 217 or 1114 or 67 or [team du jour] All these teams did was do well. Should we really be insulting them for it? I don't CARE how they react, I think by insulting them and hoping FIRST makes rules against them you are celebrating mediocrity and that is WRONG.

I know this was a joke, I know that FIRST hasn't bowed to public pressure. I am more concerned by the thought that we as a community have put these robots and this stupid little competition so high that we have forgotten what FIRST is about. It isn't about winning and losing, it is about showing students that STEM can be fun. Or, to say it as someone I know says about American FRC, "It is to make America play 20 years of catch up with the rest of the world" We do that by out of the box thinking, 469 EXEMPLIFIED that this year. Instead of being praised they are being called cheaters. That disgusts me.