Michigan State Championships

[Wayne TenBrink]

First and foremost, it is a great honor and joy to be involved in FIRST. Whatever happens on the field

is secondary to the positive impact that participation has on everyone - students, leaders, &

organizers alike. Where else can you have this much fun learning about complicated stuff, doing hard

work, solving difficult problems, and trying your best to do the right thing?

This was a great event. The game has really developed as all the teams have gained experience and

gotten their machines in top form. The scores look more like something from the first week of Lunacy

than they did from the first week of Breakaway.

We played against some great teams in the quarters and semi's. All of them (2337/2619/226 &

70/910/2137) will do our state proud in Atlanta.

These finals were brutal - in a good, FIRST sort of way. They were four of the toughest matches we have

ever played in. Who ever expected to see an 18-18 tie? The strategy for 67, 217 & 2612 obviously

involved trying to keep us from feeding the loop, and they did a good job of it. Near the end of the

first match we lost comms after a collision and blocked our own goal. Near the end of the second match,

We tripped the 120amp breaker - the first time we ever did that. By then our drive motors were so hot

you could literally burn your hand on them. We called a time out, and in our haste to swap out the main

breaker and cool the motors before time expired, we forgot to change the battery. In the third match we

didn't have enough power to cross the bump. We thought we had fried a motor and were ready to call in a

backup robot until we realized that we hadn't changed the battery. In the fourth match, I just prayed

that we could still move. Thankfully, it did and we engaged in combat with 2612 while trying to move

balls forward and slow down 67. When it was over, our top shroud was mangled, and our bumper frame (1-

1/2 x 1-1/2 x 1/8 Aluminum channel) was bent in more than an inch, and you could fry eggs on the drive

motors.

Thanks to 469 and 2834. You are both great teams and we hope to have the honor of playing with you

again. 469 puts innovative machines on the field every year and it was a treat to play the game with

them. They deserve all the attention they have gotten this year (and the picture with the dumpster says a lot about their character and service). 2834 is a young team that will be

heard from again and again.

Thanks also to 67, 217, and 2612. You always set the bar high for the rest of us and make FIRST a

better, tougher place to be. I know that playing with you has made us a better team.

See you in Atlanta!

[LWakefield]

Thanks to Las Guerillas and the Bionic Barons. You guys were great.

[GaryVoshol]

I'd like to thank all the teams at the MSC this weekend. While it was a fast and hard game, it was the easiest event to ref this year. The ref crew having done over 2600 games collectively helps, but the most credit has to go to the teams. The experience gained by the teams over 4 weeks really shows in Week 5. Even though this event had nearly twice as many matches as a district, I think there were less penalties - and there certainly were far fewer yellow and red cards.

This event rivals IRI. (And that's not a put-down of IRI; I've really enjoyed working there too. It's another kind of equal good.) I haven't reffed FRC in Atlanta, but I can't imagine that it gets any better than being here in Michigan.

I hope to see everyone in some off-season events, and can't wait to see what you do to improve next year. Because each year gets better.

[mark johnson]

THE MICHIGAN STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS ROCK !!!!!!!!!!! Thats all you can say. The matches were great in quals, and even better in elims. But the four matches that both teams displayed for the final was nothing short of INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!! All six teams should be proud of the fine preformances they exhibited. Congrats to 1918 ,469 ,2834 for the win ,and to 67 ,217 ,2612 for a hard fought runner up. Atlanta is in for a big awakening from the Michigan teams. Thank you to team 70 for picking us ,we would be more than glad to play on an alliance with you anytime. Your defensive play aginst 469 was awsome to watch, not only were you keeping them out of the tunnel but you were coming out to block there shots and at the same time clear the balls to us in our zone, AMAZING THING TO WATCH!!!!! To 2137 I cant believe we picked you up in the second, round because you were for sure a first round pick!!!! Our scouting team had you ranked number one for clearing balls , and you did a great job of that for us . It was a pleasure competing on an alliance with you and hope we can do it again sometime . To Dave awsome job as always at the MC. Were sooo spoiled in Michigan to have you do our regionals SALUTE!!!!!! Also to the refs ,judges ,and all the people that make this quality event happen THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Basel A]

The Michigan State Championship was amazing!! There were a lot of truly great moments.

To 469: I predicted you wouldn't be seeded highly and that you'd be defended too well. Boy was I wrong! I now absolutely believe there's no one that can stop you if you have a decent striker. Also, our auton that flipped you over was unintentional. Our programmer later said it was meant to have you wedge us into tunnel, but it didn't work properly, and you won anyway! It'll be fun trying to match you in Atlanta!
To 1918: I knew you might kill my previous prediction, but you absolutely surpassed all expectations. Kudos to a great robot from a great team!
To 2834: I've always admired your team, and your performance in the eliminations shows the true depth of the field in Michigan. I wish you the best of luck in Atlanta!

To 67, 217, and 2612: A great game played by a great alliance. Those finals will be hard to match, even on Einstein. There was everything from amazing defense on 469, and very, very good offensive play to keep up with the #1 alliance in a loaded competition. I won't be surprised to see any of you on Einstein!

To 2959: You made our dreams come true! I personally machined (with supervision, right?) most of our hanging mechanism, and you finally used it. Highlight of my day!
To 2619: Have we put our (gp) rivalry behind us? I didn't think so either! However, it was a nice break to be cheering with you, and our matches together were a thing to watch. Too bad the suspensions didn't work out, but we can hope for Atlanta!
To 226: You made a great alliance partner! Playing defense on 469 is never easy, especially with a robot specifically delegated to blocking you, but you did your job very well. We wish you the best of luck in Atlanta!

To 27, 33, and 503: I can't think of 3 teams more deserving of the Chairman's Award. You are exemplary teams that will continue to lead FIRST for the years to come. We can only hope to match your spirit and dedication. Congratulations and best of luck!!

To the volunteers that made it happen: I don't really know any of you, but you did a great job! From what I could tell, the event ran very smoothly, and there certainly weren't any major delays. I thought the reffing team did a great job. One can only hope that the national championship will be run as well.

Overall, it was a great competition, and I was absolutely delighted throughout. Oh, and did I mention? We're going to Atlanta!!!!

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by mark johnson

To Dave awsome job as always at the MC. Were sooo spoiled in Michigan to have you do our regionals SALUTE!!!!!!

As one of my mentors commented, he's easily one of the best MCs in FIRST. I don't know how he has that much energy at the end of the event. Also, I enjoy the handstands [: Turning the filed UPSIDE DOWNNNNNNNN!

[Ed Law]

Thank you for all the kind words from 1918, 67 and 2337. I watched the videos of all the finals matches over and over again today. There was so much happening at the same time. I can only watch one or two robots at a time. Hence I have to watch each match more than once. All I can say was it was incredibly exciting no matter what the outcome was.

Thanks again to 1918 and 469. You had made our day. It was depressing during the qualifying rounds for us because we did everything right, scoring 6-8 balls per match and lost quite a few because of a non-working partner robot or unnecessary penalties. One of those matches was our own fault. We tied 217's alliance in that match but our driver accidentally touched the tower during finale even though none of our opponents were trying to hang.

Being a relatively new team, another thing I need to learn to deal with is partners grossly exaggerating what they can do, wanting us to follow their strategy and then not delivering what they promised.

I know this has been discussed many times before in other posts. We use student drive coach on our team. Our drive coach discusses strategies and negotiate starting positions with other teams. He is very capable in working things out with other teams and I almost never have to step in even when I was there. Last year in our rookie year, nobody believed he was a freshman in high school. I am very proud of him as his coach and as his dad.

[MishraArtificer]

To teams going to Atlanta who HAVEN'T seen any of the match videos from GLR/Michigan State Championships...

Michigan teams will
eat your souls.

You have been warned.

[johnr]

Thanks FIM for this incredible tournament. I hope some day the rest of the country will get to this point. Codered, once again a life saver for those that could not attend. Please, please get to IRI.
I wanted to compare other 5th week qual match scores to Michigan,but that just wouldn't be fair with so many great bots in one place.(i'm to lazy to average out all those matches) So i thought maybe the elims would be closer being you have the best bots playing and doing a quick glance it looked like Conneticut had the highest spread of scores across elims.
red - blue
michigan 10 - 7.2
conneticut 7.2 - 5.4
Michigan's low average score is conneticut's high and and our low would probably have beat their high except for that dq in semi1-2. I guess that isn't fair either,what's the chance of all these teams playing together again? Oh, that's called IRI.

[Mike Copioli]

Congratulations to teams 1918, 469, 2834. You worked hard and deserved to win.

1918: Your performance on the field was stellar. Even under the heavy defense of 2612 you never backed down. It is no surprise that you were the number one seed.

469: What can be said that has not been said already? How about this. While playing WITH you guys is much more relaxing, playing AGAINST you guys is definitely more fun. This is a compliment to your incredible performance and challenges you bring to the game. You guys raise the bar year after year making FIRST events much more exciting and successful. I am just glad you guys took it easy on us by not playing the midfield.

2834: A first round robot that was picked second round by the number one seed?...........Only in Michigan. Stopping the balls in the loop is no easy task. To stop the balls only to watch you guys shoveling them into the goal was PAINFUL. It was a privilege to play against such an effective defender/scorer. The lines between defense and offense have officially been blurred.

67: Thank you for picking us. We had what I consider the dream alliance. Three offensive robots. Your robot is as amazing as I have heard. Some day I would like to see it perform during elims. It was as if two different games were being played at the same time. Breaking the loop requires so much attention It felt as if we were all alone, that is until the end of the match when I looked up and noticed this "thing" hanging from the tower and a ton of points on the scoreboard. Adam, it was a pleasure finally getting the chance to work with you. You are all that Paul made you out to be and then some. I hope we get the chance to work together again in Atlanta.

2612: If I could only use one word to describe your performance that word would be dangerous. And I mean that in a good way. An 18-18 tie while we played "Pong" could only mean one thing, you guys scored, scored, scored!!! I wish I could explain how you guys made it back to the number 2 seed in the second round when you were in the top 5 on our list. If there was one thing that Michigan teams could improve it would be scouting. It was great to finally be playing together in the elims.

33, 1718, 308: You guys scared us more than anyone. I wish I could get video of that last match between us. I would like to actually count the balls that you guys scored in Auton to see if it was truly 0. I know there are bugs in the ball counting software I hope that these issues are solved before Atlanta.

Congrats to Alvin Carrols on WFA. I cannot think of a more deserving candidate. You are an inspiration to us all.

[Craig Roys]

Originally Posted by Mike Copioli

33, 1718, 308: You guys scared us more than anyone. I wish I could get video of that last match between us. I would like to actually count the balls that you guys scored in Auton to see if it was truly 0. I know there are bugs in the ball counting software I hope that these issues are solved before Atlanta.

Mike,
After I talked with you I heard conflicting accounts of whether we scored in auton or not - I too would like to see the video. I don't want to take anything away from your alliance - you definitely deserved the win. We were very happy to have kept it close. Your defense on us was frustrating to say the least. Of course playing a 3rd match would have been even more fun! See you in Atlanta!

[flippy147852]

First of all, thanks to 469 and 2834 for joining us in our alliance. You both really shone in the elims and our win wouldn't have been possible without you guys.

Also, thank you to 67, 217, and 2612. You guys really made for the most competitive and entertaining finals ever and you have probably convinced my parents to come to every FIRST event as long as i am on the team.

With that said, I really would have liked it if the eliminations were expanded to 10 alliances. There were so many good teams that didn't even make it to the playoffs (830, 1528, and 247 are some that came to mind). To see these teams not in the playoffs really showed the depth of the field, but i would have liked to see these teams compete in the elims.

Just my $0.02