Best Team Never To Win at Championships?

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by JesseK

Arguably, Pink only won Florida in 2009 because of 179/1649. Actually, I don't think even Pink would argue that point, it was simply an off year for them. Yes, Pink deserves more credit overall than was implied.

However, I was more trying to point out that a simple ranking based upon data points that aren't additively independent between alternatives is more "interesting" than it is conclusive. OPR addresses additive independence within a Regional. Yet it's unreliable when comparing robots between regional events, so I presume it's a stretch to try to normalize it year-to-year.

If anything, this thread is a great history lesson.

2009 was far from Pink's finest year. I don't think anyone would argue that. And Florida is usually their weakest event (as it's their first, and constant iteration, evolution, and improvement during the season is one of their hallmarks). That's really the only year you could argue that they were "carried" in the eliminations in Florida.

While I agree it's definitely possible that raw data to lead someone astray in this conversation. I think you picked a poor example, though. Pink passes any and all "eyeball checks" regarding this topic. They have a handful of the greatest FRC bots ever created, especially their machines from 2005 and 2007. Seeing MOE and Pink battle for the #1 seed then eventually the regional victory at the 2001 Philadelphia regional is one of my most poignant memories from that era of FIRST. They've had consistent success across many different regionals and at the Championship event.

Any metric you want to apply to Pink, they will pass with flying colors. Pun intended.