CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!

[Wayne C.]

Thanks all for the wonderful sentiments. I feel that getting allied with SPAM and Bomb Squad was serendipity and we were blessed.

This was a really rough year for us. We had a lack of everything- money, materials, tools- time. You name it. Fortunately Cybersonics was there to help us along and together our two teams built our machines side by side.

At our initial event in Orlando we simply weren't ready. Got our butts kicked. But the team rallied and we used every minute of our Bag and Tag time to fix the problems and improve. After learning from SPAM's flashlight of death we decided on a beacon of our own to line up and it made all the difference.

To end up as partners with SPAM for the Championship and also link up with our perennial pit neighbors BBS was great. We have highest regard for both teams and hope to play together again down the road.

And I will be forever indebted to these teams for helping us earn the Galileo banner. Getting that one was a goal we have had for a very long time. Now I can retire.

While I am on here I also want to give a shout-out to 341 Miss Daisy for being our partners at the MAR Championship. We really expected to be seeing them in the final 4 last weekend- their machine is truly spectacular.

Eventually all this controversy about comms, storms and robots will be sorted out by FIRST and next year the games should be better. Heck- with the end of the world happening outside the arena during the finals, for a time there I thought we weren't leaving that place in one piece.

And like Woodie told us in his talk, all the bad stuff we anguished over will be replaced by the memories of the achievements and good time we had this year. My team is graduating yet another class of great kids who will go into the world capable and focused. And after a decade and a half of FIRST robotics those memories are as treasured as any trophies.

WC