No Great Lakes for Us this Year :-(

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Posted by Raul.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Engineer on team #111, Wildstang, from Rolling Meadows & Wheeling HS and Motorola.

Posted on 9/11/2000 7:56 AM MST



What a bummer. The Great Lakes Regional and the Motorola Midwest Regional are at the same time. We have no choice; so we will miss playing at Great Lakes. I hope to see all the great teams from the Detroit area at the West Michigan Regional.

Raul

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Posted by Joe Johnson.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.

Posted on 9/11/2000 8:42 AM MST


In Reply to: No Great Lakes for Us this Year :-( posted by Raul on 9/11/2000 7:56 AM MST:



Any word on shipping after a regional?

If they stick to their reasoning last year, they should give us back our robots until Tuesday after the regional.

Please Please Please.

Joe J.

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Posted by Nate Smith.

Other on team #66, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS, from Eastern Michigan University and GM Powertrain.

Posted on 9/11/2000 9:04 AM MST


In Reply to: What about shipping? posted by Joe Johnson on 9/11/2000 8:42 AM MST:



: Any word on shipping after a regional?

: If they stick to their reasoning last year, they should give us back our robots until Tuesday after the regional.

: Please Please Please.

: Joe J.

Hard to say for sure...but if I remember correctly, one of the main reasons for doing it the way they did last year was because nationals was one week after the last 2 regionals....they've given themselves an extra week's padding between the last regionals and nationals this time...

Nate

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Posted by S. Krussell.

Coach on team #349, Robahamas, from International Academy and Ford Motor Co..

Posted on 9/11/2000 7:45 PM MST


In Reply to: No Great Lakes for Us this Year :-( posted by Raul on 9/11/2000 7:56 AM MST:



Yeah Raul, I felt chagrined over this sad situation as well. Last year was our first at Northwestern U, and it was a wonderful experience. We will still try for 3 regionals, though, if we can scratch up the $$$$. I registered my team for Great Lakes, Mid Atlantic and
New York. And Nationals of course. $17,000. Yikes!
Sure gonna miss Evanston!

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Posted by Joe Johnson.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.

Posted on 9/11/2000 8:36 PM MST


In Reply to: Can't have it both ways this year posted by S. Krussell on 9/11/2000 7:45 PM MST:



'We will still try for 3 regionals, though, if we can scratch up the $$$$. I registered my team for Great Lakes, Mid Atlantic and New York'

This doesn't add up.

Do you mean NYC when you say New York? Mid Atlantic & NYC are both in week 3.

Do you mean Long Island instead? This is possible (weeks 2, 3, & 4 plus the Nationals), but it is not a choice I can easily understand.

Please tell more.

Joe J.

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Posted by S. Krussell.

Coach on team #349, Robahamas, from International Academy and Ford Motor Co..

Posted on 9/12/2000 9:10 PM MST


In Reply to: Huh? posted by Joe Johnson on 9/11/2000 8:36 PM MST:



Just a misspeak, Joe. Or rather a mis-write. Team #349 is registered for 1) Western Michigan
2) New York City (just couldn't resist!)
and 3) Great Lakes, of course!

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Posted by Brian Beatty.

Coach on team #71, Team Hammond, from Hammond Schools.

Posted on 9/11/2000 8:59 PM MST


In Reply to: No Great Lakes for Us this Year :-( posted by Raul on 9/11/2000 7:56 AM MST:



FIRST should seriously reconsider the Midwest Regional on an alternate weekend than either of the Michigan Regionals. I would estimate that over half of the teams last year at the Midwest were from the Detroit local. The teams from out East have plenty of action in their area and will not fill the void at the Midwest. If the three regionals in question were on different weekends, going to three regionals could be easily achieved with a short bus ride. Maybe there will be enough new teams to plug the hole and maybe FIRST has thought this through. I hope I'm wrong but my prediction: 25 teams or less at Midwest with a weaker line-up.

Brian Beatty

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Posted by Joe Johnson.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.

Posted on 9/11/2000 9:14 PM MST


In Reply to: Midwest Regional=Empty Stadium posted by Brian Beatty on 9/11/2000 8:59 PM MST:



Let me add to Brian's comments the fact that the Bomb Squad will also not be in attendance (see the messages elsewhere on this forum).

Note that with the addition of the Bomb Squad, I count 17 of the 24 teams that were in the Elimination Rounds at the Midwest Regional in 2000 that are not likely to attend that regional in 2001.

This is a tough blow to any regional.

Joe J.

P.S. Look for yourself, below are my 17 teams:

Team 47 - Delphi Automotive Systems & Pontiac Central High School (Troy, MI)

Team 68 - General Motors Truck Group & Oakland Technical Center - Northwest (Pontiac, MI)

Team 16 - Baxter Healthcare Corporation & Mountain Home High School (Mountain Home, AR)

Team 184 - Visteon Automotive Systems & Fordson High School (Dearborn, MI)

Team 67 - General Motors Milford Proving Ground & Huron Valley Schools (Milford, MI)

Team 397 - Delphi Automotive Systems & Flint Southwestern Academy (Flint, MI)

Team 201 - Visteon Automotive Systems & Rochester High School (Troy, MI)

Team 349 - Ford Motor Company & International Academy (Bloomfield Hills, MI)

Team 74 - Haworth, Inc. & Holland High School (Holland, MI)

Team 1 - 3-Dimensional Services & Oakland Technical Center, Northeast Campus (OTC-NE) (Pontiac, MI)

Team 49 - Delphi Automotive Systems & Buena Vista High School (Saginaw, MI)

Team 141 - Johnson Controls & West Ottawa High School (Holland, MI)

Team 249 - DaimlerChrysler/Jeep-Truck Engineering & Breithaupt Career & Technical Center (Detroit, MI)

Team 27 - DaimlerChrysler & OSMTech Academy (Auburn Hills, MI)

Team 308 - TRW AE/Walled Lake Western & Walled Lake Central High School (Farmington Hills, MI)

Team 144 - Procter & Gamble Company & Northwest High School Career Center (Cincinnati, OH)

Team 65 - GM Powertrain & Pontiac Northern High School (Pontiac, MI)

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Posted by Erin.

Other on team #1, The Juggernauts, from OTC-NE and 3-Dimensional Services.

Posted on 9/12/2000 6:21 AM MST


In Reply to: Don't forget: No Bomb Squad!!!! posted by Joe Johnson on 9/11/2000 9:14 PM MST:



I agree Joe, I believe that all of the teams you listed will not be attending Chicago this year as they did in the past for two reasons-

WESTERN MICHIGAN AND GREAT LAKES.

I know that teams like 288 and Holland/Haworth, WOBOT, Holland Christian Academy, etc. Will probably not attend Great Lakes nor Chicago due to the fact that they will have to take their students out of school two weekends in a row. I a sorry if I am led to believe that this will become a scheduling DISASTER.

I still can't believe they took the GLR away from Eastern where it was so accessible to so many under-funded Detroit teams (teams that consist of close to 50 students!) And they are making the go all the way up to MSU. That is bad enough without scheduling area regionals ONE ON TOP of the other.

I am in total disbelief of all of this.
-erin

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Posted by Raul.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Engineer on team #111, Wildstang, from Rolling Meadows & Wheeling HS and Motorola.

Posted on 9/12/2000 6:07 AM MST


In Reply to: Midwest Regional=Empty Stadium posted by Brian Beatty on 9/11/2000 8:59 PM MST:



Brian and Joe, I agree with you.
The Midwest regional will not be anywhere near as competitive as it was last year. I personally think this regional could be a bust and FIRST made a big mistake here. I certainly hope that I am wrong!

Northwestern University was such a great venue. What a shame if we get less than 30 teams. Why doesn't FIRST ever directly ask our opinion on this stuff?

Raul

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Posted by Greg Mills.

Engineer on team #16, Baxter Bomb Squad, from Mountain Home and Baxter Healthcare.

Posted on 9/12/2000 6:26 AM MST


In Reply to: Re: Midwest Regional=Empty Stadium posted by Raul on 9/12/2000 6:07 AM MST:



:
Simply put - I thought the 2000 Midwest was one of the best ever. The venue and organization was as good as it gets. I would have liked to have seen the schedule stacked for this one instead of against it. But then if it stays the same quality event, as FIRST expands it will become a must attend competition.

Greg

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Posted by Nate Smith.

Other on team #66, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS, from Eastern Michigan University and GM Powertrain.

Posted on 9/12/2000 7:28 AM MST


In Reply to: Re: Midwest Regional=Empty Stadium posted by Raul on 9/12/2000 6:07 AM MST:



: The Midwest regional will not be anywhere near as competitive as it was last year. I personally think this regional could be a bust and FIRST made a big mistake here. I certainly hope that I am wrong!

Anyone who's been watching my posts on here over the past couple years probably has noticed by now that I have a habit of taking the underrepresented side in discussions like this(or at least bringing up some of the points that the other side would,) and I'm not going to disappoint anybody by not doing that this time....

While traditionally, the majority of the 'big name' teams who attended Great Lakes also made the trek to Chicago, this caused both of these events to be the largest regionals of the season(Great Lakes #1[67 teams], Midwest #2[52 teams].) And while this does make for an exciting competition, it also makes for less play time per team, which means less time to debug potentially serious problems, as well as a more 'random' seeding position, giving less time for the qualifying points to even out after a bad match. I think by putting the Great Lakes and Midwest events the same weekend(and by putting a cap on the number of teams at Great Lakes,) they are forcing teams to choose between the two events, and with the growth of teams in the Midwest area, it will balance itself out. Perhaps not with both events having as many teams as last year, but I have a feeling from what I've seen in the past that the numbers will not be as skewed as some are predicting. In addition, with the move of Great Lakes to MSU, it's still a 'drive there and get a hotel' situation for the majority of the teams, so it's just a matter of how far you want to drive, rather than a 'drive & get a hotel' vs. a 'stay at home and just worry about parking' issue.

Also, this change may be a sign of things to come....if indeed FIRST is working toward a day where each team attends one and only one regional in an attempt to qualify for nationals, it would make sense that they want teams to attend one closer to home, so that the best teams from each geographic region, and not necessarily just the 'best teams who could afford to travel to event X,' would be represented at the nationals.

This has been my attempt to delve into the minds of those at FIRST...not always a safe thing to do, I realize =) but this could very well be how they're looking at things....it's just a matter of seeing how things work out this season to know for sure...

Nate