i got tired

[Mike Soukup]

Chris, you've got some good points. I don't have as much experience coaching & negotiating as you & Andy, because my first try was at IRI. But even there, where the atmosphere was much more relaxed, I ran into teams who would not budge on strategies. As most people know, we could facilitate balancing 2 goals w/o a robot on the bridge quite easily and quickly. However, in the negotiations, some teams insisted that they balance alone & on the bridge. They wouldn't accept any help with a wedge or ramp. I think egos took over and they wanted to show everyone they could balance and hopefully get picked for the elims. The particular match I'm refering to ended up going poorly, and afterwords I tried to talk to them, but they turned a cold shoulder, just because the negotiations weren't very friendly.

I know our teams didn't become friends Chris, but at IRI I gained respect for your team and your courage to go for broke in the elims. Too bad you guys peaked a little too late, or maybe fortunately because we met you in the Archimedes elims.

Mike