The dark side of alliances...

[Joe Johnson]

I want to say thanks to Teams #114 and #1097 for playing with us at the San Jose Regional. You guys did a great job.

As one of the main programmers, I feel personally responsible for the software bug that had our robot sitting frozen in its starting position for the first 90 seconds of our final match.

I cannot apologize enough.

I like the alliance concept, but there is a dark side to it as well. Specifically, when your team fails to deliver, you feel 3 times as bad because you let down not only your own team, but 2 additional teams that were counting on you.

Both teams #114 and #1097 were very gracious about the defeat, but I can imagine that they were very let down by the experience.

I hope that the Cosmic Karma will eventually balance all accounts.

Until then, please accept my thanks for picking us and my regrets for not coming through for you.

Joe J.