[moderated]: A call for an end to inconsistency (sticking up for G25)

[Kevin Sevcik]

Arguments of getting it or not getting it and of disappointing and frustrating teenagers aside, we have to ask ourselves one simple question: What kind of example are these inconsistencies and mid-season rule changes setting for the students that we're trying to inspire?

FIRST is an organization built around the idea of inspiring students to become engineers and make a difference in the world wherever they can. As has been repeatedly stated, it's about changing the culture. What kind of culture are we trying to move towards if the FIRST organization can't train refs to make halfway consistent calls between regionals? What does it tell our students if these bad calls can be shrugged off "because the refs are just volunteers"? I'm purely a volunteer mentor on my team, and I still hold myself accountable for mistakes I make. I'm sure Habitat for Humanity would accept responsibility if one of their houses fell down from poor workmanship. Telling students to shrug off obvious mistakes and oversights made by FIRST as life lessons and such teaches them nothing about responsibility.

Don't get me wrong. I'm proud of FIRST for stepping up and accepting responsibility for the other problems they've had this year. They should continue to do so and make every attempt to prevent these problems from occuring in the future.

For instance, G25 was purportedly put in the rules because of overaggressive play last year. Why not make a short video of examples of overaggressiveness from last year? That would give refs a baseline comparison for this year. You could make an addendum from video of pre-ship scrimmages and the first week regionals. With those two videos in hand, refs would have a firm baseline for making these judgement calls, and we would likely see much more consistency.

[Barnzy107]

While I'm somewhat unhappy with the judges call yesterday, I do feel that overall the event came out better than could possibly have been hoped for. I wont lie and say I wasn't dissappointed, and the whole alliance (79, 107, 648) was upset with the judges because they "knew" they had gotten the shaft, which may or may not have been true. But after thinking about it for a few minutes, I realized that this was the best way it could have gone. I realized it when team 107 from Holland Christian went out and congradulated the other teams, not saying things like, that stinks, it should have been us. They went and shook hands with team members and mentors alike, congradulating them. This day was right between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. And they as a Christian team, couldn't have come away with anything better. They were able to demonstrate our Christian attitude by graciously accepting their loss, and not being angry at the refs for their judgement call, which may or may not have been in error, it doesn't matter. They got the award for Good Sportsmanship, and on Easter weekend, that's better than winning. That's something that they can take back to their school along with great tales of duking it out with some of the best robots in the nation. So I'd like to salute the alliance of teams 79, 107, and 648 for their great show, along with the second place and first place teams.
Also props to the Brazilians for coming all the way out, and also being able to be happy with where they ended up.

[Barnzy107]

I think that we have to remember that in the end, the competition as a whole was fun, exciting, and that the teams who appear to have gotten the shaft, in the end came out ahead. Team 107 R.O.B.O.T.I.C.S. received the best award that they could have gotten. They came with the goal of witnessing to the people that would be at the Midwest regionals, and with the added remembrance that they were competing for their Christian school on Easter weekend. They received the award for good sportsmanship because after they lost due to a 10 point penalty, they were over congratulating the winning teams. They didn't get mad at the judges and make cat calls at the decision. They showed their Christian colors, and being in an alliance with them, teams 79 and 648 shared in that victory. They made a big statement for Christ Saturday, so while the technicalities get worked out for future competitions, let's remember this weekend and what exactly it is that we're celebrating.

[Jeremiah Johnson]

I only have one (2) complaint: that it took 20-30 minutes to actually score that match, and 20-30 minutes to decide that the 2nd final match had to be replayed. The second made me even madder than that of the first. We had become great friends of the Brazilian Machine (383) and I wish I could help them in any way possible. Also, I, as alliance captain, was asked if our alliance was ready to go back onto the field and told we were up. How does a mix-up like that happen?

My team also has very inept beliefs on what had happened. In the full spirit of FIRST and gracious professionalism I will try to discern those beliefs to the best of my ability.

Budda, a very upset and confused, Budda