Championship's Atlanta 2006 - The Negative

[JoeCallahan]

Originally Posted by sporno

the alliance paring was bad. we had a good team 540 and we had a good bot we did our part in allicanes scoring an average of 31 points a round , we came in 85 and only won out last match.

I saw that happen to a lot of good bots... we scored an average 40 points per match but since our alliance partners didn't score any, we still lost and ended up with an undesirable record :-\

But I suppose that's the luck of the draw.

[Adam Shapiro]

Originally Posted by JoeCallahan

But I suppose that's the luck of the draw.

Precisely. It's happened many, many times in the past and it will certainly happen again. It sucks to get bad pairings but there's no way to know who will turn out to be a bad partner, nor is there a fair way to selectively pair. A big part of this competition is cooperation and teamwork. If you are unable to convince a team to strategize it sucks but it's just how it goes. Everyone has bad luck sometimes, the best thing to do is hope it doesn't happen again next year.

[sven]

1. Move the projector screens in the pit to the side, maby even have a seating/standing section roped off. Its hard enough draging a robot around, let alone avoiding other card, inspection stations, and people randomly stoping to talk at intersections while 30-40 people take up the rest of the isle watching the screens.

2. Clean up the dumpsters! Sometimes the smell was enough to make you puke going through that hall.

3. I second bum patrol. Very few of them are genuinly down on their luck. Most are addicts/lazy/mentaly unstable and not the kind of people you want around students. One came right up to us while we were taking our pics with Ford in the park area between the pits and the dome and would not leave untill our team couft up "bus fair." He even went as far as insulting our lower offerings (the few that gave money should of stod up to him then, but just wanted the guy to leave).

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by sven

1. Move the projector screens in the pit to the side, maby even have a seating/standing section roped off. Its hard enough draging a robot around, let alone avoiding other card, inspection stations, and people randomly stoping to talk at intersections while 30-40 people take up the rest of the isle watching the screens.

2. Clean up the dumpsters! Sometimes the smell was enough to make you puke going through that hall.

3. I second bum patrol. Very few of them are genuinly down on their luck. Most are addicts/lazy/mentaly unstable and not the kind of people you want around students. One came right up to us while we were taking our pics with Ford in the park area between the pits and the dome and would not leave untill our team couft up "bus fair." He even went as far as insulting our lower offerings (the few that gave money should of stod up to him then, but just wanted the guy to leave).

Inform security of his presence. They will no doubt remove him from the premises.

[K.Shaw]

from what i heard 2 weeks before the event they did a "bum sweep" of atlanta for something and arrested most of the swindlers and stuff. but they obviously had to let most of them go and they drifted back into the city

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by sporno

Original Post Removed

So.. I'm gonna be the one who is a realist and break the cycle of all the bad rep that I'm guessing you are getting for that radical statement.

Yes, this could happen. In our perfect little FIRST community this is not something we often think about, but sporno seems to be a realist.

When you travel in a big city such as Atlanta, or NYC, or Chicago, or Boston, or any other big city on this globe things like this can happen.

Will it? Hopefully not!

Was living in fear and carrying the the knife the best (and safest) way to deal with this? Probably not.. but I applaud if not admire you for realizing that this kind of thing could happen.

All of "real life" is not a FIRST event. I know we all would like it to be and for everyone to get along with everyone else, but you can't put your guard down just because you are in a city with friends and think you are safe.

You would be foolish if you did.

The buddy system is a great thing. I'm hoping every team and team member (young and old) used this system.

I don't care if you are 16, 30, or 80.. Walking around in unfamiliar territory with a buddy can greatly reduce your chances of bad things happening.

[Kit Gerhart]

To me, by far the biggest "negative" about the running of the '06 Championship was that the Woody Flowers award was given at a ceremony with almost nobody there, and which many people didn't even know about. The W.F. award is probably the most prestigious award that an individual person can receive in the FIRST community. The winner should be announced between the matches at the closing ceremony where nearly everyone is present.

The other thing that teams run into at Atlanta and most of the regional venues is nonsensical "crowd control." People are actually paid money just to inconvenience team members by telling them they can't go through doors to the pits, etc. Why is that?

In general, Atlanta is a good venue for the Big Event with a nice arena, nearby hotels, etc., but I still miss Epcot, despite the less-than-wonderful setup for watching matches. The atmosphere was fantastic, the food probably better for the money than at the football arenas, and there is all that fun stuff to do on your time off. Maybe FIRST has gotten too big to go back to Disney, but even after going there 7 years, I always looked forward to the Championships at Epcot for the fun atmosphere as well as the competition.

[ChuckDickerson]

Hmm, maybe I should have posted this here instead. Maybe someone can move it for me.

[Rickertsen2]

One of my biggest complaints was that i could not understand a word of the pit announcements.

More practice fields would have been nice.

As far as the hobos go, get used to them. Its a problem of any city. If they bother you that much find security. Don't blame FIRST

[EricH]

My 2 biggest complaints:
1) The side door into the pit, with the closest escalators to the Dome, should have been open. With it closed, a 5-10 minute walk (to Archimedes) became a 10-15 minute walk through the main team entrance (C), and they didn't announce that entrance B would be open for teams.

2)They ran late--again. Qual matches were supposed to start at 9:30. The opening ceremony didn't end until like 9:45. The closing ceremony didn't end until 7:00 for the second year in a row. Maybe FIRST should rewrite the schedule so it shows what will really happen, not what is supposed to happen, and/or put a hard and fast cap on speech lengths. (I liked how Dean didn't give a speech other than an introduction and the homework--saved a lot of time.)

[Ian Jones]

Originally Posted by K.Shaw

maybe some more increased sercurity in the city. maybe even a "hobo round up" before the competition. some people may feel bad for them or think this is cruel but its been done. most are trouble. in one night walking from the omni to hooters over by the westin our group of 5 people were rushed by bums begging for money, offering services, selling things, one even attempted to pick pocket a kid.

Haha, are you seriously suggesting that we throw all the homeless people in jail for the weekend just because we'll have a bunch of high school kids in town? Also, what is FIRST going to do about security throughout the entire city of atlanta?

[sporno]

i didnt like the security they had their... the rent-a -cops i had to run from the GWCC to the dome to get into the first pratice match for curie.. and none of them knew where to go. and they all told me the wrong way to enter the feild contridicting one another

[K.Shaw]

Originally Posted by Ian Jones

Haha, are you seriously suggesting that we throw all the homeless people in jail for the weekend just because we'll have a bunch of high school kids in town? Also, what is FIRST going to do about security throughout the entire city of atlanta?

either get rid of the hobos or increase security or both. FIRST isn't the only one responsible here. The city of Atlanta also is. Maybe have cops stationed in the main part of the city where alot of the teams were. or have a passing patrol car every so often or something.

Also more security at the venues. It seemed that anyone could walk in with just about anything they wanted. I know metal detectors wouldnt be any good, but i remember in previous years like in 2003, they checked all the bags that went into reliant stadium, and it didnt seem to create a traffic jam or anything.

I know there were some issues with the volunteers this year but there could have been more people directing traffic and more people around to answer questions and stuff.

[Logan.Lockhart]

Originally Posted by K.Shaw

maybe some more increased sercurity in the city. maybe even a "hobo round up" before the competition. some people may feel bad for them or think this is cruel but its been done. most are trouble. in one night walking from the omni to hooters over by the westin our group of 5 people were rushed by bums begging for money, offering services, selling things, one even attempted to pick pocket a kid.

I agree with you. We got off the Airplane, and the first thing that happened - we were being asked for money. The city to me seems to be dark and not inviting to people. The Marta was really dirty everytime we rode it and I just didn't feel safe in the city. Security would be great, or what about moving it from Altlanta to somewhere on the West Coast so those team don't have to travel far.

[Adam Shapiro]

Originally Posted by Logan.Lockhart

what about moving it from Altlanta to somewhere on the West Coast so those team don't have to travel far.

You could give the same argument for having it on the East Coast: what about the teams in the East? It's hard to find a location suitable for the number of teams that attend the championship each year that is equidistant from the West and East.