Championship 2011 - St Louis - Your Thoughts Please?

[jblay]

This very well could have been the greatest championship event yet. This game was incredible in terms of excitement when watching the matches. Why was Einstein so boring? The lack of music hurt things a lot but the most disappointing thing is how every year the amount of info about each team and the amount of excitement before each match created by the MC has been scaled down. For those who don't know what I am talking about I suggest you watch this Einstein match from 06 and how exciting it was before the match even started.

http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2006cmp_sf2m1

That excitement just wasn't there this year and the whole process seemed to be rushed

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by jblay

This very well could have been the greatest championship event yet. This game was incredible in terms of excitement when watching the matches. Why was Einstein so boring? The lack of music hurt things a lot but the most disappointing thing is how every year the amount of info about each team and the amount of excitement before each match created by the MC has been scaled down. For those who don't know what I am talking about I suggest you watch this Einstein match from 06 and how exciting it was before the match even started.

http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2006cmp_sf2m1

That excitement just wasn't there this year and the whole process seemed to be rushed

They were rushing teams to the field to sit there for an hour while an endless parade of speakers verbally bludgeoned the audience into unconsciousness and they didn't get any wake up call from any sound effects to let them know they actually started the match. Like they didn't want to wake them up. How considerate of them.

[Mike Soukup]

Originally Posted by jblay

This very well could have been the greatest championship event yet. This game was incredible in terms of excitement when watching the matches. Why was Einstein so boring? The lack of music hurt things a lot but the most disappointing thing is how every year the amount of info about each team and the amount of excitement before each match created by the MC has been scaled down. For those who don't know what I am talking about I suggest you watch this Einstein match from 06 and how exciting it was before the match even started.

http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2006cmp_sf2m1

That excitement just wasn't there this year and the whole process seemed to be rushed

Unfortunately whoever at FIRST puts together the schedule for Einstein + awards thinks that it's important for a multitude of speakers to say the same thing over & over, which unfortunately doesn't leave enough time for Dave's captivating introductions. The lack of music was also a real downer; I'm pretty sure they didn't have any music because it would interfere with the filming that was going on during the matches.

[FRC4ME]

Originally Posted by jblay

This very well could have been the greatest championship event yet. This game was incredible in terms of excitement when watching the matches. Why was Einstein so boring? The lack of music hurt things a lot but the most disappointing thing is how every year the amount of info about each team and the amount of excitement before each match created by the MC has been scaled down. For those who don't know what I am talking about I suggest you watch this Einstein match from 06 and how exciting it was before the match even started.

http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2006cmp_sf2m1

That excitement just wasn't there this year and the whole process seemed to be rushed

This has been a problem since 2007. The awards + finals format just doesn't work. It kills the excitement of the finals.

I would love to see something done to make the final match of the world championship at least as exciting as your average regional match.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by FRC4ME

This has been a problem since 2007. The awards + finals format just doesn't work. It kills the excitement of the finals.

I would love to see something done to make the final match of the world championship at least as exciting as your average regional match.

I can't ever recall a FIRST championship without matches wrapped around endless speeches.

[jblay]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I can't ever recall a FIRST championship without matches wrapped around endless speeches.

Wrap it around endless speeches, that is fine, but make sure that Einstein is exciting enough to inspire teams to work hard to strive to reach Einstein. Einstein is supposed to be the most exciting field in the world and it was the least exciting field this year and that is just not acceptable. Have the speeches, but also have the MC speak to his heart's content because that is part of what makes Einstein so special.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by jblay

... have the MC speak to his heart's content because that is part of what makes Einstein so special.

As has already been pointed out, an unleashed Dave Verbrugge can and will pump the finals to a fever pitch.

Both at MSC and on Einstein this year, Dave was not completely free to work his magic. That's because both were being filmed for TV productions, to be seen later. I think in each case the eventual show would have been better with full-throttle Dave on the field.

[JaneYoung]

I've read and re-read all the threads here in CD and talked to a few people about the events leading up to the Championship event and the Championship event, itself.

We know it was the anniversary year.
We know from Kick Off that something was in the works with Will.I.Am and that Dean was going to make as much use of it as he could.
We had a brand new location/shift for the Championship event this year, along with some new regionals.

Lots of new. Lots of special (anniversary recognition). Lots of spotlight potential - also being used to full advantage.

We know that celebrities can burn white hot and then not so much. We also know that celebrities can have staying power - Morgan Freeman.

We know that FIRST pushed out of the comfort zone (whatever that is) and took all of us along for the ride.

We know that the ride is bringing in mixed reviews but they seem to be positive, overall.

We know that FIRST and CD are loaded to the gills with problems solvers and analysts.

Basically, we know that water seeks to find its own level and always does. Seasons come and go and with them, change. If we continue to remember and value the reasons that we joined and have remained in the program in the first place, we can continue to contribute in a positive way, offering constructive insight, wisdom, and knowledge to help the program continue to develop.

An area that I have seen woefully neglected in all of the current discussions is the area of sustainability. We can be made loud but will it be the noisy clash of a cymbal crashing or will it be the depth and breadth of a bell ringing loud and clear? That depends on our leadership and our leaders' leadership. In the end, the water will find its own level.

Jane

[pathew100]

Originally Posted by Richard

As has already been pointed out, an unleashed Dave Verbrugge can and will pump the finals to a fever pitch.

Both at MSC and on Einstein this year, Dave was not completely free to work his magic. That's because both were being filmed for TV productions, to be seen later. I think in each case the eventual show would have been better with full-throttle Dave on the field.

This is an issue that they should be able to address if they make the production companies filming do it in a "Live" style instead of "Taped for editing later". For lack of better terms.

There were huge delays at MSC because of the TV production. The idea of teams needing timeouts/backup robots was out the window because teams had quite a while between matches in the semis and finals.

In other sports, yes, they stop the action occasionally to take a "TV timeout" that lasts 3-4 minutes. This is no longer than the setup time between matches typically.

I think in the future if events are to be filmed they shouldn't hold up the show. Shoot what you need to shoot, get more cameras, whatever. But as you said Richard, it does detract from the "live show" aspect of the event greatly.

[Pat Fairbank]

Originally Posted by jblay

This very well could have been the greatest championship event yet. This game was incredible in terms of excitement when watching the matches. Why was Einstein so boring? The lack of music hurt things a lot but the most disappointing thing is how every year the amount of info about each team and the amount of excitement before each match created by the MC has been scaled down. For those who don't know what I am talking about I suggest you watch this Einstein match from 06 and how exciting it was before the match even started.

http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2006cmp_sf2m1

That excitement just wasn't there this year and the whole process seemed to be rushed

Agree completely. This was my second time participating on a team that made it to Einstein (the first being 296 in 2006) and it was a huge letdown compared to then. Back then, the Einstein teams got to parade in behind the Atlanta Drumline, and Dave got to do a grand entrance (and pull an epic prank). Then, starting in 2008, they nixed the parade and showed pre-recorded team intros on the big screen. This year, they didn't even do that.

Whatever happened to celebrating the 12 teams who make it to the pinnacle of the competition season?

[pbawesome]

wow, this was my first year at the championships. That was so much fun. It was unbelievable having so many famous people helping first. Will Smith, Willow Smith, Morgan Freeman!, black eyed peas, jack black, will.i.am. that was awesome!

I wish we could've seen the teams at full force in the finals, I think it was just a very crazy season and the robots just couldn't take it anymore.

I never got a chance to talk to 177, so if you guys see this, congratulations on your second place! 1100 was cheering for you the whole time.

[Koko Ed]

I admit I was skeptical when FIRST said they were taking their act to St. Louis. I was wondering why a taser wasn't included in the Kit of Parts but St. Louis wasn't so bad once I got there. The event itself was really trying hard to impress (sometimes too hard) and the volunteers were treated really well (though there was a moment when they nearly made a huge mistake). The pits were a bit tight with everything going on and I wish I could have seen some of the Arial Robotics competition. It seemed pretty cool.
The pit fields weren't so bad from a volunteer perspective but the stands needed to be MUCH larger and FIRST saying it's up too the audiance to make a hole for people after kicking them into the pits. That's very Delta of them (to blame the customer for having the nerve to be being inconvienced). They should fall over themselves to make sure there is enough room for everyone and then some.
The celeb sightings were interesting and all if a bit inconvient (it was much worse at Midwest when Dean showed up and a whole wave of kids just poured over the walls down onto the field to approach him. I was livid! Not only was it dangerous but they were clogging the back of the que area and we were still running matches).
The concert (I think of it as more of a glorified FIRST pep rally) was pretty cool though I found Will.i.am's assertion that he wanted to make FIRST loud quite amusing. I think a good amount of adults find FIRST is quite loud enough already thank you.
And the lack of music during Einstien was just creepy. It was like being at a funeral.

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by dangerousdave

Please tell us what you thought about the Championship event this year, the First year in St Louis.

I liked it, and had fun! I got to talk to lots of neat people, spend 4 days with a HOF team (842 Falcons), watch lots of very competitive matches, spend some time in a huge stadium, see a special just-for-us concert, spend 4 days hanging out with my son, and get a lot of exercise.

See you next year!