by definition, it states that ‘up to 4…teams’ can be assessed a yellow card for blockading. So yes, it CAN be interpreted to state that it is a per robot penalty, not a single penalty.
Blockading is the only rule that includes this Violation.
This is a really weird grey area and I’m still not 100% sure what is actually correct. I am just simply looking at it as unbiased as I can, and I can see where the interpretation may lead to the Red Card. The precedent is what you are describing, but I am also reading the rules as literally as I can, and the definitions of the rules and the terms in the rules are potentially contradicting the precedent.
I agree with every one of the points that you made, but I do think the intention (to be clarified in future manuals I would assume) of this rule would be that in Quals every team would get a yellow card because otherwise it would be difficult to carry over to future matches and wouldn’t mean anything.
It says a yellow card for the alliance… so wouldn’t that be 4 yellow cards if they went the route of assigning one to every member of the alliance? So it should have been either 1 or 4 yellow cards issued right? 4 if they took they looked at it and decided that a yellow card to the alliance means 1 per team, and 1 yellow card if they thought that the yellow card for the alliance means 1 card?
The intrinsic difference in the way G12 is written as opposed to the other rules is what makes this situation hard. By the literal definition in the rules, there would be “up to 4” YELLOW CARDs assigned to the ALLIANCE, which by T03, merits a RED CARD.
It took me a little bit to get my mind twisted around this too, but if you try and remove any precedent from your head and read this as literally as you can, it makes sense.
I just think that if it takes at least 2 robots to get this penalty and the intention of the rule was multiple yellow cards depending on how many teams participated then why didnt the violation just be a red card in the rules…
I see, well I think we can all agree the finals were great matches and either way it was a tough call. Both alliances played amazing and 1323 with that scale lift was one of the coolest things I’ve seen this year.
Fair enough, ultimately the rules were unclear and should have specified more especially different violations according to whether the violation is in qualifications or eliminations.
Thank you to 254 for organizing this amazing event and for inviting us to compete. We all had a ton of fun and it was awesome to see the high level of play.
Chezy Champs 2018 has to be my favorite event of all time. The matches were exciting, the teams diverse in every way you could imagine, the volunteers extremely professional, and overall the entire event radiated a positive experience for teams, volunteers, and spectators alike.
Thank you to everyone on 254 for putting on this fantastic event, and a huge congratulations to everyone who played in the finals matches. Special shout-out to Nick Eyre for being the definition of grace under pressure - the man is an absolute legend.
Thank you so much to team 254 for another amazing experience! Chezy Champs has consistently been my favorite event of the year and this year did not disappoint.
CC was a blast as always. This was probably the most diverse non-champs event we’ve attended! Thanks to Nick, 254, and crew for putting it on!
Every volunteer did a great job at putting the team experience first and running a great show.
Finals controversy aside, I thought the referees did a fantastic job of allowing students to ask questions and contest calls. It’s crazy how the world didn’t end when they used video replay to correct a missed auto quest RP. The mentality of the question box should not be the combative “Referees vs Teams” mentality and Chezy Champs gets that 1000%. Take note, FIRST HQ.
On the production/show side, the energy of the Andrew Lawrence/Torrance Power Hour in the finals was unmatched while the RSN provided great insight on matches. I found myself watching the RSN breakdown after our own matches as part of our post-match debrief.
It was a pleasure to play with 4911, 842, and 3647. 4911 has a well-built robot with lots of creative and cool details. Their Einstein run was incredible to watch and we loved working with them. Our other two partners were major inspirations for our offseason rebuild and it was a treat to compete with them. Glad we were finally able to play on the same side of the field as 842 after 5+ years of seeing them at Vegas. It was also great to have 3647 waiting in the wings after Murphy’s Law struck in QF3-1. I’m sorry that our run ended in the quarters, but I’m glad that we lost to a fantastic alliance of 2471, 3476, 4488, and 687.
Congrats to everyone in the finals. Incredible play from both alliances. Lots can by said about everyone on the finalist alliances, but I’d like to congratulate 2659 on their explosive growth this season. They picked a niche and executed it perfectly.
Chezy Champs has been one of the most hype events in California/North America, and this year was definitely no exception. While 4159 didn’t make playoffs, we surpassed our personal goals for introducing our ~30 new members to the world of FRC. I want to give huge thanks to all of the volunteers and teams who helped make this event what it was, as I strongly believe you all have shaped another generation of “FRC lifers” on CardinalBotics just from this one event.
The following email was sent to CC2018 teams this afternoon:
=====================
Good Afternoon Teams,
We hope that everyone had a great time this weekend at Chezy Champs.
Congratulations and thank you to all the teams for the incredibly competitive matches, and for showing the world what the best in the west is all about! Special congratulations to our event winners - 3310, 1323, 2659 and 1538, to our finalists - 1678, 254, 649 and 2557, and to our award winners - 3512, 846, 4911, 971 and 1323. The level of play at this event was truly impressive, and every Chezy Champs playoff alliance would have been a formidable competitor on this year’s Championship Einstein field.
Feedback
We want to hear about your team’s Chezy Champs experience! Please forward the below feedback form along to your team and let us know where we can do better next year.
A Note on the Finals
On behalf of Chezy Champs, I want to take a moment to apologize for how the final moments of the tournament were handled. We made a mistake in presenting a score and awards without taking the necessary time to ensure the call was correct. While we firmly believe the final call was consistent with the 2018 rules, we deeply regret the confusing situation that this caused for all of the teams participating in the finals matches.
We hope everyone enjoyed their Chezy Champs experience and hope that you will be able to join us again next year! As always, if you have any comments or concerns, please don’t hesitate to email us at chezychamps (at) team254 (dotcom).
Nick Eyre, on behalf of the Chezy Champs Organizers
I follow the rest of the reasoning you provided in your post. But, by that reasoning, since you always need at least 2 robots to collude to form the blockade, then this would always result in a RED card, right? So, since by your logic, violating this rule always results in a red card, why did they not simply say Violation: RED CARD for the ALLIANCE? Why would the rules force you to invoke another rule to turn the yellow cards into a red card?
Since they specifically wrote yellow card for the alliance rather than red card for the alliance, I am inclined to believe that they did not intend to interpret this rule the way you have interpreted it. As you noted, this is the only instance where a yellow card is issued to an alliance. I think we need to ask, why they specifically used that here.
Because this is the only place they specifically stated that the yellow card would be issued to the alliance, I am inclined to say that they actually intended the rule to limit the number of yellow cards issued for this infraction to one. Since at least 2 robots are colluding to form the blockade, each could be found guilty of blockading and therefore you would get at least 2 yellow cards if the infraction was assessed against each team involved. So, I believe that they added the words “for the ALLIANCE” to indicate that the penalty would not be a yellow card per team involved (or even to each team on the alliance), but only one yellow card would be issued for the alliance.
It is a bit of an Occam’s razor way of interpreting this rule. I too am not a referee…
Huge thank you to Nick and the rest of the tournament organizers for putting on the best offseason event in the world. Not only do they put on a great event, but they develop an entirely custom FMS and scoring system that other offseason events in California get to use. The Capital City Classic would not be possible without the hard work of 254 and others, so thank you!
Personally, I’m very proud of the kids on 1678. They worked hard all weekend, winning some tough matches in quals and landing us 10 RP ahead of 2nd seed, which I don’t think any of us expected at such a stacked event.
Speaking of stacked event, I’d like to extend a personal thank you to all the teams who attended CC 2018 from outside of California. Seeing such strong teams from all across North America made CC 2018 a unique experience. I hope to see many of you at future Chezy Champs, and please encourage more teams from your areas to apply!
The playoffs were some of the most fun we’ve had at an FRC event. Getting to team up with 254 again was super fun, and 649 and 2557 were fantastic teams to round out the alliance. Seeing the coordination when our alliance hit the 5 cube scale auto in F1 was truly special.
Nick, thank you for posting this. We agree that, regardless of the call, the timing was not ideal. Fortunately, this is an offseason and we are good friends with all the teams involved. There was no hard feelings on our end.
Echoing other remarks here, Chezy Champs remains the canonical example for how to run an off season and this year was even better thanks to the diversity of teams and the intensity of competition.
I’d like to give a shout out to the many stellar students on 254 who make things run smoothly - from maintaining and organizing inventory of all the gear to helping with setup and teardown to performing various roles in the event production.
The infrastructure that 254 builds around Chezy Champs is a significant factor in making events like Beach Blitz possible.
3512 was absolutely overjoyed to participate in Chezy Champs 2018. The depth of talent and wealth of knowledge on display
by the attending teams was humbling and we are grateful for the opportunity to compete with you all! We were pleasantly surprised by winning the Most Improved Team Award as a capstone to our 2018 season, we’ll try our best to capitalize on the improvements we’ve made this season as we look to next season and beyond!
Many thanks to all who volunteered this year, and of course to Team 254 for hosting one of the smoothest run tournaments I’ve ever attended. Thanks as well to our fantastic alliance partners 3538, 2990, and 968!
Good luck to everyone in your remaining off-season events and remember kickoff 2019 is only a few months away!
