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 don’t think this was EVER the intent of HQ, rather it is just an unfortunate result of how literal the rules are written.
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.
Because if it happens in quals, each individual yellow card wouldn’t go to the whole alliance.
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.
Looking forward to next year!
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.
Thanks again everyone.
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:
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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…
Once again, Chezy Champs was world class event.
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.
Looking forward to Chezy Champs 2019!
Best,
-Mike
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!
-Nick Kremer
This was our team’s first appearance at Chezy Champs. We’ve never ventured outside of the PNW for any off-season event and CC was a special experience for all of us. Learning from and playing alongside so many great teams was a quite a treat. We learned a lot, met some great people and have been further inspired to stretch ourselves as we seek to improve.
I’d like to thank everyone involved in putting this event together and providing a first class experience for the competing teams. The attention to detail and the quality of the event was outstanding. I hope that you’re all getting a little break.
We will be applying to attend this competition next year. Thank you!
Chezy Champs is one classy event.
Volunteers, game announcers, and RSN coverage were off the charts. Heart-stopping, epic matches during quals and elims kept everyone on the edge of their seats. The video feed quality and layout were glorious and received much praise from our crew watching from home. The 254 FMS graphic overlays are elegant and well thought out. It’s held at a beautiful facility with perfect weather. Before the outcome, several seniors told me it was their favorite event, ever. We definitely had a great time, hope to make it back next year.
After several nail-biters in the quarters and semis, against some stacked alliances, we felt very thankful to even make it to the finals. I’m going to remember: F1 - red alliance deliverers an insane 5 cube auto. F2 – without that pesky 5 cube things are so much nicer. F3 - blue alliance chin-up, cluster auton.
The outcome of F3 was difficult and left us with a heavy heart. The referees made their best judgment using a flawed ruleset. I hope this leads to discussion and a positive change to the rules to handle these difficult situations better. Personally, this being an offseason event where we attend solely for the spirit of competition, I would have preferred a replay. Might have needed some duct tape and zip ties to get back to the field but nobody wants to go home with an asterisk by a win - would much rather go down with our guns blazing.
So much respect to the 1678, 254, 649, 2557 alliance… we hope to be able to play with you all in the future.
Many thanks to our alliance partners 1323, 2659, and 1538. Team 2659 was amazing every match, Madtown was beyond awesome - this robot is dope.
A huge thanks to team 254 for opening their doors and hosting this event!
One last thought before I forget -
Thanks to the Cheesy Arena dev team for implementing an A-Stop feature. We were able to use it flawlessly in a match to prevent a possible collision while still being able to play in teleop. Definitely a great feature that should help teams operate more safely in auton.
We definitely appreciate the attention to all of the details in Cheesy Arena from the drive team standpoint(A-Stop) to the production side(gorgeous field, rankings, and queue graphics). Thanks to Pat and team for all of the upgrades year to year.
Here is my Slo-Mo album from the weekend.
Is anyone working on parsing the qual. match videos and posting to TBA? No hurry obviously, but some of our students were wondering. They want to see what went well - and what did not.
We didn’t compete as strongly as we wanted to, but our all new drive team learned a bunch last weekend. Thanks to 254 for being such great hosts, and spending way more time than we ever expected showing us their robot and facilities. A very enjoyable event.