Eric:I just dont think rookies get the credit they deserve, I mean, I saw(and still see) lots or great looking rookie teams out there,
experience in good building and engineering practices definitaly helps, but as far as actually playing the game, this year, I think everyone really does have just as good a chance as anyone else
you could have a great robot, but if you cant play the game you wont get that far(i think everyone saw this 2005 and 2008)…
As one of the voters, I encourage whoever wants to join to do so. Eric pointed out 2 of the 3 rookies I’m watching out for. 2775 and 2753. 2753 is mentored by 303, 11, has influence from many successful veteran teams and is indeed the 08 FTC world champion team. We were all tempted to include them but as much as a team can deserve to be on a list they just didn’t belong there with those veteran teams. Hope nobody gets all touchy from these “rankings.” Tis all fun’n games. Good luck to all for this coming weekend. 
There’s “great looking” and “great performing”. While they are not mutually exclusive, particularly since the former tends to follow the latter, great looking != great performing. One of the most convincing performances of a rookie was by the last pick in Arizona 2006. Their robot looked like a nightmare, to be quite honest. They won the event. Really good looking robots don’t always do well either. You can’t go by looks when evaluating a team. If you think differently, you have a lot to learn.
Rookies aren’t showing up because we don’t know much about them. I bet that by the end of the season, some will be making a run at the list.
Of course–they haven’t had an opportunity to build a recognizable brand. If you had to buy a plane ticket, right now, to see a regional where Simbotics was competing or a regional where Los Pollos Locos was competing, where would you be flying? Why? If I weren’t affiliated with the latter, I’d probably be flying to Chicago to see the team with three or four years of dominant robots.
experience in good building and engineering practices definitaly helps, but as far as actually playing the game, this year, I think everyone really does have just as good a chance as anyone else
No, they don’t. Experience helps, but then how do you explain five-year teams that have worse-looking robots than rookies? There will always be teams that show up at these events that don’t have a prayer, veterans and rookies alike.
If people aren’t happy that they aren’t on the list, then go out and make your robot known as being “one of the best of the best”. If your mad about the top 25 thing then disregard it and keep reading all the other threads on the site. If your in the top 25, it doesn’t mean a darn thing, there’s no prize for being in it.
Just my $0.02
I don’t understand how scoring points can be DISadvantageous.
With 120 moon rocks on the feild, if 90 of them get scored, that is 180 points that could sway either way. And with 8 super cells if only 5-6 (apx. the same ratio) getting scored, could be 75-80 points on either side. I beleive the super cells are important for obvious reasons, however it’s also obvious that the moon rocks are just as, if not, more advantageous. I beleive 1114 proved last year that if you can hurdle 7 times(akin to scoring apx. 30 moon rocks) placing (akin to scoring super cells) is not as important, even though it is still important.
just my $0.02
definately didn’t see him say “just my $0.02” before I posted. I guess great minds think alike.
I didn’t vote.
But this list is solid. Everyone on that list has proven themselves in their consistency over the last few years. You really don’t even need to see pictures or videos to make that list. I think it’s fun.
i happen to be one of the voters…
And i would like, once again, to remind everyone that this is just a game.
Beeing asked to rate teams fropm all around the globe is no easy task. There is no chance for me to consider teams that are quite new and have no videos or pictures of their design here.
I have top ranked 71, without even seeing their design. This is a team i know will perform greatly year after year, and i know that without seeing their robot.
Besides - if you guys haven’t seen pictures or videos of some robots in this video, it doesn’t mean that the voters haven’t. Look at Looking Forward’s predictions, he has some info on robots that i personally don’t have, and maybe some of the voters have that information or more.
And again, if you do not agree with those rankings you are more than welcome to post them here, or even better try joining the voters, i’m not sure how they are picked but you might easily be one of them.
We would all be very excited to see all of those 25 teams that are here now beeing in the top 25 when the season is over, but we all know that won’t happen and that is exactly why we all like FIRST and any other kind of sports - the unknown guranteed to happen at many of the regiponals, in many of the games. If this prediction would have been entirely correct there would be no reason to attend or watch any regional, but you still are going to do it, and you still are going to be excited to see the first match that any of those 25 teams participate in during the wekk one regionals.
So please, if you have any complaints about this list and it’s organizer and voters you may either post here your own opinion, or just completely ignore the whole thread. This is not something we say you must follow, this is no rule and no solid state of teams - it’s just a prediction, motivated by intuition, knowladge and scouting done by each voter.
The AP polls work because the game doesn’t change from year to year and only a few members from each team change. Also, writers can evaluate recruits and make judgements based on that. So, ranks can be established at the start of the season.
They work because each team has at least one game every week (depending on the sport). There are teams who only go to one regional.
I liked the idea at first, but after thinking about it, it doesn’t seem feasible for the reasons I’ve listed above.
How can you make a post ship list not including a single team that was at the only scrimmage utilizing an official FRC competition field and control system?
Out of 40+ teams at the Suffield Shakedown some of whom have powerhouse reps I would expect to see at least one here…
I would say that his list is about right. Based on previous years achievements and current video/pictures of robots, those standing are accurate. 1114, 258/968, 111, 71 will always be in the top 10 of best robots every year, atleast for “preseason” polls. These teams here ALWAYS build robots, that no matter what their objective is, that compete and WIN. I’ve been in FIRST the better part of 5 years and those 5 teams there have never failed to build an amazing robot. The reason their in the top 25 now is because they have a background of winning, and beautifully built robots.
If you want to be on the top 25, prove it. Go out there and let your robot do the talking. If your not recognized, so be it. You know your good. Your alliance will be even better when they catch you in the second round of pickings because you fell a few slots to other alliances picking “top 25” teams.
BTW, I disagree, 254 should be number 1
Making a post-build Top 25 list without seeing half of the robots is like forecasting the weather based on what happened yesterday.
Sure, you might get it right more than half the time (Farmer’s Almanac, I’m looking at you!), but it’s genuine accuracy should be taken with a fairly large grain of salt until these teams either prove or repudiate their past record for the 2009 season.
IMHO, it’s better to be a sleeper robot coming into the first Regional competition, because it throws everyone off guard. And since this list is conspicuously absent of any of the powerhouse Northeast teams (including some who’ve made it onto Einstein more often in the past few years than most of the teams in this list) save 121, I suspect there will be a lot of sleepers this year.
But Art, all we’re good for up here is defense. 
The list I submitted included 4 northeastern teams… just because they didn’t make the top 25 doesn’t mean nobody voted for them.
I had at least one that isn’t on the list.
I noticed that 1124 was absent from the list after taking home a division champion and regional champion trophy. Also, 177 seemed to be missed even though they’ve been on Einstein the past three years and won it all one of those years.
1- 85
2- 47
3- 141
4- 217
5- 1114
6- 71
7- 74
8- 70
9- 494
10- 107
Maybe so, but we’ve also had our fair share of Einstein material the past few years that wouldn’t have made it there on defense alone.
173, 175, 176, 177, 190, 195, 1124 all come to mind.