One of my favorite parts about the second 7 weeks in a calendar year is the competitions. Back when I was doing FRC it was easier to follow the teams and what was happening due to the efforts of Looking Forward.
I’d try to make an event or so to see Sab-bot-age play (like last weekend) but not being involved made it hard to track how things were going.
Last year there was some expansion by other FRC robot pundits (pundbots?) around how their local teams would be doing.
This year the explosion of regional and district commentary has been amazing. There has been lots of in-depth analysis of what is coming up, but even more important has been the wrap up of what happened the week before. It’s like sitting next to Paul or Dave and getting the inside story.
Looking to the west I get to read about the Chesapeake teams from CHS Platter. The showcase of teams that I remember is neat, and watching the new robots on the block reminds me how fast teams mature.
My current favorite is posts from The MARtian about the Mid-Atlantic Robotics and the teams (including my1640!!!). The MARtian have (so far) the best replay of the weeks prior activities, I love the details and insight that I get, almost like listening to one of the top MC’s talk about teams past history at a match. Great Stuff.
My Sister plays in NYS, so the recaps and previews written by NYStateofMind has been a help to see what is on their horizon. (And I love the not so hidden digs that NY needs to move to districts).
Not to gloss over the West Coast, Indiana, Michigan,Texas and other pundbots, as a right-coaster, I think it’s great that you are out there talking about your teams and really adding interest to what’s happening in your area. I love reading about your teams (Yes NE, I read about you, Israel and Canada too.).
I know that Brandon has been looking at reducing the number of forums, but I’d love to see a branch that all the predictions and results could be easily found. In the old days, searching on Looking Forward was enough, but with all the new pundbots, it’s hard not to miss them.
Thanks to you LF for starting what has become a great thing on CD. I’m really looking forward to the posts around 1/2 Champs where the new kids hang with the master and predict what we will see.
Thanks to all of you for taking the huge amount of time and making the effort so all of us know what happened and whats coming up.