Made for TV

FIRST General Forum
#1

Posted by colleen.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]

Coach on team #246, Blue Light Special, from John D. O’Byrant High School/Boston Latin Academy and NSTAR/Boston University/UTC/Raytheon/MassPEP.

Posted on 8/16/2000 8:21 AM MST

just to pull this out of the thread because it really has nothing to do with any ‘regionalization of nationals’…

i think something like this is simple…

How many of us (whether already involved/intending to join team) became more involved with FIRST and more excited when we saw our first competition?

::raises hand::

Sure robots were cool… but that '95 regional… the game… the excitement… wow… SEEING WAS BELIEVING!!

So as Joe (i think) said… FIRST is about changing the culture of America… it’s about exposing everyone to the heroes today’s technology leaders are… we’ve all been honored enough with the opportunity to participate in FIRST… and some day every kid at every school should have that opportunity…

but they can’t start if they don’t know… if they don’t have the bug in them… if they haven’t SEEN what FIRST is… you say ‘robot’ and the average person would imagine R2D2 before they would ever see a 3-foot, 130lb box driving around a field picking up kick balls…

TV is an amazing medium for communication… it’s universal and something almost everyone can access…young, old, rich, poor, healthy, handicap… it’s a way to help achieve the dream of getting FIRST in every school… and part of every home and family’s life… but we have to put it there…

So i am 1000000% in favor of changing the field, the scoring, the game to make it as viewer-friendly as possible… so that next year ESPN, Nickelodeon, CNN, etc find their way to our competitions… to our pits… and communicate FIRSTs intentions to the world…

And how this all got started with Joe’s suggestion to have the finals during the Awards Ceremony… i totally agree… the games that make it on to Monday Night Football aren’t because the stands are empty…you would never see those games… pack the stadium and the press will hear the call that it’s what the people WANT TO SEE… let’s crowd the stands and get FIRST into everyone… no matter how we relay the message to them…

FIRST on TV = good;

#2

Posted by Justin.

Other on team Blue Lightning Alumni Association from RWU sponsored by FIRST-A-holics Anonymous.

Posted on 8/16/2000 9:18 AM MST

In Reply to: Made for TV posted by colleen on 8/16/2000 8:21 AM MST:

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#3

Posted by Kirsten.

Student on team #177, Bobcat Robotics—>Blue Light Special (246), from South Windsor High School (soon to be BU) and International Fuel Cells.

Posted on 8/16/2000 2:52 PM MST

In Reply to: Made for TV posted by colleen on 8/16/2000 8:21 AM MST:

>>: How many of us (whether already involved/intending to join team) became more involved with FIRST and more excited when we saw our first competition?>TV is an amazing medium for communication…>I am 1000000% in favor of changing the field, the scoring, the game to make it as viewer-friendly as possible… so that next year ESPN, Nickelodeon, CNN, etc find their way to our competitions… to our pits… and communicate FIRSTs intentions to the world…

#4

Posted by Lora Knepper.

Other on team #419, Rambots, from UMass Boston / BC High and NASA, Mathsoft, Solidworks, Analog Devices.

Posted on 8/16/2000 5:58 PM MST

In Reply to: Made for TV posted by colleen on 8/16/2000 8:21 AM MST:

: FIRST on TV = good

I totally agree! I know that my first exposure to anything even remotely like FIRST was a robotics competition on the Discovery Channel years ago…for all I remember, it could have been FIRST! I will always remember thinking ‘wow, if only I could do that!’ and then learning that I could have that chance in school. It was a huge draw to me, and I think that getting FIRST on tv as much as possible can only make things better. It will spread the word to kids that maybe would never had shown up to a meeting if they heard ‘Robotics’ without ever seeing anything before. And if we have to deal with the press stand at Nats, well, it’s only a small sacrifice… =)

Lora

#5

Posted by Jason “JDoggyDog” Trotter.

Student on team #191, X-CATS, from Joseph C. Wilson Magnet High School.

Posted on 8/16/2000 8:52 PM MST

In Reply to: Made for TV posted by colleen on 8/16/2000 8:21 AM MST:

 FIRST on television is a great idea but there are some drawbacks.  I remember, if my memory serves me correct, that the finals at the nationals a few years back was heavily covered by tv crews.  It was to the point where the camera guys were standing right in the way.  I missed the whole match due to them blocking the way.  Also I remeber my first year with FIRST that someone hired a camera man to take photos of us.  They where in the pits the whole time and got in the way quite often.  Although it was nice they were taking the pictures they just didn't get that in 5 minutes we were going on stage and our motor burnt out.

Although it is a good idea some tinkering may be necessary first. Maybe FIRST can do something like professional sports and have one crew video tape the whole thing and send it to the stations. Just my 2 cents.
Later,
Jason

#6

Posted by Nate Smith.

Other on team #66, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS, from Eastern Michigan University and GM Powertrain.

Posted on 8/17/2000 11:27 AM MST

In Reply to: Made for TV posted by colleen on 8/16/2000 8:21 AM MST:

: So i am 1000000% in favor of changing the field, the scoring, the game to make it as viewer-friendly as possible… so that next year ESPN, Nickelodeon, CNN, etc find their way to our competitions… to our pits… and communicate FIRSTs intentions to the world…

Personally, in the three years that i’ve been involved with FIRST, this year’s game was one of the most viewer-friendly that I’ve seen…in that respect, I don’t feel that the game needs to be changed tremendously to make it any easier to understand. If we try to make a competition/game that can be understood in 10 seconds, there will not be enough depth to the game to allow the many different types of machines and strategies that have become a part of FIRST for so many of us…more comments in some of the other ‘regionalization’ and ‘made for tv’ discussions…

Nate

: And how this all got started with Joe’s suggestion to have the finals during the Awards Ceremony… i totally agree… the games that make it on to Monday Night Football aren’t because the stands are empty…you would never see those games… pack the stadium and the press will hear the call that it’s what the people WANT TO SEE… let’s crowd the stands and get FIRST into everyone… no matter how we relay the message to them…

#7

Posted by Nate Smith.

Other on team #66, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS, from Eastern Michigan University and GM Powertrain.

Posted on 8/17/2000 11:42 AM MST

In Reply to: Made for TV posted by colleen on 8/16/2000 8:21 AM MST:

: you say ‘robot’ and the average person would imagine R2D2 before they would ever see a 3-foot, 130lb box driving around a field picking up kick balls…

I think this is one of the major problems with getting(or not getting, as the case may be) the coverage we get…we ask someone if they want to cover a robotics competition, and pictures of R2D2 come to mind for them…while it may take a while, once we SHOW them what it is, the coverage will come…what Dean said at closing ceremonies about the media we had at nationals saying that ‘sports should be more like this’(referring to FIRST) comes to mind…once we get them there, they will stay…

Nate

#8