Very cool!
I’m not a big fan of the solid red or blue color ribbons this year though for the 1st place (Blue) & 2nd place (Red) Regional Competition winners though.
I know that its really just a material possession, but I was disappointed to see the small trophies at NJ. I pictured 1089 walking back up into the stands waving around a big gold topped trophy that we all know and love. Oh well though, whatever saves money in these times, I guess?
I saw that mentioned in another thread about Team Overdrive’s award.
I was shocked too, but you have a point.
Saving money is good… up until a point. :yikes:
(btw, in my opinion that point hasn’t been reached yet - I’m sure I’ll have some comments when I feel it is)
Also, speaking of saving money, did you notice the Suppliers/Sponsors were not listed under the FIRST logo banners on the curtain behind the field this year?
I don’t know if that was just for the NJ regional, or all of them, or even for that reason, but it’s interesting none-the-less.
Dude yes! I was waiting for someone to point that out! I thought that those were maybe forgotten in shipping or something. I’ll ask Ackley. When I was up there Don Bowers didn’t answer when I asked. Neither did Bart.
edit: just confirmed with Ackley, it was cost cuts and as far as he knows its the same at most if not all regionals.
Very nice picture btw. Can I get a copy? email to lilstogi@gmail please 
I’m with you. I don’t mind the new design as much as I don’t like the Solid colors on the ribbon. It appears the “New” trophies for winners are the same size as the finalist trophies from previous years. They are a lot smaller. At least they kept the banners the same.
Not to mention Trenton this year wasn’t even packed or as lively as it usually is. Idk, something was just different and depressing about NJ this year. =(
It didn’t have that same week 1 excitement it usually does.
I guess they don’t care about our feedback…
http://frcdirector.blogspot.com/2008/10/changes-in-2009.html
for my .02 I would rather see them choose a game element which doesn’t cost $10 each. There are lots of ways to save money it seems funny that they would choose one that affects the teams so much.
That’s sad.
Does anyone know if the team surveys mentioned in Bill’s post have a trophy question included on it? He seems to reference that as a way to legitimize the change.
I really want to see the numbers released before I judge them more on this decision. Greg, I wasn’t surprised that they didn’t listen. It seems that FIRST now tends to give us the news on things that have already been decided upon and make it sound like we have a say in it. Oh well.
I actually really like that design, I think it’s cooler than years past. The red/blue ribbons don’t bother me either. I do wish the old trophies were still around, but I guess I can compromise because the medals are neat! (And saving materials to save money/the environment is a noble cause too, I suppose. 
)
Yes, they did. I remember this survey, I participated in it last year. The main themes of the survey were about going green and about the possibility of a new tournament structure as FIRST expands. The awards we’re seeing this year and the Michigan district competitions appear to be part of the results of this survey.
Sure. I’ll send you a copy & I’ll have more pics from NJ & The Scrimmage in Suffield before the end of build season on my Facebook page as well for you to browse. lol
About the missing banners, I just talked to a friend of mine who “live streamed every regional at one point” & he reminded me that sponsors/suppliers were on LCD screens last year (and not part of the banners at Regional events) & that every Regional event he saw webcast this year didn’t have supplier/sponsor banners.
As an alternative, they were listed in the Regional program booklet of course, & on the center screen during field breaks. (Which there have been quite a few this year, so the sponsors are getting their money’s worth this year!)
If we wanted to compare apples to oranges, a study could be done about & the effects they have been trying to “go green” I guess.
I agree the control system change to keep them year after year will help with this, - less repeat manufacturing (in theory) but what are the effect of holding more tournaments in lieu of less (Michigan competition Structure) which means more energy used at events, more waste from teams at the sites & more supplies for making more fields.
The alternative is that teams aren’t competing miles away & may be traveling less, but I hardly see the environmental impact (in a positive way - yet at least) this may bring.
I guess we may see the results of that as time goes on, but like I said, I don’t see the immediate positive impact… yet.
at 20,000 lbs for 40something regionals, that works out to all of 475 lbs per regional.
475 lbs is basically nothing when you need an entire semi to haul all your stuff from event to event. That’s a pretty poor reason.
I guess they do need the money so they can spend $2000 per field, per weekend on Orbit balls. :rolleyes:
“475 lbs is basically nothing when you need an entire semi to haul all your stuff from event to event. That’s a pretty poor reason.”
The reason I am sure is to save money in general, not just the shipping cost. The blog states “to reduce this cost,” meaning the cost of 20,000 lbs of trophies. That is a lot of material to pay for, and I would hope that smaller trophies cost much less than large trophies.
I have not tried to order 20,000 lbs of trophies, but I assume it is expensive, and I also assume FIRST employees have more than one reason for making decisions.
-Paul Ventimiglia
After seeing the trophy size with better clarity, I didnt realize just how much smaller they are with respect to the previous years.
That’s too bad.
Gotta save those old trophies now…
I volunteered at the Midwest Regional this past weekend and was one out of a select few who had the honor of unpacking the awards and getting them ready for the Awards Ceremonies on Friday and Saturday. So, a few words…
First, make sure you thank each and every volunteer you see, because A LOT goes on behind the scenes that you probably don’t even know about. It took 3-4 hours to get the awards unpacked, looking nice, with their award tags on and lined up on a table to hand out. This was something I didn’t know happened until I actually got to work it, and it gave me some new appreciation for ever getting to win those awards.
Secondly, I understand it’s kind of disheartening that the trophies are smaller, but in this economic crisis, sometimes you just can’t go big. However, I think that if FIRST wants to show that the Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious award a team can receive, I think they should keep that trophy the size it was prior to the change. All the other trophy changes I can deal with.
Finally, a bit of confusion on my side. While unpacking the awards, it came to my attention that FIRST ships awards for several different regionals to one event. (i.e. I was at Midwest and there were awards there for three-four other regionals not taking place this weekend). These awards were not back-up awards, and the crates were never opened. It seems to me that this would cost a lot of money to do. Does any one know if it is actually cheaper to do this?
This may sound cheesy, but…Isn’t the 120 pound regional winning bot a big enough of a trophy? Honestly, I’ll keep a little medal for a commemorative thing, but if it gets too big it just gets in the way. Don’t know, I just never cared for the ridiculously huge trophies that take two hands to carry.
Trust me, I am sure teams wont mind having that problem, if they win either a CA or RC award ('08 and previous year’s trophy size).
My recommendation was that events keep the boxes they came in, so teams can easily transport their awards without damaging or scratching them.
The FIRST symbol at the top of the trophies can break off easily if your not careful. We know from first hand experience… 
The fields tend to make a trip around the country to a bunch of regional events before making their way back to NH - I half expect to see the red transport boxes from NJ this past weekend to show up in NYC this coming weekend.
It more than likely saves money (and lots of time) to just lump the contents of multiple regional events in the same transport boxes rather than ship separate ones from FIRST at increments throughout the season.
You may have also noticed typically that field elements (Orbit Balls in this case) are in marked boxes for their (future) events as well, and if one regional “taps into” the supply of the next one, they need to note that before they send it on it’s way so the next regional can be covered in case they are short anything.
Are the CA and EI awards red and blue strips as well?
yeah the medals we got for chairman’s have blue ribbon stuff… however, the medals themselves aren’t that great quality, some of them are starting to fray on the bottom, and a couple of people have broken theirs because they fell off the pin holding the ribbon to the medal itself…
on the other hand, the pins attached to the ribbons look like the national CA award, the clock, and they are AWESOME!!!
