5:12PM - That's a wrap! We're coming home.
5:09PM - 340 wins Chairman's Award
5:06PM - Chairman's Award: most important of all, keeping focus of FIRST on what really matters.
5:04PM - More awards
4:59PM - Blue Alliance received their silver medals. Red is going up for gold.
4:11PM - More awards being presented
4:25PM - New sponsors always encouraged. The field seems be be being taken apart in the background. Ron Borden is awarded a special mentor award.
4:22PM - Now Ron Zarella is speaking
4:16PM - Al Simone is speaking
4:11PM - Closing ceremonies
4:06PM - In the finals, the Blue Alliance (1507/229/772) won the first match, but had many troubles in the second, leaving it as a tie. After a delay, the tie-break game was played. It was an extremely close call, having to be ruled out by the judges with measuring tools for quite some time. In the end, a technicality within inches cost us first place. The Sabres will be coming home with the silver from Finger Lakes Regional.

2:46PM - The alliance is officially in the finals thanks to our latest win! This represents a new benchmark for team 772!
2:25PM - Won our first semi-finals match!
1:46PM - Our red alliance has won its first two matches! This qualifies us for the semi-finals
12:17PM - 772 was invited to and has accepted alliance with 1507 and 229. Together, we make the fourth alliance - Sabres mark the current code name as Clubbed By Warlocks. Also, it's lunch for real now
11:20AM - Mmmmm, lunch
10:49AM - Lost thirty-six to thirty-nine. May be our last match.
10:14AM - Sabres tied on the blue alliance in their first match of the day at thirty-seven points.
9:46AM - Schedule as outlined on Regional site: Alliance selections at 11:30, Lunch at noon, finals at 1:00, awards at 3:00.
9:42AM - No penalties on the day's first match. The Regional website has a photo of the Sabres accepting their award. Second match beginning.
9:32AM - National anthems, and now resetting the field for the first match while dancing to a sports song montage.
9:25AM - "Appropriate robot behaviour": Play defense fairly.
9:23AM - Referee Jan speaking. Take care not to lose points to penalties.
9:21AM - The judges sang a song about robotics, to the tune of Margaritaville. Seriously.
9:13AM - Triple Play movie... again. There are many good drivers here, says the MC. President of Xerox and CEO of Bausch & Lomb speaking. Thanking sponsors.

Thursday, March 4th
11:36PM - We lost our last match, sadly. There was one more match afterwards, then the closing ceremonies. This was finished with the awards of which, to everyone's excitement, we won one. Our first robotics award, Club Sandwich is taking home the website design award for Finger Lakes Regional! A major high for webmasters Andrew and Phil. Pictures when available. The team attended the social afterwards, and then a buffet. Tomorrow we feel the heat of competition and then head back home.


4:07PM - Latest Match (46): Red (us) - 38, Blue - 32
4:02PM - We're up!
3:43PM - Contribute the lack of updates to being Erbas and a lost wallet (it was found, thankfully). We have played a few more matches. Notable quote: "Sad Walrus is happy!" - Announcer
12:26PM - Third Match (16): Red - 16 (-10), Blue (us) - 0 (-30). Sad Walrus had a bit of a breakdown on the field.

11:38AM - Lunch is at noon, or now for our team

11:25AM - Second Match (8): Red - 28 (-10), Blue (us) - 17

10:54AM - Sabres are up next
10:52AM - "Don't worry folks, we're gonna speed this thing up, one way or another" - MC
10:47AM - Match times (and match number): 9:45 (1), 10:27 (8), 11:15 (16), 11:51 (22), 1:24 (28), 1:54 (33), 2:24 (38), 2:48 (42), 3:12 (46), 3:42 (51). However, things are running a bit behind
10:21AM - Points were docked because one of the teams on red had to jump for the tetras. An appeal is being looked into. Not sure when our next match is
9:57AM - First Match: Red (us) - 9 (-30), Blue - 35
9:53AM - 772 is up for the first match, just about to start. Slight problem with one robot, but now good. Match starting!
9:49AM - Canadian and American national anthems, and now the beginning of the games - everyone gathered around the field, cheering
9:43AM - National sponsors video. All teams cheering for their various sponsors
9:42AM - Watching Team 342's safety video
9:40AM - Now we meet the referees
9:39AM - Meeting the judges
9:37AM - More sponsors speaking, and the games are now officially open
9:29AM - Mr. Kamen still speaking, very motivational. Six million dollars worth of scholarships will be given by FIRST
9:20AM - Enter Dean Kamen, founder of FIRST, not on a Segway

9:17AM - Now the president of Xerox is speaking. We're encouraged to take engineering throughout school

9:14AM - President of RIT is onstage. Teams from as far as Michigan are thanked for coming out

9:09AM - Plenty of spirit in the arena today! Opening ceremonies have just begun. Currently watching this year's game instructions yet again


8:46AM - Someone parked in the university lot all night, security isn't happy. Propaganda has begun. We saved all our buttons for Canadian competitions.
8:37AM - First day of competition. Arrived awhile ago, got Spirit Squad all oranged and blued. FIRST talking to teams about safety, issues from yesterday, etc. Sabres are scheduled to be in the first match.


Thursday, March 3rd
11:54PM - Back at the hotel (for awhile now). Twist ties were added to Sad Walrus's face earlier to keep from being disqualified.

3:54PM - That looks to be all for today. We'll be back tomorrow around the same time!
3:45PM - Looking better all the time. This was our last practice.
3:41PM - We got the autonomous tetra partly, and one on the middle. We're about to go again

3:37PM - For those wondering, we're still at the university. Sad Walrus is just going up
3:28PM - The robot should work fine now, with the possible exception of autonomous mode, says Adam
3:15PM - Back to the drawing board, so to speak

3:03PM - Deniz just contacted us from Windsor, he wishes he could be here
2:42PM - Two and a half tetras! However Sad Walrus is having some power issues, and also, Andrew says there's something wrong with the pneumatics. Our next match is in an hour, according to Matt, and is one of the last of the day
2:38PM - No power for anyone now
2:33PM - Another whack at the field, and we do so much better when we turn on the Walrus

2:09PM - Walrus is queued. Team members are working to find out why it is turning slow

1:56PM - Walrus is on the move behind the scenes, most likely for wide-area testing
1:36PM - First they played Michael Jackson, now MC Hammer... scary.
1:03PM - Things are up and running back from lunch, and we're still in the pits

12:36PM - Lunch time. Don't get the pizza.
12:16PM - Our robot is up again, and they played some Lynyrd Skynyrd!
11:55AM - Sad Walrus is looking good - more when we return to the field
11:45AM - Matter of fact, we're up right now for round two!
11:41AM - We haven't died, but there are no practice rounds for us yet. Work backstage is still going strong for the Walrus


10:59AM - Leaving the field for other teams to try out their stuff.

10:50AM - Yes, our first practice match



10:45AM - Apparently "next" takes some time.

10:30AM - Sabres up next!

10:23AM - We make our grand entrance within ten minutes.

10:13AM - First practice match. Tetras are officially stackable. Sad Walrus has yet to grace the field.

10:10AM - The team got up and out at seven this morning for unpacking of the robot, and the rest of us followed along a bit later. Live updating up and running.