I had one match where there was two issues. The first was that an opponents cap was on one of the platforms and the ref did not count it (Other team arguing for it to count). Then the refs also did not count one of my teams caps because there was an opponent robot touching it (We argued that it should count). The refs call the head ref over and (Although I didn’t know at the time) only ask about the cap on the platform. The head ref says it counts and goes away. The refs then say the final score is a tie and immediately tells the volunteers to reset the field. After the match me and my team went up to the head ref to ask about it and he tells us it should have counted however he is unable to fix the score as the fix the score as the field was already reset… We ended up making it to 17th place that competition and losing to the 3rd place team.
Sadly I lost it when my phone broke but I do have a clip of it at the end of my itz reveal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLeQDswMuV4&t=49s
I’ve called timeout’s to give ref’s a restroom/water break. The plus of being the EP.
My best story has to do with the Delmarva finals a few years ago. Before it starts, Blue calls a time out, clock ticks down. At the end Red goes to power up and finds the battery they replaced has a broken wire on it. They ask for a time out. Our RECF guide says they can’t, I say they can, and tell the team to RUN and get a battery. Guide says they can’t have the time out, it’s against the rules. I go OK, show me. He whips out the phone, click, click, swipe, swipe, “Here you go”. I take the phone, fumble it, ‘accidentally’ close the window. “Opps, sorry” hand the phone back. Click, click, swipe, swipe, they hold the phone and I peer at it, take my glasses off, go “Can you make it bigger?”. Swipe. I start reading out loud and slowly as I glance at the flurry of activity on the red robot. “Yep, they can’t have a time out”. Turn to the Red alliance, “Sorry guys, can’t have a time out, ready to go?”, “Yes, battery replaced”, said with a smile.
Red wins both matches. Not a reason to bring back B03, but a reason to be an EP that looks at all situations and tries to be fair to everyone. Who wants to win against a dead robot pair?