Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

Hello! It's my first year as team captain and I would like to know the exact phrase I must use when accepting (or refusing) another alliance's invitation or when I would like to invite another team to our alliance. I would greatly appreciate it if I could have the phrase in both English and French (since we're participating in the Montreal regional). Thanks!

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

My pet peev is when some "graciously accepts" when joining an alliance. My favorite one was the kid in Houston who said "heck yeah".

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

There is no set phrase. You can say whatever you'd like.

The traditional phrase, which some people (including me) find kind of annoying, is "Team (number) graciously accepts". Describing yourself as gracious isn't very gracious though.

"Team (number) gratefully accepts" keeps the same cadence without being self-aggrandizing.

A Lil' Jon style "YEAHHHHH!" is perhaps my favorite though.

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I've heard teams that list their team sponsors, should I do that too?

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Not if you have too many sponsors. I've seen teams go on for quite a while listing all of their sponsors and it gets a bit annoying. If you have a few sponsors, though, and you want to thank them in some way you could say "Team XXXX sponsored by .... would like to invite Team XXXX to join their alliance"

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

Please don't. It seems like a good idea, but there are hundreds of other ways to promote and thank your sponsors, and everyone groans the second someone starts listing their team's sponsors. We just want to get on with alliance selections, and we're sure you do to. No matter if you're inviting people to an alliance or responding to an invitation, just get up there, and get 'er done.

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You do not have to list your sponsors. Some team do other don't if you do please keep it short. My favorite way to accept is "wait FINALLY someone wants me!"

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I think 148 says "In partnership with Innovation First" or something like that

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I've always thought that listing their biggest sponsors during alliance selection is a very classy way for a team to acknowledge the partnership between the sponsor and the team. What if an employee, executive, or owner of the sponsor is at the competition think of how far simply mentioning the company's name would go with that individual.

I would definitely not list every single person that has given your team money, but if you have two or three main sponsors I see nothing wrong with mentioning their partnership.

Back to OP's question, I think a simple "Team ####, <Team Name>, would like to invite Team ####, <Other Team's Name> (or omit their name if you don't know it), to join our alliance" is sufficient for an invitation. "Team ####, <Team Name>, gratefully accepts." works just fine for accepting whether or not you decide to list your main sponsors in either situation.

As for French, I have no idea but I'm sure you could find someone at that party of an event that can help you out.

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I would love for a team to accept and say" His Devine Shadow. Who do you want me to kill" from the LEXX. But that wouldn't go over very big.

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

Would you consider sponsors as part of your team? FIRST thinks you should. That's why a big part of the Chairman's Award criteria is your relationships with your sponsors. You can look at sponsors just as cash cows, but that's the wrong way to do it. Your sponsors should be as much a part of your team as your number or nickname. That's why 1114 isn't just "The Simbotics." They're Innovation First International/General Motors St. Catharines Powertrain & Governor Simcoe Secondary School ... Simbotics.

NOW, that doesn't mean that you go up and list off every single sponsor. Have you seen the backs of some of these t-shirts? 2056 has two frikken columns of sponsors for crying out loud! So, pick your top 2-4 sponsors. The biggest ones. The ones who you recognize your team would ABSOLUTELY not exist without. They're probably your "gold" or "title" sponsors: the guys who give you thousands of dollars, or do all of your machining, or donate a huge warehouse for you to use. And show some respect and thankfulness and say their names. It adds 10 seconds to the alliance selections per team.

My rule of thumb is, you better say your sponsors' names once in the selection process. Whether you're accepting, inviting, or declining, choose one and rock it. Generally, if you're declining a selection, it's because you're going to go up again to form an alliance. So you can skip all the long stuff and just say For OP: you could probably say something like:

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

Funny how many people mentioned that sponsors should not be mentioned. Something that I noticed was that Canadian teams almost always mention their sponsors in alliance selections. Looking back at Waterloo 2012 selections (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4CkGuJaEQU), 14 out of the first 17 teams invited to an alliance mentioned their sponsors. One of the declines was an American team while another was a rookie team. I stopped counting after the 1st round was over.

Must be a Canadian thing...

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

I certainly think so. :P

Saturday was crazy at GTR West this year and I was hyped for alliance selections. It kind of killed the mood though when each team spent 5+ minutes listing sponsors. I can respect the formality/professionalism and I realize it's up to the teams, but it's painful to watch...

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"Team #### accepts, and together, we shall rule the galaxy"

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Our alliance invitation phrase from Palmetto:

"On behalf of the Hype Train, The Magic School Bus, and Dairy Queen, Team 1648 accepts."

Better things in store for Peachtree. :D

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The best advice I can give is to keep it simple. Examples:

"Team 148 would like to invite team XXXX to join our alliance."
"Team 148 accepts."
"Team 148 respectfully declines."

When 3548 accepted our offer, because I was in shock was a simple "we would love to".

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Our coach said "YES" It was enough everyone understood the emotion it conveyed.

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

To answer your question as directly as possible, there is no phrase you MUST use.

There are many ways to say Yes. Most teams say "Team xxx Gratefully accepts your invitation" or "Team xxx respectfully declines your invitation".

Thinks that are cute or 'different' are OK, but basically you are saying "Yes" (or maybe "No Thanks", work from there.

French? Can't help you there. Maybe "Oui" and "Non Merci"

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

One thing that has been really cool that I've seen done for alliance selections this year:

Team XXXX would be happy to assist you in the eliminations.

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The times I got to accept an invitation to be on an alliance, I always said, "Team 751 has done the math, and would love to save the world with these teams."

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This year our Alliance picker said "Team 1501, to Assist in our Aerial endeavor, would like to invite Team XXXX"
I cringe everytime someone says "Graciously Accepts"

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It's cheesy, but I always loved when teams make some pun off their name. I know The Foley Freeze asks people to "come chill with them" and I'm pretty sure Bedford Express makes some kind of "on track" pun, but I might be mistaken.

I love when teams do this. It is a great way to relieve some of the stress that comes with alliance selection and it's fun.

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

Yeah, 95% of the teams will "Graciously Invite" or "Graciously Accept" and that's just emotionally painful to hear. Of course, those are likely the same people who think it's acceptable to scream "Robot" while moving a robot through the pits. My team and I came up with ways we wish teams would accept:

Walk slowly to the captain, and "Glacially Accept".
Dance onto the field like a ballerina, and "Gracefully Accept"
Run out to the captain and give 'em a big bear hug, and "Gratefully Accept."
Bounce out onto the field giggling and screeching and "Gleefully Accept"
Have glowsticks in your outfit and "Glowingly Accept"
I think the Dapper Dans (1801) have "Humbly accepted" before.

Things my teams has said:

"We've got your back!"
"We're with you all the way."
"Let's rock it" / "Let's Do this!"
"We accept."

-Danny

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My personal all-time favorite:

"Team 159 would love to play with you."

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For the love of god, please do not list all of your sponsors before accepting. It's tacky and it wastes everyone's time. It's more than enough already that the announcers name all of them for the participating teams before every single match.

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I would keep it as simple as possible. Personally, I agree with those who say not to list sponsors. I really do think it is a Canadian thing.

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The eight commandments of alliance selection:

1. Have a list
2. Have a list
3. Don't use the word "gracious" or "graciously" anywhere.
4. Don't list your sponsors ("on behalf of NASA, the Human fund, and Famous Original Ray's Pizza, we'd like to ask Theodore Roosevelt's Disco Haircut to join our alliance")
5. If you're scared to talk into the mic, keep it simple. "We'd love to".
6. If you're not, ham it up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbBx-bqUBhQ
7. If you're going to choose to form your own alliance(what's declining?), people will boo. Stay strong. You presumably know what you're doing.
8. This is the last part of the competition weekend where the drama is accessible and personal to all of the teams. It's ok if it's fun.

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It's actually supposed to be just before each team's first match of the competition.

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I would kind of like to see someone walk up there and just stand there until it gets really awkward and the announcer says something then the person acts surprised and says "oh yeah, sure" that wouldn't be a good idea, but funny.
Another would be "team XXXX thinks that would be swell"
Or walk out with a cheese grater (this might be better for a team with cheese in their name) and say team XXXX GRATE-fully accepts.

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Someone really ought to tell that to the announcers; it'd be a vast improvement.

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

L'équipe XXXX voulons inviter équipe XXXX.
1-un 6-six
2-deux 7-sept
3-trois 8-huit
4-quatre 9-neuf
5-cinq ("sank")
thousand-mille ("deux mille" for two thousand)
eleven-onze
twelve-douze
thirteen-treize
fourteen-quatorze
fifteen-quinze
sixteen and on...dix-six, dix-sept

20-vingt
30-trente
40-quarante
50-cinquante

Keep in mind that this is all "French" French. Not Canadian French, which has its slight differences.

Refusal--Non, merci.

Acceptance--Oui, bien sur!

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

Are you allowed to say.
"Team #### just met you and this is crazy but we ask that #### joins us maybe?"

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Not to nitpick, but sixteen = seize.

and for completeness:
sixty = soixante
seventy = soixante-dix
eighty = quatre-vingt
ninety = quatre-vingt-dix

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3161 usually uses a phrase related to the game.

For example, at 2012 GTRW: "Team 3161 the Tronic Titans would like to invite team 1114 Simbotics to come shoot hoops with us."

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The classic "xxx join me and together we shall rule the galaxy"

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Thanks for reminding me. Last year 418 used that as an acceptance.

"We just met you, and this is gonna sound crazy, but we accept, maybe."

-Danny

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For a number of years, team 192 has "accepted with the passion of a thousand fiery suns"

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You can do some fun stuff in Alliance selection, especially if you really know the team you're picking or being selected by.

"47."
"Wait, we can't pick them?"
"Oh, well, then we pick XXXX instead."

*scribble some stuff on a paper* "31.4!"
"Oh, really? That's not a valid team number!?"
*scribble more stuff on the same piece of paper*
"XXXX!"

"Team XXXX, we need backup! Do you accept your mission?"

"Team XXXX accepts on the condition that we all go to Taco Bell later."

"Team XXXX accepts, because why not!"

"Yes please!"

"Hm.... [long pause] YES."

Or my favorite:
"Yep." *walk over to new alliance partner(s) awkwardly*

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

4901's acceptance from Orlando:

"Much gracious. Very accept. Wow."

Every time he's said it, we've won the tournament. Coincidence?

(Whaddya mean 1 event of saying it is a poor sample size?!)

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

"We invite Team #### to be on our alliance. They're already chosen? I must have done my math wrong, give me a minute."
*draws a picture of a cat*
"After carrying the one and dividing by two instead of dividing by two and then carrying the one, we invite Team #### to our alliance instead"

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

I'm just curious: What's the big problem with "Team XXXX graciously accepts." The FTC Emcee script includes this paragraph:

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

Gratefully accepts.

Graciously declines.

Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

Do yourself and everyone else a favor and skip proclaiming yourself "gracious" in any action. That's for others to determine.

Recognizing one or two MAJOR sponsors (in the form of "Team xxxx, backed by/powered by/along with/whatever you want...") seems to me to be extremely classy and very appropriate.

And most importantly, as always: have fun with it! You've earned that right by being picked.

At the Wisconsin Regional, 192 (GTR) accepted the Alliance #8 invitation "with the passion of 1000 burning suns". The alliance must have been agreed upon and rehearsed because the 2nd pick, 1675 (UPS), couldn't muster up 1000 burning suns but promised "to deliver". It was pretty awesome all around. The crowd loved it.

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

Fun Fact: This was actually started by 469 at MARC 2012 when they invited 68 to join their alliance, and then continued at IRI 2012 when 68 invited 469 to join their alliance. It later was adopted by 233 at one of their off-seasons and then became a song.


In regards to the OP: If you're going for the very professional look, do as Ether said and include your biggest sponsor. If you're going for a more fun, slightly less professional look, I'd suggest stroking your chin and pretending to think for 5 seconds, then saying "sure".

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

Just once I'd love to see a team come out to the field and say " Team xxxx rejects our reality and accepts yours!"

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

I think saying "Graciously Accept" is a wonderful FIRST-ism and transcends any original meaning of the word "gracious". I hope teams will continue to say it, as I personally like the tradition (I also enjoy variations on it).

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

Simon:
While I agree that it is a FIRST-ism,
but, at best, only for those who understand the history.

One can accept graciously, but not by stating they are doing so.

Or, as Ether wrote:
-Karlis

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

Not quite rehearsed, we usually just tend to make some dumb UPS joke :p

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

I agree!
Look at the synonyms to the word too.

I don't understand why some of you are annoyed with "team xxxx graciously accepts", it's clean, it's professional and to the point.

Maybe you've heard it so much you're sick of it but there are lots of new people in the stands every year who think it's nice and professional.

I think stating a main sponsor or two is nice too, as long as it's quick an not an Emmy acceptance speach.

I like a lot of the other suggestions here too, fun and original (as long as they aren't too long!)

To the OP, anything you want as long as you get your point across, and done with taste and not offensive.

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Standard procedure for us is "One Five Nine would love to play with you."

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On a related point, I have noticed very few alliances, when they have two and are picking the third, actually say both teams. At TC this weekend, I think the #1 was the only one to mention 857 and 3688; all the others were just the captain's number. It should be a conference, and credit should be shared for the pick IMO.

Also, one team (ICE cubed) ended the acceptance by saying "we would like to join this cool alliance" /pun

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

[Must remember to check black hole CD topics before posting. Must remember to check black hole CD topics before posting.]

I agree with "clean" and "nice", and I'll ignore "to the point" for now.

Since it's a fundamental misuse of the word (as well as a malapropism), it can't come off as professional, especially to the reporters covering the event.

[Scotty - more power. We need to reach escape velocity...]

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

I'm going to brag that of the 15 years that I have participated in FIRST, the 2014 Dallas alliance selections had one of the best invitation/acceptance speeches I ever heard.

#1 RoboWranglers Team 148 (Vader Robot) would like to invite Team 359 to the Dark Side.
Team 359 The Hawaiian Kids, gladly accepts joining the Dark Side.

-The one that Texas Torque and 1817 did was pretty awesome as well. Maybe they can chime in. That huge Wrench was just hilarious!

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148 used to be the kings of the alliance invitations. :(

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Well.... maybe you're right, and that it is a misuse of the word. As I mentioned before, if you look a the synonyms of that word, it sort of makes sense.
Anywho... you (all) will probably continue to hear this phrase until someone from FIRST tells teams to change it... because not every FIRST team is here on CD being educated, and so unknowing teams are just going to copy what they hear or do what they are told is acceptable by other teams.

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We were told by a few TX "higher-ups" that we were being disrespectful to the other teams at the event, and coming across negatively to other teams, and to the event judges.

Now, we err on the side of normalcy. :) Though we have indulged ourselves a bit this year.

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Team 2363 Triple Helix usually responds with "Team 2363 Triple Helix accepts your gracious offer."

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Yep, 910 uses "We would love to chill with you" or "We would like to invite XXXX to come chill with us."

We haven't declined an alliance in recent memory, but our go to phrase is "Unfortunately, team 910 The Foley Freeze is going to have to give you the cold shoulder this time." We've had a few debates about this, as some people think that this could come off as non-graciously professional, so we don't know if we would use it in practice.

But we have a new phrase for accepting an offer, so hopefully we'll get to use it before the season is over. And it's even more cheesy and punny :D

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

We were certainly glad to hear it. :D

Personally, I think it would be fine. Maybe preface it with "While we appreciate the offer,...". It certainly would be consistent with your invitations.

Hope you get a chance to use it. Yours is a great team!

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Maybe you could do the old gladiator thing, and put your thumb to the side - will it go up or down? OK, maybe giving a team the "thumbs down" wouldn't exactly be graciously professional, but it would be more interesting than "respectfully decline"...

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I am racking my brain to try to think of something clever to say for the North Super Regional if we make it to alliance selection. I really want to work our team name (WIRED) in to there, but I also want it to be simple enough that everyone would get it.

Any suggestions CD?

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

If you're ever joining an alliance of Californians*, it is necessary to include "hella" in your acceptance.

*This is more common among Northern and Central Californians. Southerners don't seem to be fluent in this dialect.

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

"Shyeah dood"

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I just started playing Civilization V, and whenever I propose a good trade offer to a friend, they say "I graciously accept".

In my mind, this probably means one of two things:
1. A former FIRSTer helped to design this game.
2. This phrase is not as much of a grammatical sin as some of you make it out to be.

Of course, there is still the possibility that both the general FIRST populace and a random developer of Civ V are incorrect, but I would think that one of the above would be more probable than this.

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I always giggle when at the beginning of a new turn it sometimes says <Doge (name) of (Country)> and I just think "Wow. Very Ruler. Such Leadership."

Anyways, another approach could be: "Together, we shall rule the world!"

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In the camp of "Gateful to accept....", "Gracious for the offer, very sad to have to decline this time." Or, "YOU BET!" "Yeah!" "Try and keep us away!" "We will make HISTORY together." "My bots not so bad, so....OKAY!"

And I'm sure somewhere, somehow, someday, a young female student Team captain, will walk onto the field that does not yet have a date for the RoboProm and say "Did that just come with an invite to the RoboProm too?".....OK! or, the reverse...."Only if you will go to the RoboProm w/ me too!" Alriiiiight! (Either of those would be bold and not at all surprising).

"Nahhh, we are going it alone this time, but thanks," usually ends in disasterous results later. Call it Karma, or whatever, but teams turned down usually dig a little deeper inside for the next few hours. Quiet retribution is sweet.
_________________________________

We do not direct our Drive Team Captains on what they should say...But I would like to just once hear them say...."Team 60, The Bionic Bulldogs would like to invite Team #XXXX to join us in consuming a bowl of *Bionic Puppy Chow, and then attempt to "Grow Bold" in eliminations together." Will you accept the snack?

or

Team 60, The Bionic Bulldogs gratefully accepts your invitation, to attempt to help you knock the other Big Dogs...."Off the porch."

Or now, (Only if we can play DEFENSE! YES! We thankfully accept the invite.)
___________________________________
*The team gift to our Alliance Partners is traditionally a special blend of our powdered sugar coated sweetened Chex cereal mix presented in a brand new (and washed properly of course first), blue plastic Team 60 dog bowl covered w/ plastic wrap. People love the stuff once they taste it and get over the "actual container" it is delivered in. (Looks Sort of Bad...Taste's GREAT!)

A ziplock bag or 2 of our Chow, is also usually delivered for the more squeemish of heart or those w/ very vivid imaginations, that just cannot possibly get past the idea of consuming from that nice clean previously unused bowl. (You have to actually be there, and see some of the past looks & eye rolls received!) Then they taste it.....The look usually turns to a big smile. And they chow down.

We would gift/loan you a blue mildly studded dog collar too, if you'd actually wear it. (velcro connected in the rear, for safety of course).

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Perfect decline would be No I'm sorry I am waiting for that oh so special someone.
The perfect acceptance would be YEEEAAAAHHH just like Roger Daultry from the WHO:D

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How about something like:
"Team 5053 is wired up and excited to join your alliance!"

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After reading some of these, with my head firmly in my hands, I'm starting to reconsider my strong objections to "graciously accept/invite/decline".

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;) We would like to truss XXXX to be on our alliance;)

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As first year being a number one seed what I said was
" team 716 would like to invite team *** to our alliance."

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

We use "After consulting with our flock of Flamingos, we would like to invite xxxx." or "Sweet flying pink Flamingos we accept!".

Haven't considered one for declining but at the moment we do not intend to decline anyone.

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This is the most important post in the entire thread.

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

I'll always stick to 'gratefully accepts', and 'respectfully declines'.

However, this leads me to a little bit of a tangent.

If another alliance captain declines, that is their right. Don't boo.
Seriously. I've seen this happen so many times!
"Team XXX declines" booOOOOOOooOOOOOO.
They're well within their rights to form their own alliance if they so choose.

Back to the original point - If a team wants to do something fun, that's all fine and good - just keep it short. Just like recognizing key sponsors instead of all of them, not everyone wants to hear your two-page poem when a simple one-liner would do.

Keep it simple and to-the-point, and you'll probably be fine.

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So much this. People need to understand a declination isn't always personal. I've even seen teams boo when a non-alliance captain team declines due to a broken robot. Not only is it incredibly rude, but it also makes FIRST look bad as an organization.

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

Danke.

We've never been in the position to decline (and are typically more confident in the selector's alliance-forming abilities than ours), but it's so frustrating when the boos happen.

I've never seen any reason to boo at an FRC event. This is only my third year, though, so maybe there has been an acceptable reason in the past, but I would be seriously worried if there was...

Anyway, we've never really done anything that crazy. Maybe we will at our next regional, though. :cool:

I wonder how many of those "boo"s are actually just "ooo"s. For many people, is surprising to see a team turn down an offer to ally with a higher ranked team. I'm sure there have been "boo"s, though, and you're right: booing is almost never appropriate at a FIRST event.

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

In my experience, the first time a team is declined it is generally a quiet, hushed "ooo" that goes through the crowd with a little murmur. But I have been at an event before where the #1 seed was declined by 3 or 4 seeded teams. The last team that declined definitely received a "boo" from a good portion of the crowd.

On the topic, I generally use/see "Gratefully accept" and "Respectfully decline" outside of the more creative options being discussed here.

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Booing it not cool. I think a bit of that comes from friends and family that are not used to the events. If and when it happens explain to them why we don't do it.

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Lol how did I not think of that, that's great! Ty! :D

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I really don't like it when people list off their sponsors. I personally find it a bit annoying and it wastes time, but maybe that's just me

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I notice almost every team says "graciously accepts" You're not Graciously accepting any more at this point since everyone is saying it.

What my team representative said this year was
"We accept, 2386's friend request".
After he listed our sponsors and everything.
Everyone had a good laugh about it!

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Half of our team watched "Talladega Nights" on the way to DC...so when invited, our Captain replied "If you can shake it...we can bake it!"

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My team made me say " team 3082 has read and fully agrees to the terms and conditions of this alliance". When I was in line I thought of saying but did not say " ill answer you BUT FIRST LET ME TAKE A SELFIE". It would have been funny but I feel it would be a tad but disrespectful:D

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They actually handed out a "script" at the NC regional mandating what your lines were when inviting and accepting. The word "gracious" was (I believe) in both the acceptance and declination.

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The script was goofy, but even with it someone still managed to list off all of their sponsors during the picks. Ugh.

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You can say pretty much whatever you want, just make sure that you say the team numbers loud and clear. The mumblers make it difficult to hear what the picks are with all of the background noise going on.

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The smart thing to do is to have the announcer read the sponsors while the person is walking out to take their place on the field. We're very proud of the sponsors who allow us to have fun in FIRST and we're going to get their names in there, one way or another :D

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

For our first pick robot we said, "we invite team ____ to be our first mate."

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Being viking themed and at an event with the name "Raritan", we said "Team 2607 would like to invite Team 1676 to raid Raritan".

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Haha, yup. Quite a few people seemed to disregard it though. I thought the whole giving your name, number, city, and state was a little ridiculous so I am kind of glad a lot of teams just kept it short and sweet. It would be a shame if that dignified and exciting process got bogged down with mandated dull wording.

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

I remember my 2004 year over at Lone Star, I was the team captain and was beyond excited that we had gotten picked. I forgot what to say ("team 457 accepts" or something) so I got up to the mic and just shouted "YEAAAAH! We accept!" ^_^; heh heh, so there you go.

Re: Alliance Invitation Phrase
 

I Say "We accept your Gracious offer" or "We would love to join your alliance"... or if denying, "I'm sorry, but we must decline your gracious offer"