Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

An idea has spawned from http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55992

Many of us agree that students, although nervous, need to be more creative when inviting another team to partner with them AND when they accept an invitation.

The good folks at AndyMark would like to have some fun with this and help bring attention to this creativity.

I will bring some AndyMark "Shift Happens" t-shirts to Atlanta. One of these shirts will be given to one student on each field who gives the best invitation or acceptance during the alliance selection process.

I will ask 3 people to be fellow "judges" to help me in this contest, as I will be focused on one field. These judges will be determined once the Championship divisions are set.

"Best" is going to be subjective. A poem may win. A song may win. Some kid who brings out their fiddle and plays "_____ (their team) Went Down to Georgia" may win (that would rock, btw). A student may do a flip and then accept.

While being creative, don't be a fool and tick off the m/c, field manager, or other staff on the field. I suggest getting input from your teammates and practice what you will say, sing or do. Have fun with it, but you are obviously still representing your team. Make them proud.

So... hope to get picked. Hope to be a picker. Keep being gracious, but be creative. A t-shirt is riding on it.

(OK... I know that a t-shirt is no big deal, but it's better than a kick in the pants.)

If any other sponsors want to jump in here and add stuff to this winning package, you are welcome to chime in.

Andy B.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

So now teams have a consolation for not making top seed - they can be creative and get a shirt from Andy!

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Possibly the coolest new idea for this season. Andy does it again! I love this!

I am going to start training our students to say "Team 116 gratefully accepts the magnanimous invitation from Team ____ - and to prove it, we brought donuts!"


-dave

/edit Billfred - I didn't say we had to actually eat them on-site :) /edit

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Unfortunately, Dave, that won't quite work:

Though I guess that's what Team Update #19 could be for...

(At Mission Mayhem, we explicitly banned "graciously accepting", under penalty of being pelted by Poof balls by the field crew until they accepted in a different manner. The results weren't legendary, but no Poof balls were thrown.)

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Great idea, ANDY! This would mean great footage for me. I'll have to see what I can add to this package... I might throw in a QC Elite t-shirt for the participant in the same division as 648 (because I only have a couple of shirts), the rest could get a care package or something from 648 (one each of our ~6 button designs and a mythical keychain we have, still have yet to see those).

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

I don't think that will pass. KK Donuts are over rated. Maybe pizza topped with tapping fluid and aluminum shavings with some mountain dew will get ya first picked.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

From the other thread.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

I'll throw in an 1GB MP3 player, new in the box. I have a few left I was wondering what to do with them. They will be sponsored from mrplc.com

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Excellent!!! Looks like we have our second judge already.

Thanks, Chris.

Andy B.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

OHHHH WOW! I want that mp3, who wants an AM shirt, honestly ;).

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

...it's an "OK" device. 1.8" LCD screen. Look at all the stuff it does.... EBOOK, GAME, MOVIE, MP3 PLAYER, PHONE BOOK, FM RADIO, the list goes on and on...charges from the wall or USB plug. Little bit short on battery life, unless you make the LCD go to sleep quick, then it seems to last for a long time.

Maybe I'll save a few and load in the 1501 video and give them away to the top seed Ringer Bot "drivers" for a marketing ploy (since it's our first appearance at the Dome, gotta make a good impression). Will Technokats 45 be a top ringer bot? I hope so... oooooo ooooo pick us! pick us!

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

(copied from previous thread)

I personally
Take on this challenge of yours
Very Graciously




Also, I hope my random haikus and limerick from the previous thread can count. I won't be at Nationals, so this is my only chance at winning.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

The only eligible entries are those said and done at the Championships, on Saturday during the official alliance selection process.

AB

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Darn. Oh well. I'll still keep posting here for the fun of it. Perhaps to give some of those teams participating some ideas.... :cool:

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Nice, more bandwidth for us. ppl will actually download the alliance-selection soap videos...

KA :p

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

I would definitely download the alliance selections this way!

BTW, would it be possible for me to be a judge in on this, too?

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

I know it's not eligible, but here's how 229 invited Cyber Blue to join our allaince at Long Island this year.

http://229pics.googlepages.com/229Proposingto234.wmv

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

I'll try to watch Curie and write down my opinions of the creativity in action.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

That's classic.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

lol

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

After the fact, we figured I should have said something like:
On behalf of Cyber Blue 234, We do.:D

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

This reminds me of St. Louis, where we faced 148 like 6 times during qualification day (or something ridiculous like that). When alliance selection came, they invited "a team that we are SICK and TIRED of seeing on the other side of the field"

Our scouting guru is pretty funny, if we do end up picking (or accepting) I'm sure he'll come up with something good :)

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

This is a great idea. In the past, it's usually been "we accept" or "we decline," often paired with the word "graciously." This will give another reason to look forward to alliance selections besides the anticipation of drafting/being drafted.

And Jay, that was quite good. :)

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Asleep yet? lol

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Oh this should be interesting.... I have a few ideas in mind already.:D

Out of curiosity Andy, what inspired this?

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

I have a t-shirt that goes to the winner... says "A soldier never goes into battle without safety glasses" with the QC Elite logo on the sleeve.


It was the thread about not "graciously" accepting if I'm not mistaken.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

At Davis I accepted with the simple phrase "I do" :p

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

It's kind of ironic how two words are more creative than a long phrase that tries to incorporate "Gracious Professionalism" somehow.:D

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

I'm down for throwing something in the pot... I've got a few 'Got FIRST?' shirts for the winner from each division.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Can we get the winners posted?

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Do you know how hard we tried to keep strait faces after that one? I was hoping that was on purpose. *clap*

Anyway, who won this? I'd like to see what they said, I watched alot of the alliance selection. I'd also like to see the runner-ups if possible. I'm glad someone did this, before I started to sleep through the thing, it always seemed to structured.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Team 118 on Curie had a pretty nice acceptance with their astronaut mascot. Unfortunately, I didn't see any of the other alliance selections. I hope Andy got my shirt for the winner, I dropped it off at the 45 pit on Saturday morning, right as they were walking out to the field.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

From what I was told by other members of my team we were voted the best for Galileo and recieved a "Shift Happens" T-shirt, and that 118 was the overall winner.

Our acceptance was "A pig famer once told me it is impossible to graciously accept, therfore team 1902 gracefully accepts," and our representatvie then proceed to dance around 173's rep. (Thanks again for the selection RAGE!)

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

I can vouch for the 118 win - dude in a spacesuit doing an absolutely horrible JFK impression of his "we choose to go to [Einstein] not because it is easy, but because it is hard" quote - priceless.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Come on, it wasn't that horrible...

It beat out "that's one small step for a robot...."

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Team 107 had a really good who wants to be a millionaire acceptance speech. I think it went like this. announcer says "do you accept?" and she says "thats good question and I could do two things, ask the audience or phone a friend. But I say yes and that is my final answer!" I thought it was pretty funny!

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

So Mr. Baker, have you and your fellow judges reached a decision? The world is waiting for your response....

Pavan.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

I would like to nominate the 177 acceptance to team 190 on Newton. It was certainly the only non-traditional acceptance on the field, though I can't vouch for other fields.

177 Newton Acceptance

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

On Galileo... 1902's acceptance of "A pig famer once told me it is impossible to graciously accept, therfore team 1902 gracefully accepts" ... wins for that division.

On Newton, 148 was the winner. I don't know exactly what they said, but the two judges on that field had them down as the winner. Seeing their performance in St. Louis, I don't doubt that they had a creative acceptance.

On Archimedes, team 107 takes the win, with their "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" acceptance speech.

And... the winner on Curie, along with being the overall winner was the spaceman from 118. "We choose to go to [Einstein] not because it is easy, but because it is hard".

Each of those 4 students will get AndyMark t-shirts (to be shipped), and 118 will win the t-shirt and mp3 player.

Congrats and great effort to all.

Andy B.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

what did 148 say?

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

All I remember about it was a girl saying "y'all" a lot.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

"Why thank y'all, team 148 would love to join y'all for the finals."

I thought 177's was more original, but 148's was cuter.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Congratulations and thank you to the teams who dared to be original!:D

I'm not great at coming with things on the spot...yet. It's a working progress.;)

And thank you to 118, who made it really fun to be on the Curie field during alliance selection.:)

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

1902's little dance was... interesting, to say the least ;)

We had a couple little raps written up the night before (I see you riiiinnnggiinnn, up on that rack), but our representative was so flustered after almost not even being picked that doing a song was the last thing on his mind.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

[off-topic] It was certainly strange:
a) being picked before 217
b) seeing 217's rep sitting there for such a long time

On the bright side, it'll probably be a long time before that happens again

[on-topic]
I wasn't about to go out on a limb, it's hard enough for me just to say "116 enthusiastically accepts" correctly.
(braces for impact)

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Although not in Atlanta, but at the Long Island Regional, my favorite ever is 229 "proposing" to 234. Down on one knee, to add effect.

Luckily, we had a young lady on the field to accept for us :)

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Maybe next year we could have a "proposal" contest?
Chris

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Since this event went so well, maybe individuals at each event can have some prize for not "graciously" accepting. Hopefully the efforts of this competition has changed the way a couple of teams accept, and with some practice, I think we can even get rid of it.

Any takers for any of the 41 regionals? ;)

Pavan.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

I'll be up for providing prizes, as well as advertising this, at the two regional events I attend next year, probably Midwest and, cross your fingers, Hawaii Regionals.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

At risk of making the alliance pickings take forever, how about injecting a little audience interactivity ala "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?"... During the qualifying, have a box out where the FIRST staff can collect random goofy themes from the regional participants that must be worked into each alliance invitation/acceptance. The MC/announcer will preselect 16 themes and ask the kids to work one of the themes into their schtick on the spot. But then again, perhaps asking FIRST students to do improv comedy is expecting a bit too much? :)

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Haha... that's some creativity right there.

FIRSTimprov... robots and comedy, probably a great combination. 'Cept, the robots wouldn't be involved with this one. I see a new side project for 1515, MorTorq, also. Man those guys on MorTorqTV are hilarious.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Dave,

May 6, 2007, a day that will live in then hearts of many in Arizona. The KK store will reopen in Mesa, Arizona! Dave, it is safe to return to the Arizona Regional!

Ken

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

When i was down there i, me and ken had a certain strategy set up for if we were going to pick the chickens (Who were very high on our list if certain things happened) and i was gonna yell to the people in the stand and tell them we were having chicken for lunch. But the pig farmer got a giggle outta me

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

So who won each division? Did I miss the announcement?

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

how is every ones teams doing this year in overdrive 2008

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

I think the contest needs to go to the regionals, too. If anyone saw L.A. selections...

Is it still on for this year?

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

A little bit of an odd place to post this isn't it?

and Eric, I'd say the contest can continue as long as the thread isn't locked :D (Unless someone disagrees)

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Haha, i loved this contest last year. 118 definitely was a winner.

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Sadly, Uper Duck (the superhero rubber duck that picked 1675's alliance in Chicago) went missing on the van ride back to Milwaukee :(

Picker: *holds duck up to ear* "What was that? Oh, the duck wants to invite team 1038"
Pick-ee: "Well, I guess if the DUCK asked us...we accept."

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

well since the sponsor of this was Andy he should decide if he wants to judge it again this year

You up for it Andy?

(I hope he reads this or else it looks like I'm talking to myself)

Re: Championship alliance picking & accepting contest
 

Heck yeah, Sebas... I graciously accept. !!

I will start a new thread on this. I have new gifts this year.

Andy B.