Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

Here's a perspective that I look from -
I've been involved with the university where I work for 25 years. Departmental names can change and change again and change again and then - return to their original name. Office names can change. We changed ours several years ago because the original name was causing confusion. Websites change/ update/stay current with the latest information (or should) - so they can promote the university - accurately and efficiently. One of the first changes that occurs when a staff person receives a title change, is a new order of business cards with the correct title. We work on an international level and we have a reputation that we value, market, and promote. As much as possible, everyone throughout the university and its branches, tries very hard to work together to promote the vision, the goals, and the mission of this educational institution. This includes its events.

Some traditional names can take a while to change, that is true, and depending on the impact or lack of - on the scope of the mission - depends on the amount of effort and expenditure put forth to push for the change.

Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

First of all, the only thing I hate more than people calling the Championships Nationals is people yelling at people calling the Championships Nationals. Everyone knows why they do it. Yeah, I still do it when I'm typing quickly too or being lazy, and yeah when out in public you should be more careful to use the correct terminology.

You all know, there actually is an easy way to fix this terminology. It seems to me that "Regional" is starting to become an outdated term as well as Nationals did. As Regionals have grown, and now we have "Superregionals" now, as well as having competitions that are transnational, it's obvious that "Regional" doesn't adequately define some competitions anymore. So how about this:

GTR in Toronto, Brazil, Israel, and New Zealand should be heretofore known as "National" competitions (And maybe other humongous regionals such as Boston and Great Lakes). The Brazillian Robotics Nationals, the Israeli Robotics Nationals, The New Zealand Robotics Nationals.

Then since you're forced to use the term "Nationals" to describe a currently existing competition, people will stop using it to describe the Transnational Championship*. It's just a psychological trick.


*Idea #2: If you like "nationals" so much, start forcing yourself to call them "transnationals" or "internationals"

Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

Seems like every year we go through this... oh well once again...
As I am somewhat new to the FIRST program I have not know it as other than Championship or Champs for short.

One thing I do call it is... The best thing happening in Big A in April! :D
No matter what others call it. :rolleyes:

To quote Shakespeare; What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet; ;)

-p :cool:

Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

I remember a time when FIRST held their season ending event at Disney World.

It was a happy time, it was a great time, I had fun, I competed, I felt accepted.

Nationals to me is a specific age in FIRST history. Think about Mickey Mouse, ESPN, Rule Books with less pages than the robot section of this years manual.

I still on occasion call it Nationals because i like to reminisce of those happier times, Not because I am ignorant or lazy (btw thats real polite ;) )

heck I don't even know what Old Skool is and apparently neither does my spell check.

*heads back to his rocking chair*

Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

Sorry, but when most of your mentors where around when it was called nationals and they dont change, it rubs off on the students.

Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

The National Football League is not open to all countries at all. Hence the name.

What about us poor people at Waterloo?? :P:D (we are the only local Waterloo team)

Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

lol. Jane has yelled at us on 418 multiple times for calling it "Nationals." Personally I don't give a rat's patootie. It's an event put on by a private organization who has decided to call it whatever they want and can change its name whenever they want. They control who gets in and how they get in, in a fashion similar but not similar to other events (like sporting events) who use similar terminology. I see "Nationals" or the "Championships" for FRC as just another regional, only some people are "invited" (regional winners, CA winners) others are "grandfathered" (Hall of Fame plus first teams), and others get in nearly randomly (Ladder entries). It's not the same as FLL, where all teams have won the Champion's Award at their championship tournaments. I don't even know how FTC works in that respect.

It's up to FIRST to decide what they're going to call it, and I have no problem with that (not that it would make any difference if I did). But if I just decide to call it the "Dean Kamen Atlanta Super-Regional" then that's just how it's going to be.

-Danny

Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

Well now aren't you special!

To some it may not be an a big issue whether it's called Nationals or Championship, but let's try and consider why some people get so worked up about this. If one is to look at the definitions of "National" you'll find that most definitions refer to a single nation. This is what upsets many people. Since 1998, this culminating event of the FIRST Robotics Competition has involved multiple countries. Whether intended or not, by calling the competition "Nationals", you are inadvertantly disrespecting the efforts and accomplishments of all those teams from other countries who are attending the event.

I understand that old habits die hard, and I understand the mentality of "It's just a name", but please try and consider why people get upset about these sorts of things. I'm never going to be the person who bites someone's head off about accidentally calling it Nationals, but it's fairly irritating to see that someone clearly understands how he could be seen as disrespecting someone, but doesn't "give a rat's patootie". So, if I decide to call that behaviour asinine, "then that's just how it's going to be."

Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

No, not really. I just have a problem with calling it the "Championship Tournament," for all reasons I've already enumerated. It's not REALLY a "Championship" because almost literally anybody can get in if they can pay for it. If they called it an "Invitational" then I would have less of a problem with it. But, again, whatever - it's not my competition. I just pay to play.

-Danny

Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

I usually call it either "The International Championship Event" or "The World Championship Event" when I'm telling non-FIRST people about it, because it is a better explanation. In oral speech, I use "the Championship" or "Atlanta". In shorthand, I use "CMP" or "ATL". I think we should start calling it "Worlds" for short, since that's what it is and it's easy to say.

Even though this is only my third season in FIRST, I'm used to name changes and I enforce the proper name in written text, published materials, and whenever I hear it. Our team has competed in the regional held in Hartford, CT since our rookie year in 2003, but if you look at our banners from the past three years, they all say different things- "2006 UTC New England Regional", "2007 UTC Connecticut Regional", "2008 Connecticut Regional". It took the team a while to adjust to the different names, and some people insist on calling it the "Hartford Regional" after the city it's held in.

Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

I would call it championships.. although some teams do get in "randomly" The winners of the events have won everything, therefore are champions. Its the biggest event to win, therefore should be treated as such

That and if the media were around, which would sound like a bigger deal "National Champion" or "World Champion"?? (this is in a media sense only!)

Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

that makes alot of sense i think that im going to do that now. and are internationals always going to be in georgia?

Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

FIRST has designated names for the events held in spring for FLL, FTC and FRC: FIRST Robotics Competition Championship, FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship, FIRST LEGO League World Festival. That's what should be used, to provide consistency in our messages to the media, etc., and to be aligned with what FIRST markets the events as.

And the location of the Championship event (as FIRST calls the entire event) changes - in recent memory it has been held at DisneyWorld in Orlando, FL, at the Astrodome in Houston, TX, and most recently at the Georgia Dome/World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA.

Re: It's Championship, Not Nationals
 

FVC changed to FTC this year. Many people still called it "Vex" - in fact, CD still calls the sub-forum Vex. (Note to mods - need to start a FTC forum and move threads accordingly. A big task, methinks.)

Danny, will you have no problem next year if FTC is still called Vex? Or if the new FRC controller is mistakenly attributed to IFI? I can see those mistakes happening for several years to come, to the consternation of LEGO and NI. Why shouldn't this community be as sensitive toward our international teams and compatriots?

Does it matter a rat's patootie in the long run? No. But there's no need to intentionally disrespect the feelings of others.