Team Name Confusion
 

Hi, this is a personal annoyance. My team name is 'Temper Metal'. However, it often shows up at any event we go to as 'TM'. Why would it show our initials instead of our name? I suppose it doesn't matter, but it is just a bit annoying.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

Hey, it's better than people asking 340 is doing (GRR), and then when I say I'm mentoring 973, they say "Oh, no idea who that is".

Up through the 2006 season we were still called orange tide; something we hadn't put in TIMS since 2004, so, they can be strange.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

That would be an issue when you signed up in TIMS (Team Information Management System) Whatever you signed up for when you registered for your first event is how it shows up in the system, and thus on subsequent announcer/mc sheets/scripts for awards etc.

If you want it changed you could 1) Go into TIMS and make sure it's correct. Then 2) after you've done that, make sure someone goes to the MC/announcer of the regional, and make sure they know that it's been changed.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

It has been this way every year since we joined. Is it a form we fill out each year? (I don't do the paperwork.)

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

Same for us and 842.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

It took me a while to get that strait.

It annoys me sometimes that ppl call us T-Rex, when our team is T-Rx, but it's just spelled T-Rx as a pun since we are sponcered by a pharmaceutical company

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

Over the years my team has been known as the Blair Robot Project, the Wrenchmen, Blair Robotics Team, etc...

The announcers seem to alternate between the choices... :)

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

George is correct. You are called TM because in the official record, aka the TIMS, that is what is written under "Team Nickname."
If you don't want that to be your team nickname, the main or alternate contact needs to go into the TIMS and change it. If it was the same last year, it means that your main or alternate contact did not update this field for 2008.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

Thanks for the info. I will tell my contact and hopefully he will remember when he fills it out next year.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

How should we pronounce your name, if T-Rx isn't said as T-Rex? And you have a T-Rex as your avatar? :confused: This year, in honor of Overdrive, should we all say "trax" (tracks)?

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

It is pronounced T-Rex, but for the longest time i just said T-Rx. Our team likes nicknames, like last year the announcer called us the "Little Robot Who Could". If you remember our robot, all we could do is drive around and hit the crap out of other robots. It worked though, we made a lot of matches winning matches. Then for some reason introduced us as the Arctic Warriors.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

thats like us and team 68 (a much more famous team than ourselves) both of our nicknames are T3 (Think Tank Tech and Truck Town Thunder), and they always come up to Waterloo (which is our local event) and its always kinda awkward lol

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

One note on team names...

As much fun as it might be to change names and stuff, it can get very confusing for people over the years to keep track of your team as you change the name a lot.

I know that during the competition I normally only catch waht the announcer says. So if your team is called "blah blah" and you decide to change it the next year to "cha cha", I'll get to an event and be like oh, well i guess blah blah didnt come this year...

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

Well everywhere we go our school name is pronounce wrong. Sir Charles at Peachtree will get it right something but he is the only one I can remember.

It is pronounce ARA"B" with a long B. we are not from the middle east.
But life goes on and we laugh about it.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

Thats ok, these last few years the Devil Dawgs (549) have nicknamed our robot "LEW" to thank the "Leominster Educational Workshops" for their support. Well we chant " LEW LEW LEW" during our matches, a few people have commented why we "BOO" our robot..... This one lady even went as far as complaining to the mentors.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

It happens to everyone. Our team is officially registered as the ÜberBots, with an umlaut on the u and the second b capitalized. We write it that way on all our documents, give outs, t-shirts, and that's how it is in TIMS. However, every year, our name is spelled "Uberbots", with no umlaut on the u and the second b not capitalized. It's like that in official program books, other teams spell it that way, etc. We've learned to get used to it. After all, your official team name doesn't make the team, the people on the team and the way you conduct yourselves is what defines you.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

@smurf: typing UberBots with the umlaut is very hard if you dont have a german keyboard, and the keycode is a bit excessive. oh well...

personally i always get galehawks and gaelforce mixed up. heck, i probably mixed the spelling on them too.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

On a similar note, they always pronounce Okemos wrong, it's beginning to border on comedic...

So far I've heard Oh-key-mos
Oh-key-mos

instead of Oh-keh-mis

That and No-vee instead of No-vi (like eye), but that's their battle... ;)

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

One of the announcers at BAE (the one who wasn't Andy Grady) kept having trouble with one of our high school names (Tiverton). It should be pronounced Tiv-er-ton (short i), but he kept saying Tie-ver-ton (long i).

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

Some announcers seem to think that AR is the state abbreviation for Arizona, much to the Bomb Squad's chagrin.

In any case, announcing must be an insanely difficult job, having to try to pronounce a whole bunch of words you've never seen before in front of a whole bunch of people. The best we can do is to get the info right in TIMS, hope they don't turn it into mush, and laugh it off when they do.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

In AZ (the correct abbreviation for Arizona:)), the first two years, both 294 and 330 were there. Both have names starting with "Beach" ("Beach Cities Robotics" and "Beach'Bots", respectively). Usually once on Friday, the announcer (I name no names) would call 294 "Beach'Bots". Only once a year, though...after that, he'd get both right. Funny, he never called 330 "Beach Cities Robotics"... In 2006, right 100% of the time, as I recall.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

Well it might be Frog Force's battle, but they did end up saying "No-Vye" by Saturday, so I guess 503 won that one. ;) Whereas I heard a variety of pronunciations of Okemos - one of which sounded more like Ogemaw.

Least we don't have to listen to Steve Warren try for "Daimler" this year.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

It all depends on the state. Last year when I was announcing up in Wisconsin, I had a heck of a time pronouncing some of those cities. Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, Oconomowoc... but once you get them down it's even more fun when those teams are in the match.

And some advice to avoid name confusion: pick a unique team name. I can't tell you how many times I've heard a team called the robo-somethings. I'd bet money that probably 5 - 10% of the teams in FIRST are robo-somethings. You have to pick a unique team name, something completely random even, to be remembered and stand out.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

There are dozens of "Gearheads"

I have also noticed that "Screaming Eagles" is a popular one.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

A few years ago, the TechnoKats were part of an alliance between teams from Kokomo, Oconomowoc, and Mukwonago. That was interesting, to say the least.

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

Alan,
Would you mind spelling these names phonetically with the emphasis placed where it should be?

I know Kokomo, I can read/think that one but the other two make my brain want to lisp or stumble. Seriously.
And these are names that stem from Native American heritage, yes?

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

I lived in Natchitoches, Louisiana for several years. It is the sister city of Nacogdoches, Texas. I was told at the time that Natchitoches is a French spelling of an Indian name/tribe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchitoches,_Louisiana

Natchitoches sounds like Nakutush but can sound like Nakudish when you get the subtleness down.

Nacogdoches sounds like Naku-doe-shis - no subtleness needed just a bit of twang.

(Sorry for a double post)

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

My high school's team name was actually one of the many Japaneses words for "Dragon" so it was Tatsu, that was always a hard one to pronounce but it really ensured that no one had the same team name as us. The team was from Osceola County in Kissimmee, Florida. Both have seemed to be tongue ties for the MC/Announcers. (If you watch the 2007 Website award presentation you can hear how Osceola is said two different ways in the same sentence :D )

Re: Team Name Confusion
 

I should probably let a native cheesehead reply, but they're probably all broken up about Brett.

Kokomo is just like looks, as it was sung in the Beach Boys song.

Oh - CON - uh - muh - wok, with the last 3 syllables going as fast as possible.

The last I've not heard before, but suspect it's muk - WHAN - uh - go

Gotta love those Pottawatamis and Winnebagos. ;) They're responsible for Kalamazoo too.