To me gracious professionalism has always differed from the chairmans award. The chairmans seemed to me a way to spread FIRST, and thus gracious professionalism to more people.

To me... "gracious professionalism" is just a phrase used to describe the overall atmosphere of the compeition. It fits nicely in your mouth, and sounds impressive when you talk to people who aren't part of FIRST. There is something satisfying about saying "team 469 graciously accepts".

The true sense of the word is trying to make sure that the best happens for everyone. The underlying factor is trying to help people when you can, and when you can't, trying to make the best of it for them. This is being happy when everything seems to be going wrong, because you're still learning. Just because you don't win, doesn't mean you can't appreciate the joy that another team is feeling because they did.

Someone once said to me "Would anyone even think that Chairman's was the most important award if they didn't tell us so every year?"

I have to say... people would think so, with time. I know I didn't last year. This is something with so many subtleties and underwritten meanings that the reason for gracious professionalism is not immediately apparent. But this year... with personal experience.. I felt better inside watching the cheesy poofs accepting their chairmans than I did watching our final matches. Simply because, with what they've done...more people can feel what I've felt about FIRST. And that's important.

Gracious professionalism is the phrase I use to describe how I feel about all of this.