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Re: "We Are the Champions" and GP?
Wow! Taking on what seems like the whole FIRST community, including someone with Dave Lavery's credentials, seems more than a little Quixotic. But here goes...
First, a word of advice to people who find this thread ridiculous: Stop Reading! Almost 90 posts later, there appear to be a lot of folks who find the subject worth talking about.
Second, some acknowledgments up front. The playing of this song at FIRST events is not of earth-shattering importance, even in the scope of FIRST issues. Whatever else we conclude, it certainly does not "put the lie to the entire concept of gracious professionalism" in the overwrought rhetoric of the original poster (to whom I happen to have a close personal relationship). Obviously many people like the song and find it a fitting paean to the champions of FIRST events and indeed so many other competitions that we could fairly call it a cliche. But analyze the lyric "No time for losers" dispassionately, and its dissonance with the finest ideals of FIRST is simply inescapable.
On its face, the line has a mocking, denigrating tone. Yes, it is possible to read the words as meaning something else, as many in this thread have tried to do. But listen to the musical figure to which the words are set. It is unmistakably the "Nanny nanny boo boo" taunt of the school yard, rhythmically and tonally. It is also true, as some have pointed out, that the song celebrates many faces of winning, including hard work, perseverance, and overcoming adversity, and these are all virtues that we rightly associate with successful FIRST participation. But in that lyric, repeated as part of the chorus, the ugly face of the taunting victor is an undeniable part of the message.
I have only been associated with FIRST for a couple of years, but I am afraid I may have caught the bug. Certainly one of the things I have found deeply appealing has been the concept and practice of gracious professionalism. In a culture in which taunting, trash-talking, cheating, and trying to find an angle are all accepted parts of competition, the idea of GP seems almost quaint. Dave, Woodie, Dean, and the rest of the FIRST leadership deserve tremendous credit for fostering a FIRST culture in which such an idea can flourish, and the willingness of so many competitors to embrace that ethos gives me hope for our future. Playing "We are the Champions" won't change that, but I do think that it is a betrayal, in a small way, of what we claim to stand for.
Mike Dennis
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