Somber alliance selections

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by EricH

I think we need a return of the creative alliance selection contest.

Kill two birds with one stone (the other being the overuse of "graciously accept"--see thread linked from the first post of the linked thread).

DC 2012 was prretty creative but my favortie was the team member who came after being picked and simple said "I have nothing creative to say, so I'll just say yes."
The audience got a good chuckle out of that.

[Basel A]

I don't mean to be a party-pooper, but I watch alliance selections for the alliance selections. I do appreciate a clever selection or response, but in my opinion, alliance selections really, really don't need to be "spiced up." In the course of an event, alliance selections are pivotal and that's what makes them fascinating.

[CalTran]

118 usually does some special thing. In 2011, they made a "magic" e watt lightbulb that they'd bring up and power on when they accepted. 3928 at CowTown ThrowDown answered my request by saying "Neutrinos usually don't bond with things..."

[Oblarg]

Originally Posted by EricH

I think we need a return of the creative alliance selection contest.

Kill two birds with one stone (the other being the overuse of "graciously accept"--see thread linked from the first post of the linked thread).

I swear, the next time I hear a regional volunteer gripe about "graciously accept" during the driver meeting (yes, this happened at one of our regionals), I am personally going to go to every pit and ask every team to ensure that their member on the field finds a way to use those words during the selection ceremony.

Watching the people with this unreasonable aversion to a harmless tradition of a short phrase of slightly-questionable English squirm in discomfort is far more entertaining than any other "we accept" message could possibly be.

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by Oblarg

I swear, the next time I hear a regional volunteer gripe about "graciously accept" during the driver meeting (yes, this happened at one of our regionals), I am personally going to go to every pit and ask every team to ensure that their member on the field finds a way to use those words during the selection ceremony.

Watching the people with this unreasonable aversion to a harmless tradition of a short phrase of slightly-questionable English squirm in discomfort is far more entertaining than any other "we accept" message could possibly be.

I take it you also enjoy the "tradition" of yelling "Robot!"?

The reasoning behind not using "graciously accept" is stated here.

[Oblarg]

Originally Posted by CalTran

The reasoning behind not using "graciously accept" is stated here.

Amusing/interesting that the OP in that very thread found it fitting to add the qualifier, "just getting caught up in semantics."

[EricH]

I believe that the ORIGINAL use of "graciously accept" was that a team was originally intending to say "gratefully accept", but accidentally substituted "graciously". This was back in 1999 or 2000 or so.

Ever since then, probably about 90% of ALL FRC acceptances have used "graciously accept", and a fair number of the declines are quite similar for some reason. It gets really old after a while.

[Nate Laverdure]

Originally Posted by Oblarg

Amusing/interesting that the OP in that very thread found it fitting to add the qualifier, "just getting caught up in semantics."

Semantics (the study of meaning applied to human verbal communication) is incredibly important when trying to accomplish one of the primary tasks of real-world, day-to-day engineering: clearly disseminating technical information across noisy channels.

[Oblarg]

Originally Posted by Nate Laverdure

Semantics (the study of meaning applied to human verbal communication) is incredibly important when trying to accomplish one of the primary tasks of real-world, day-to-day engineering: clearly disseminating technical information across noisy channels.

The only objections I've ever heard over "graciously accept" are from people who clearly know what was meant and are upset that it was not communicated according to their set of prescriptive rules, not from people who legitimately found it confusing.

[avanboekel]

Originally Posted by BigJ

Our gag this year is at 13:00... Although he did say "graciously accept"

Yeah, we got a kick out of that one

[runneals]

Originally Posted by CalTran

118 usually does some special thing. In 2011, they made a "magic" e watt lightbulb that they'd bring up and power on when they accepted. 3928 at CowTown ThrowDown answered my request by saying "Neutrinos usually don't bond with things..."

We did this at KC this year too: http://youtu.be/QFHMrHR_mIg?t=5m1s "If Neutrinos had an electrical charge, we'd be excited to be on your alliance... We accept"

[cmrnpizzo14]

As a practicing magician I was considering having Angry Erik pick 4 cards out of a deck to determine who we would pick. Unfortunately, our picks were not determined until several minutes prior to selections and I did not feel comfortable enough with our picks to try and get the trick ready instead I focused on figuring out who we would actually be picking.

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by cmrnpizzo14

As a practicing magician I was considering having Angry Erik pick 4 cards out of a deck to determine who we would pick. Unfortunately, our picks were not determined until several minutes prior to selections and I did not feel comfortable enough with our picks to try and get the trick ready instead I focused on figuring out who we would actually be picking.

Just make it so the other 3 teams don't exist. That way if you mess up, you look like a different kind of stupid.

[cmrnpizzo14]

Originally Posted by Gregor

Just make it so the other 3 teams don't exist. That way if you mess up, you look like a different kind of stupid.

Hahaha, not quite what I meant though. He would pick 3, 9, 2, and 8 in that order for Neutrino's just to give an example. Or Ace, Ace, Ace, 4 for Simbotics.

[rachelholladay]

I can't say I've brought a fake pony out, but as drive captain I did normally do puns. Ex. "We'd like to make a storm with Team 1917 Tempest" (Bayou 2012) and "We'd like to Breakaway from the pack with 3937 Breakaway" (Razorback 2013). They are just about as cheesy as the ones the judges use when announcing awards.