On "graciously" accepting

[Priyadarshy]

how about saying, team 612 is ready to win

or is that un gp

[Astronouth7303]

Today at West Michigan Regional, no one said "graciously accepts".

Personally, I said, "Yes," at the suggestion of an alumnus.

[Justin 188]

gracious
–adjective
1. pleasantly kind, benevolent, and courteous.

Saying "graciously accepts" is grammatically correct, but I agree, that's not an appropriate word to use there. Being "gracious" is only a distinction within the context of competition; when you co-operate it should be a given.

'Gratefully', 'humbly', 'proudly', 'enthusiastically', those are all much better words than 'graciously'.

[Bruce C.]

Team 647, being an Army sponsored team, and having a heavy military influence, has a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for our Alliance picks.

If we're an Alliance Captain, and doing the picking, we always say, "Team 647, The Cyber Wolf Corps, would like to Enlist team XXX."

If being invited by an Alliance, our response is. "Team 647, The Cyber Wolf Corps, is Reporting For Duty."

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Justin 188

gracious
–adjective
1. pleasantly kind, benevolent, and courteous.

Saying "graciously accepts" is grammatically correct, but I agree, that's not an appropriate word to use there. Being "gracious" is only a distinction within the context of competition; when you co-operate it should be a given.

'Gratefully', 'humbly', 'proudly', 'enthusiastically', those are all much better words than 'graciously'.

Well said. Saying "graciously" is a tradition we should lose, as it makes people sound pompous. Whenever I hear it I picture hedonism-bot from Futurama marveling about how wondrous he is to accept.

Still, alliance selection is the brief pause in the chaos, and a clever or funny acceptance phrase keeps the fun part of the competition in the spotlight. Thank you all who put forth the effort to be witty.

[Vaillancourt88]

One for the old-timers:

YOU LIKE US!! YOU REALLY LIKE US!!

Our team strategy--We get asked, we accept. We will give our best effort to any alliance!

[keen101]

Yeah I don't think it's appropriate to say that your team graciously accepts. It should be short, sweet, and to the point.


But, you don't want to decline either. One team did last year at the Colorado regional, and were not allowed to accept another proposal.

[bduddy]

Sort of off topic x2...

-So the point of declining is if you are already in the top 8 (or expect to be)? I had never realized that before-I always just thought it was in the rulebook so the "acceptance" song-and-dance could be at least minimally important. I had no idea anyone ever actually did it...

-In the category of "awkward moments", during the Cal Games this year, we were around 14th and were not at all expecting to even be picked or, much less, have to pick. I, as my team's scouting captain, still managed to collect (most of) our scouting forms, and I was amazed that many of the boxes actually had things written in them; however, any effect this might have had was eliminated when I passed the sheets to the wrong person. Our representative must have been feeling very uncomfortable as she "umm"ed to the microphone, and it must have taken at least 2 minutes of yelling from the stands before she got the message.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by bduddy

-So the point of declining is if you are already in the top 8 (or expect to be)? I had never realized that before-I always just thought it was in the rulebook so the "acceptance" song-and-dance could be at least minimally important. I had no idea anyone ever actually did it...

The rules are that anyone can accept or decline any invitation. HOWEVER, if you decline, you are not eligible to be picked again by anyone. If you are in the top eight, you still pick your own alliance.

I can't think of any episodes where a team outside the top eight declined, except for one where the team had to catch a flight home. (This was way back in the early days of selections.) Most teams just accept.

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by bduddy

-So the point of declining is if you are already in the top 8 (or expect to be)? I had never realized that before-I always just thought it was in the rulebook so the "acceptance" song-and-dance could be at least minimally important. I had no idea anyone ever actually did it...

Yep it happens, the last two years at VCU a team has declined (384 in '06 and 116 in '07). It also has happened at the Championship the last two years (and probably before, I don't remember). In most cases, teams do it because they feel that they can form a more powerful alliance on their own than if they joined with the inviting team. I imagine a team might also decline if their robot was broken and unrepairable, but I have never heard of that happening.

[Tottanka]

Team 1947, has declained an invvitation this year, in order to form a better alliance.

It is quite common actually, i know that also 330 and 1114 did that this year in Atlanta.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Tottanka

It is quite common actually, i know that also 330 and 1114 did that this year in Atlanta.

I think they were hoping to ally...the decline was used to break up that alliance!