Alliance Invitation Phrase

[Darbus]

The times I got to accept an invitation to be on an alliance, I always said, "Team 751 has done the math, and would love to save the world with these teams."

[April_robo]

Originally Posted by BigJack

It's cheesy, but I always loved when teams make some pun off their name. I know The Foley Freeze asks people to "come chill with them" and I'm pretty sure Bedford Express makes some kind of "on track" pun, but I might be mistaken.

I love when teams do this. It is a great way to relieve some of the stress that comes with alliance selection and it's fun.

[Danny Diaz]

Yeah, 95% of the teams will "Graciously Invite" or "Graciously Accept" and that's just emotionally painful to hear. Of course, those are likely the same people who think it's acceptable to scream "Robot" while moving a robot through the pits. My team and I came up with ways we wish teams would accept:

Walk slowly to the captain, and "Glacially Accept".
Dance onto the field like a ballerina, and "Gracefully Accept"
Run out to the captain and give 'em a big bear hug, and "Gratefully Accept."
Bounce out onto the field giggling and screeching and "Gleefully Accept"
Have glowsticks in your outfit and "Glowingly Accept"
I think the Dapper Dans (1801) have "Humbly accepted" before.

Things my teams has said:

"We've got your back!"
"We're with you all the way."
"Let's rock it" / "Let's Do this!"
"We accept."

-Danny

[E Dawg]

My personal all-time favorite:

"Team 159 would love to play with you."

[Kris Verdeyen]

The eight commandments of alliance selection:

1. Have a list
2. Have a list
3. Don't use the word "gracious" or "graciously" anywhere.
4. Don't list your sponsors ("on behalf of NASA, the Human fund, and Famous Original Ray's Pizza, we'd like to ask Theodore Roosevelt's Disco Haircut to join our alliance")
5. If you're scared to talk into the mic, keep it simple. "We'd love to".
6. If you're not, ham it up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbBx-bqUBhQ
7. If you're going to choose to form your own alliance(what's declining?), people will boo. Stay strong. You presumably know what you're doing.
8. This is the last part of the competition weekend where the drama is accessible and personal to all of the teams. It's ok if it's fun.

[EricWilliams]

Do yourself and everyone else a favor and skip proclaiming yourself "gracious" in any action. That's for others to determine.

Recognizing one or two MAJOR sponsors (in the form of "Team xxxx, backed by/powered by/along with/whatever you want...") seems to me to be extremely classy and very appropriate.

And most importantly, as always: have fun with it! You've earned that right by being picked.

At the Wisconsin Regional, 192 (GTR) accepted the Alliance #8 invitation "with the passion of 1000 burning suns". The alliance must have been agreed upon and rehearsed because the 2nd pick, 1675 (UPS), couldn't muster up 1000 burning suns but promised "to deliver". It was pretty awesome all around. The crowd loved it.

[BigJ]

Originally Posted by EricWilliams

At the Wisconsin Regional, 192 (GTR) accepted the Alliance #8 invitation "with the passion of 1000 burning suns". The alliance must have been agreed upon and rehearsed because the 2nd pick, 1675 (UPS), couldn't muster up 1000 burning suns but promised "to deliver". It was pretty awesome all around. The crowd loved it.

Not quite rehearsed, we usually just tend to make some dumb UPS joke

[EricWilliams]

Originally Posted by Libby K

If another alliance captain declines, that is their right. Don't boo.
Seriously. I've seen this happen so many times!
"Team XXX declines" booOOOOOOooOOOOOO.
They're well within their rights to form their own alliance if they so choose.

I wonder how many of those "boo"s are actually just "ooo"s. For many people, is surprising to see a team turn down an offer to ally with a higher ranked team. I'm sure there have been "boo"s, though, and you're right: booing is almost never appropriate at a FIRST event.

[Kpchem]

Originally Posted by EricWilliams

I wonder how many of those "boo"s are actually just "ooo"s. For many people, is surprising to see a team turn down an offer to ally with a higher ranked team. I'm sure there have been "boo"s, though, and you're right: booing is almost never appropriate at a FIRST event.

In my experience, the first time a team is declined it is generally a quiet, hushed "ooo" that goes through the crowd with a little murmur. But I have been at an event before where the #1 seed was declined by 3 or 4 seeded teams. The last team that declined definitely received a "boo" from a good portion of the crowd.

On the topic, I generally use/see "Gratefully accept" and "Respectfully decline" outside of the more creative options being discussed here.

[loyal]

Booing it not cool. I think a bit of that comes from friends and family that are not used to the events. If and when it happens explain to them why we don't do it.

[JustPlyZ]

I notice almost every team says "graciously accepts" You're not Graciously accepting any more at this point since everyone is saying it.

What my team representative said this year was
"We accept, 2386's friend request".
After he listed our sponsors and everything.
Everyone had a good laugh about it!

[Qbot2640]

Half of our team watched "Talladega Nights" on the way to DC...so when invited, our Captain replied "If you can shake it...we can bake it!"

[Neima]

My team made me say " team 3082 has read and fully agrees to the terms and conditions of this alliance". When I was in line I thought of saying but did not say " ill answer you BUT FIRST LET ME TAKE A SELFIE". It would have been funny but I feel it would be a tad but disrespectful

[Monochron]

They actually handed out a "script" at the NC regional mandating what your lines were when inviting and accepting. The word "gracious" was (I believe) in both the acceptance and declination.

[Oblarg]

Originally Posted by Monochron

They actually handed out a "script" at the NC regional mandating what your lines were when inviting and accepting. The word "gracious" was (I believe) in both the acceptance and declination.

The script was goofy, but even with it someone still managed to list off all of their sponsors during the picks. Ugh.