Strangest display of team spirit

[Koko Ed]

OK I'm going to be the total wet blanket here.
FIRST is in a constant struggle to get funding, sponsors and school support. So how do you think a urinal cake with a team number (or a corporate or school logo) is going to over in the boardroom or the PTA meeting. Do you think they are going to want to be affilited with FIRST?
It may seem like "harmless fun" but step back and take a look at the big picture. It's doing alot more damage than you think. Alot of people have put way to much hard work and dedication into this institution to just let it be trashed like that.

[KTorak]

Whats wrong with things in urinals? I'm pretty sure O remeber seeing many Anti-Drug campaign advertisements in urinals...and I still do, it depends on where you go. I have to say, the cakes are intersting/creative. I laughed when I read about it.

[Arefin Bari]

This thread looks like its turing into another arguement thread where everyone's coming back to prove their point. I have to go with koko ed's comment, because most of the time FIRST expects us to be professional.

... Moderators, if you think this thread is going out of hand, please close it. Thanks. Since this thread is simply putting down team 647.

[xzvrw2]

Ok if you think that this isn't funny and non-harmful then there is something rong. did any body get hurt? no. did some one use their mind to do something creative and funny that people would notice? yes. there is no harm in that.

[Vin211]

Back in the day 1999. Way before some. We (237) once wrapped someone up in aluminum foil. We thought it was a great idea at the time, but who knew it was 90 degree + outside the pit area.

[Kevin Sevcik]

I dunno. I find it amusing. I wouldn't have thought of it, and probably wouldn't have done it, but I can't see the harm in it, really. It's just a bit of creative advertising.

[KarenH]

Originally Posted by xzvrw2

I don't see why every one is making a big stink about this.

Ummm...don't bathroom activities normally stink?

... they won the imagery award, and i think that at least one of the judges would have noticed it at least once...

I don't think the judges necessarily use the same bathrooms as the teams, seeing as they often have their own VIP facilities. Even if the male judges saw these items, I expect their opinions would have been as varied as this thread.

My favorite at the SoCal Regional was Team Hyper's three-headed "mascot," or whatever it was supposed to be. (I watched the team screw two mannequin heads into the shoulders--really strange.) So they had this guy's real head in the middle, and two weirdly made-up female looking heads on either side, plus the vividly colored costume.

And poor Mark Leon, after using the word "math" just about every other sentence, would make a mistake and call this creature "two-headed!" l.o.l. To his credit, he did correct himself. I think he was very tired.

[CyberWolf_22]

I am the team captain of team 647; yes, I am admitting that my team put the urinal cakes in the men’s restroom. We did bring our own new, unused, urinal cakes to the event and a student member carved our number into them. (Making our shop smell very good). The intentions of this were humor and advertising and to get people to remember our number. It also gave server of our team members something to do between ship and our regional. Obviously, this worked and if some people took offensive to what I find as a harmless act of humor and advertising I apologize. In addition, for the record our team mentors did know of this and encouraged the creativity of the team. Along with our custodians, help acquired the team the urinal cakes to accomplish this feat of advertisement. We did win Imagery at LSR but I would not put the urinal cakes as any part of the reason for this. We won imagery because of our camo net tent, digital camo pants, camo robot, and tank cart puller. Our military theme fits perfectly with our sponsors who our OTC/TESCO who tests military equipment before it gets out to the soldiers.

In summery, were sorry if this offended anyone but this seemed like a very creative and harmless way to get our number to other teams at our regional.

[Tazlikesrobots]

This was very cleaver! Team 647 is a great team and I thought is was funny. The big question is how did Reliant management react to the situation (hopefully they were ok with it).

Altough I would have used a bullseye!

[Kartik Singla]

I too would like to defend team 647. Personally, the competition itself is more about having fun than competing. I m sure the corporations, teachers, students, spectators and staff come with the same mindset. Furthermore, doing stupid (but responsible) stunts adds more teenage flavor to the competition.

[CyberWolf_22]

One more thing I would like to add was that after our initial team discussion of this subject one of our team members decided to become Urinal Cake Captain. He took on this project and through it gained valuable leadership skills. He made sure everything on this project got done and he made it a reality.

[Mrs. Gibson]

As an old fuddy duddy, I don't have any problem with the urinal cake idea. At Chesapeake the RAGE team had an entire basket of health and sanitary products at the sinks in the ladies bathroom. They had bandages, lotion, hand sanitizer, and more and no one took offense at the advertisement for cleanliness and how it would impact their team image. I guess it is all in the placement and the idea that you guys actual pee on top of urinal cakes that some find offensive. Well, as someone who occasionally has been in a unisex bathroom and lives with three males, any attempt at making your toilet facilities more sanitary is welcomed, in my opinion. Now, if I could just teach them all to wash their hands!

I thought the team that trotted around the arena with the half coconut shells; like they were from Monty Python, was great and unique. My 12 year old, visiting on Saturday, thought it hilarious.