Monday, May 28, 2007

2007 NSSBC Awards - "De Los Ojos de un Aggie."

Hello Bridge Bums! Did everybody make it home okay? Hopefully, the smog didn't infect everybody with anything really bad. Even us Californians forget how much it sucks until you go down into the concrete jungle that is the Los Angeles area.

So how was the competition? Did we all meet cool people and learn some new ideas for next season? As you all know, anybody earning a trip to the 2008 Nationals will be traveling down to The Swamp in Gainesville at the University of Florida. Sputo and company are going to put up an awesome NSSBC inside the O'Connell Center. Which is home of the 2 time defending NCAA Basketball Champs, the Florida Gators. We here at UC Davis hope you all earn another trip to the NSSBC in 2008.

UC Davis Random Rememberings from the 2007 NSSBC:

*The lovely Citrus Ginger everything in the hotel rooms by Bath and Body Works, never have we smelt so much like Citrus and Ginger.

*The courteous call by Marriott management to keep the noise down before we even made any. Perhaps provoked by someone? Hmm, anybody, anybody? Let's go to the pool! Screw you Marriott, controlling bastards!

*If you're looking for an ego boost, don't weigh yourself with the NSSBC scales.

*Hearing about the huge gash in the calf suffered by a Badger Builder. 14 stitches, that's a new high for Steel Bridge injuries. Can anybody top that? We sure can't, even with all the dovetails on the Bridge.

*The Crack Load Testing Squad on Saturday, including the "Dickhead"??? ;-)

*The Jolly Jug Liquor Store is way too shady to buy anything there.

*Beams can still fail under 2600 lbs. of load.

*There is a shortage of plywood for Northridge contractors at the moment.

*A lot of SBT's still have crappy support from their Civil Departments.

*Don't stop to eat in Coalinga.

*There's an advisor from NDSU originally from Egypt.

Now to the 2007 Awards, along with some silly commentary along the way…

Let's get the formalities out of the way first shall we?


AWARDS THAT ACTUALLY MEAN SOMETHING

1st Place Overall - North Dakota State University
It's Déjà vu all over again, as the Bison, who are the only University to win the NSSBC more than once, outdo themselves and become the first Steel Bridge Team to go Back-to-Back! The balls out lightweight design proved to be the biggest factor, as NDSU took home top honors in lightness (by a pretty wide margin in 30.5 lbs under LTU) at 116.5 lbs, and Efficiency at $947,500. Their construction team, including one temporary pier and one hobbling fellow with a bum ankle, put up a good time with 4 builders, about 4:58. We Aggies were half hoping they'd stick to their regional run, but they corrected everything and put in a legal run that was nice and clean. Great job and Congrats to North Dakota State for their 5th National Steel Bridge Title!

2nd Place Overall - University of California, Davis
Back in the Top 3! We're nothing short of stoked here in Davis for our effort this year. Our Assembly Team was comprised of completely new blood for the second year in a row, and despite the inherent tension at Nationals, we didn't commit a single penalty. No individual awards this season, but we did nab a close 4th in Efficiency at $1.045M just behind the very impressive all encompassing circular tubing design by the Lafayette Leopards. Super big groovy congrats to the Chrome Crew who, with the exception of the kick ass Texas Longhorns, put together their 44 member truss more economically than anybody else at Northridge.

3rd Place Overall - University of Wisconsin
Badgers in the 3 spot for the second straight season! Consistent is all you can say about Wisconsin. Year after year, bridge after bridge, they always come prepared and do well in all facets of the competition, INCLUDING…Display! For once, this years' Display winners actually made some friggin' sense! Wisconsin takes home first place in Display with their incredibly mirror like shine job. Plenty to look at on the deck as well, it was really a cool bridge and poster to lay your eyes on. The 5-man assembly squad were fast, furious and downright all business. Even despite the tiny mishap, they take home 9th for Economy. Efficiency may has well have been the same as us Aggies as they finished in 5th at $1.0675M. On Wisconsin!

SUBJECTIVE AWARDS

BEST TOOLS AND MOST INTERESTING TECHNIQUES DURING ASSEMBLY

A ton of people were either using temporary piers or counterweights or even a combination. The coolest counterweight has to go to Wisconsin, however, as it served two purposes, one to steady the pier set early, and then moved up to balance the deck assembly. Nice work Badgers. Grooviest Piers go to SFSU, nothing says "construct me" like a bright circular yellow Pacman looking temporary pier. Most "UC Davisesque" temporary pier goes to Lafayette. It was a sitting stool with the legs cut off I believe, something we'd probably do. Isn't it funny how some temporary tools you use to get a good practice in end up becoming the tool at the competition? Technique-wise, the deck toss of Southern Poly was awesome…and risky, but it worked for them. They had a 3 member deck assembly coming out, the two builders spread their arms out like a wingspan and cleared the revetment with a builder on each side of it, then flung it across to the builder on the other side laterally. It was cool to watch. We also gotta give props to Kansas State's use of the truss to act as a temporary pier. It was like was like watching the Carquinez Bridge go up a few years ago. Steel Willie set up their piers and trusses using counterweights, then hung chord/lateral assemblies down from the truss and laid their deck across the laterals like a suspension bridge. It was definitely something you don't see usually.

CLEANEST FABRICATION

Looking for clean lines, clean welds, maybe a nice paint job, just plain clean and cherry, that's what's required here:

UC irvine
Clemson
Lakehead
Georgia Tech
UC
San Diego
Wisconsin
SUNY
Canton
Lawrence Tech
Florida

MILEAGE AWARD

Talked with a dude from Delaware, and they drove from Delaware, whether or not MIT, Merrimack or UConn can top that is unknown, but the award goes to Delaware.

SHINIEST BRIDGE AWARD

WD-40 and a nice buff pad was the secret apparently…Wisconsin

BEST DECKS

Depth and style, function and aesthetic, some combine both, some just have good depth and are connected very well.

Lafayette - the big pegs are a great idea.
NDSU - The shear lag beam proved to work, Triple pinned. You may see a pin variation next season for UC Davis. Talking with the NDSU guys, it was a tough decision in making this deck, especially after the LSU issue in
Salt Lake City.
Lakehead - double angled, clean, tight bolt connections.
Cal - the box deck proved to be very stiff this season, or maybe it was the double tubed truss like
Lafayette had too.
Florida - Strong box deck, lock bolts, good stuff from the 2008 NSSBC Host.

Georgia Tech - Did anybody else think the folded web deck was really awesome? This was something that looked really good and had a lot of stiffness.
Minnesota - Dizeeeeep!

BEST MOHAWK

San Francisco State

SOMETHING NEW AWARD

UCSD
Georgia Tech (Beam Web)

DOH! AWARD

Wisconsin
San Francisco State

BEST PAINT

North Florida - Chameleon paint or something.
Cal - Calmouflauge
UC Irvine
UC
San Diego
Idaho
Lakehead

MILLER TIME AWARD

Youngstown
UC Davis

MOST MISSED

The Alaskans
Hawai'i
2007
Deep South qualifier Mississippi State

BEST STEEL BRIDGE WEBSITES (NSSBC NOT REQD)

Wisconsin (though slipping a little bit this season)
NDSU

Florida
Texas
Wyoming
Portland State
NJIT

MOST IN NEED OF A DECENT/UPDATED WEBSITE

SUNY Canton
Lakehead

Lafayette
Georgia Tech
Southern Poly

Lawrence Tech
Idaho
UC Irvine
Mizzou

BEST NEWCOMERS

San Francisco State
Geneva College
MIT

BIGGEST SURPRISES

Lafayette
Texas (best Truss Economy 2007)

BEST RETURN TO THE NSSBC AFTER A FEW YEARS

Wyoming

MUCHAS CHICAS AWARD

NYCC of Technology

SPEEDY GONZALEZ AWARD

Youngstown
Honorable Mention: SUNY
Canton for Trusses

BEST OF THE WEST

UC Davis

BEST OF THE EAST

Lafayette College

BEST OF THE MIDDLE

North Dakota State

BEST INTERNATIONAL (a.k.a. Canada)

Lakehead

BEST OF WISCONSIN

Wisconsin

BEST STEEL BRIDGE CONFERENCES OVERALL

Midwest (1 + 4+18)/3 = 7.67
Mid-Pacific (2+9+19)/3 = 10
Tex-Mex (6+17)/2 = 11.5 (Somebody please let them do Regionals in February!!!)

Carolinas (10+15)/2 = 12.5
Southeast (12+16+22)/3 = 16.67

CRAZY CROWD AWARD

There to break the tension and remind us all that we're still in college. This award is given to the ones who support their team the best at construction.

Florida
NJIT

THE BANQUET BOCA AWARD

We may have to start measuring this one in beers...
Hands down it's
San Francisco State (way in the back corner!)

ENGINEERING HOTTIE AWARD

NYCC of Technology
NJIT

Texas A & M
Minnesota

(All Californians were excluded of course)

SAUSAGE FACTORY AWARD

SUNY CANTON - complete with a fella who looks like an outfielder for the Oakland A's.

MOST LIKELY TO KICK ASS NEXT YEAR

Florida NDSU
UC Davis
Lafayette
Texas SUNY Canton
Cal Wisconsin Clemson
Watch out for SF State!

Congrats to all the 2007 Steel Bridge Teams for a great season. Thanks again to CSU Northridge for putting up with all of us. Great year y'all! Until the Rules come out this summer! Peace.

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