THE FRIGGIN' AWARDS!!! V.3.2008

Hola Amigos!!! How we doing out there? The party's friggin' over for another year, aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh, and we were having so much fun!

First off, a thousand times over we wanna thank the University of Florida Gators for hosting the best damn NSSBC we've ever been a part of. The venue was perfect, the immense number of judges was astounding, and we had all the answers we needed by just tapping an orange shirt on the shoulder. Very, very, amazing job UF ASCE, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Also thanks to AISC and ASCE, especially Frank Hatfield, Chromy Rosenburg, John Perucci (did I spell that right?), and the entire NSSBC Rules Committee. It can't be as easy as Bill Maher makes it look coming up with New Rules every year. They handled the questions quite well throughout the season and at Gainesville.

UC Davis Random Rememberings from the 2008 NSSBC:
*Orlando Airport is still on the high-tech, color coded terror alert system, and it was Orange on Memorial Day...ha ha...Orange indeed!
*Cigars taste better in Florida.
*Go to the NSSBC for a stiffness boost.
*Just like Caltrans, it takes 20 PE's an hour to solve an issue in the Rules.
*The banquet facilities at UF are a tad better than they are in Davis.
*You can still beam it baby! Right on Wyoming!
*Bubba Gump's has great shrimp.
*Losing 3 hours sucks. Gaining them back is awesome.
*Check your blind spot.
*Sometimes I wish I was born in the South.
*Gotta make time for the Waffle House.
*Wisconsin hit the Olive Garden too.
*Sleep is always, ALWAYS, an option.

And the 2008 "Ojo de Aggie" Awards go to...

AWARDS THAT ACTUALLY MEAN SOMETHING

1st Place Overall - UC Berkeley
Alright, the Bears and the Ags know this, but did you? Cal is the 4th DIFFERENT University from the Mid-Pacific to win the NSSBC, and all of them in the modern NSSBC era. Nevada-Reno won in 1999, Chico State in 2000, UC Davis in 2005 and now Cal in 2008. No other conference comes close to that kind of diversified talent. Now, to the Cal design. It certainly is flattering to have an enitre SBT army tattoo "BEAT DAVIS" to their brains, and you certainly can't say it didn't work for 'em. The Bears put together one of the most beautiful and functional Bridges ever at the NSSBC. The truss intricacy was flat out astounding, and the use of "Lock Chords", an idea we developed in 2007, or maybe Cal developed it on their own independently, proved to be an original in fabrication and function, as the Bridge acted essentially like a customized arch moment frame. Not only that, it left the Cal Bears able to assemble each side of their Bridge in only 5 assemblies, that's right, just five. The Team of Destiny in 2008, give it up for the Berkeley Bears, great job guys and gals!

2nd Place Overall - University of Florida
The Surpriser of 2008. Hosting the NSSBC and putting together a phenomenal Bridge...the most notable effort of the 2008 NSSBC season. After hearing that Southern Poly had licked 'em pretty good in Orlando, we weren't sure how good the Gators were really going to be...but obviously you can't overlook a solid program like UF. Utilizing a highly efficient 3V truss that was light and stiff, the 6 member Gator Crew had a solid run utilizing counterweights and a ton of crowd support. Talk about wanting the spotlight, the Gators earned it this season. Huge Congrats to UF.

3rd Place Overall - UC Davis
Oh man, total Chrocial Distortion, we were so close to nipping UF for 2nd, but we just weren't quite fast enough. While we would've loved for Mid-Pac to go ONE-TWO this season, we're very pleased with our efforts. Realizing that the Texas Fatigue Failure, the Badger Issue, and the NDSU Mass Stoppage helped us considerably, we feel very fortunate to again be in the Top 3 for the second year in a row. We credit the spread truss to Calmouflauge of 2007, and Chico State of 2006. Seeing the stiffness results and potential for increased speed without truss braces opened our eyes last summer, as did the box deck. Choosing to double the deck under the loading grate was a highly debated issue, but it analyzed well if not better in stiffness than a full box, and it wasn't as heavy or cumbersome in the connection department. Also, big congrats to the Assembly Crew, for the third straight year, we've had no returning Assembly Team members, and for you Ags to keep it penalty free at Nats is a big, big deal. We're happy, we're tired, we're naturally friggin' wired...GO AGS!

SUBJECTIVE AWARDS

BEST TOOLS AND MOST INTERESTING TECHNIQUES DURING ASSEMBLY

Most folks were in the temporary pier department...we analyzed it out and figured for a 5 person crew, it'd only cost us 5 seconds...so we decided to use it for a couple of moves to rid ourselves of them nasty counterweights...not to mention we'd have to fly counterweights across the country, talk about very not thrifty. The most functional counterweights go to Florida and Lawrence Tech. Double your pleasure with this year's batch of designs, handling Dos Libres proved to work for the Gators. As for temporary piers, Clemson's member bucket on the TP was pretty cool. Wisconsin's and UMKC's cross bar across the top of the TP was stretching the Rules thin but proved to be worth it. Grooviest TP's go to Texas and the University of New Orleans. Quick shout out to Seattle University for their use of the tubed "Roach Wrenches"...very nice! Other than that, not too much going on, when you've got two barges the tools start to thin out...Wisconsin also had a nice use of the extended drills for some last minute drilling by the land people. Any other cool tools that you think should be mentioned, send pics to chrome.ollie

CLEANEST FABRICATION
Clean everything, be it professionally fabricated or otherwise:
Texas
Iowa State
Cal
Georgia Tech
NJIT
SUNY Canton
Penn State
Hawai'i
Wyoming
UCSD

MILEAGE AWARD
Hawai'i and Alaska, Fairbanks. Well done making it to Gainesville!

SHINIEST BRIDGE AWARD
The Badgers yet again...

BEST DECKS
Cal - Cutting the shear lag on the box deck by placing a "Rules Shelf" to the inside was brilliant.
Texas - The full monty on ye ole box deck. Small tubes and small bays of triangles kept it stiff.
UMKC - Keeping it deep under chord proves to be a stiff design choice.
Florida - Big box tube where you need it.
Wisconsin - The engineered lateral truss in the proper locations was a nice design decision, definite weight saver.

BEST MOHAWK
Alaska Fairbanks...woulda been NDSU, but somebody had a change of heart.

SOMETHING NEW AWARD
Cal (lock chords, tapered space truss)
Iowa State (dovetail clusters)

DOH! AWARD
Texas
Wisconsin
NDSU
UCSD

BEST PAINT
Hawai'i - Display snubbed!
Iowa State - Green powder coat
SD School of Mines - Raider Nation powder coat
Georgia Tech - Gold is never old!
SUNY Canton - Always classic!
Missouri S & T - Silver and Gold, Silver and Gold...

MILLER TIME AWARD
Delaware
UC Davis - friggin' bolt tabs!!! (THANKS FLORIDA!)

MOST MISSED
PSWRC Champ Cal Poly Pomona
SESC Champ Southern Poly
Ohio Valley Champ U. of Akron
Those party animals from Chico State

MOST AUTHENTIC ASSEMBLY OUTFITS
UCLA with the Caltrans Regulation Vests
The UF Overalls!

BEST SHIRTS
Cal
SUNY Canton
UCSD

FUNNEST ASSEMBLY SEQUENCES TO WATCH
Wisconsin
Florida
University of New Orleans
Cal
Texas

BEST STEEL BRIDGE WEBSITES (NSSBC NOT REQD)
UMKC SteelRoos Blog
Wisconsin
Portland State
Iowa State
Sac State
M.I.T. Blogspace
UC Irvine Blogspace

MOST IN NEED OF A DECENT/UPDATED WEBSITE
SUNY Canton
Lakehead
Southern Poly
Lawrence Tech
Hawai'i
Alaska Fairbanks

BEST NEWCOMERS
Seattle University (3rd Stiffness, unreal)
University of New Orleans

BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT
Delaware (12th from 41st in 2007)
UMKC (7th from 21st in 2007)

BEST RETURN TO THE NSSBC AFTER A FEW YEARS
Alaska Fairbanks

MUCHAS CHICAS AWARD
UC Davis, yeah that's right, PM Jessica, and two Assembly Team members in Leticia and Shuwen...top it!

Hon. Mentions: Michigan Tech, MIT, Cal, NJIT, Delaware

SPEEDY GONZALEZ AWARD
SUNY Canton

BEST OF THE WEST
Cal

BEST OF THE EAST
Florida

BEST OF THE CENTRAL
North Dakota State

BIGGEST HEARTBREAK
University of Texas, Austin...-> Raw #'s: 133 lbs, ~4 min 18 sec @ 5 builders, 0.24" @ 2400 lb breaking point, 2 pier moves, 2 barges.

BEST STEEL BRIDGE CONFERENCES OVERALL
1. Mid-Pacific (1 + 3)/2 = 2
2. Midwest (4+10)/2 = 7
3. Carolinas (9+11)/2 = 10
4. Pacific Northwest (8+16+20)/3 = 14.67
5. Mid-Atlantic (12+24)/2 = 18

CRAZY CROWD AWARD
Breaking tension and having fun!!!
Florida
NJIT
Cal
Wisconsin

ENGINEERING HOTTIE AWARD
UF ASCE & Hosting Committee

SAUSAGE FACTORY AWARD
SUNY Canton (NDSU close second)

MOST LIKELY TO KICK ASS NEXT YEAR
Wisconsin
NDSU
Cal
SUNY Canton
Iowa State
Clemson
UMKC
Southern Poly
Seattle
UC Davis
Sleepers...Minnesota and Chico State

Congrats to all the 2008 Steel Bridge Teams for another unbelievable season. Thanks again to the University of Florida for being a truly grand host. Look for a major change in Bridge Envelope and Construction Site in 2009, time to shake it up again!!! Peace and be well this summer.

Aggies out...