Remember buggy? It’s coming …

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 3 Comments on Remember buggy? It’s coming …


Classes are back in session, the (so far, mild) winter is moving right along, teams are presumably hard at work in their garages getting into the meat of their 2012 builds.  For alumni who aren’t taking classes, mostly stay inside, and don’t get to build buggies anymore this can be a bit of a slow time.  Once it gets going though, it all happens real fast, so we’re doing a bit of thinking ahead now.

For starters, the rolls schedule for this semester has been updated and can now be perused on the front page.  The first weekend of rolls is tentatively Feb. 4th and 5th which is just under 3 weeks away.  This of course is always at the mercy of the Pittsburgh weather; recent actual first days of rolls have been later:

Here at the BAA headquarters, we’re shaking off the off-season rust and setting up for what we want to do this spring.  We’ll be posting more details on each of these, but to just to set the stage …
  • Sponsorships for Jumbotrons — Those 15′ screens don’t come cheap, and our lead-truck auction raises just a piece of the funds needed.  Surely our network of alumni know companies that might want to have an ad next to the screen, right?
  • Timing system — For the past two years we’ve supported Sweepstakes’ upgrade to digital photofinish timing on raceday, first with cash then with manpower and know-how.  We need to consider whether we can help improve the system further and make sure we’re spreading and documenting the knowledge of how to operate it.
  • Succession plan — The BAA committee is likely to see some turnover soon so we need to be looking to recruit new talent and get a workable policy in place for leadership changes and division of labor.
  • Website improvements — This is always on my list.  I’ve got some things in the works.  Anyone else is free to help or point out bugs.
  • Now is the time to suggest things that the BAA could or should be doing to make buggy bigger and better, do it!
As if all of that wasn’t enough for the first post of 2o12, AEPi alum and BAA member Bryan Arsham just posted a couple of buggy-themed covers that ought to keep  you in the buggy spirit through the long dark nights until rolls start.  Without further ado … Continue reading →

Apex Buggy gets some funding, looking for advice

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 31 Comments on Apex Buggy gets some funding, looking for advice

We’ve mentioned the guys from Apex Buggy a couple of times in the rolls reports.  They are a group of mostly freshmen, mostly living in a new dorm called “The Residence on 5th” or “The Rez” for short.  Despite being on campus for only a few months, they’ve done an impressive amount of work towards starting a team including soliciting design and build advice from anyone that will talk, and doggedly seeking funding from private donations, and the various official channels.  They are also the organization that recently inspired us to once again consider making seed grants to new orgs (see the New Org Grants thread in our project zone), a discussion we haven’t yet concluded.

Anyhow, they’ve secured enough funding to get going and they’re currently planning their first build for the winter months.  Now’s our chance to help out.  Apex front-man Connor e-mailed me asking some specific questions, but I’d like to use the opportunity to generally improve our informational resources for new teams. If you’re reading this, you know a thing or two that could help a new team.  Take a moment and either:

  • Edit one of the Reference pages below to share generally-useful buggy info with the community
  • Email info@cmubuggy.org with tips or suggestions and we’ll do the ground work of sharing them with Apex and adding them to the Reference section
  • Email Apex’s front-man Connor directly (cmhayes@andrew.cmu.edu) if you want to get your advice straight to the customer
  • Post a comment on this post with your favorite tip or trick for building a buggy or getting to raceday with limited funds.
Specific Questions from Apex
  • “At the moment we need carbon fiber, a vacuum pump, and a vacuum bag. Those are the big 3
    things to get started.  Do you know any alumni specifically who could help us get those materials for good prices?”
  • “If there is anyone out there who wants to talk to us about carbon fiber, lay-up schedules, directional weaknesses, twill vs straight weave and all of that stuff it would be greatly appreciated.”

Reference Section pages to work on

These pages are just beginning.  Anything you can add in terms of which tools and materials are most important, good suppliers for critical materials, or cheap and clever substitutes for expensive specialty tools and materials would be super helpful!

Good luck Apex, hope to see you out in February.

Live Streaming for the last rolls of the year

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 2 Comments on Live Streaming for the last rolls of the year

Rolls on Saturday have been canceled on account of wintery temperatures, but Sunday is still on, and it’ll be the last day of rolls.

Last Sunday’s experiment with live-broadcasting rolls didn’t turn any heads at ESPN, but I’d call it reasonably successful, so we’re going to try it again.  If you don’t want to brave the TSA or the November winds to catch the last day of rolls, just tune in between 7-9am on Sunday at:

cmubuggy.org/live

I’m planning on trying a different perspective or maybe even moving around a couple of times, so comment if you have any fun ideas.  Suggestions are also welcome for conversation topics to serve as the commentary on the broadcast.

Live streaming rolls coverage Sunday 7-9am

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 7 Comments on Live streaming rolls coverage Sunday 7-9am

Earlier this week, Barsham posted an idea in the project zone suggesting that live streaming coverage of rolls would be a good project for the BAA.  Well, you say it, we do it!  We’re trying it out for the first time tomorrow (Sunday 11/13) from 7-9am.  If you’re by a computer, check it out and let us know what you think.  Please forgive any technical difficulties on our first run.

http://cmubuggy.org/live

Live streaming is currently broadcast through USTREAM.tv. Join the cmubuggy Buzz chat room if you’re watching and share your comments. Are the ads super annoying? It would cost about $500 to remove them (and broadcast in HD) for the year. Let us know if you think that would be worthwhile (or any other ideas/improvements) in the Project Zone discussion on live broadcasts.

Congratulations Jake Mohin, Fantasy Buggy Champion!

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 6 Comments on Congratulations Jake Mohin, Fantasy Buggy Champion!

After a rainout on Céilidh weekend, this past Sunday was designated as our official fantasy buggy showdown.  41 people entered our first ever fantasy buggy game to take  their shot at the $250 “ticket to carnival” grand prize sponsored by NumberFire.com.  Fringe and CIA timers helped out to collect times that could be shared publicly so we also got some of our best data so far of the season.

Jake Mohin (SigEp mechanic, ’10) outfoxed everyone else, taking home the grand prize with a total time of 550.2.  He made the best of his inside info, picking SigEp as a backhill team while the rest of the top 5 picks had them for the freeroll.  Jake adds,

“I knew our chairman was pushing pretty hard for our guys to make a strong showing in terms of pushing so I made a gamble and left us off the free rolls list to give us the #1 Back hills.  In terms of roll number, I banked on 3rd free roll always being fastest. Pushers are usually slow on third first run from being sleepy, fast on their second push, and exhausted on their third.”

There were a number of surprises on the weekend that may have affected the results.  KapSig and SN haven’t made it back out, so we only had 7 teams.  Because it ended up happening after daylight savings time, most teams got 5 rolls, but we had restricted it to the first 3.  For what it’s worth 14 of the top 20 overall times were in rolls 1-3.  Picking the right Spirit roll was probably critical as Fuko wasn’t out, Haraka never finished a roll, and Seraph.   I was surprised to see that the winning strategy was to pick most of the fastest teams for the downhill as I thought the spread on the backhills would be larger.  I guess pushers were giving it their all across the board.

Top Fantasy Buggy Picks

Continue reading →

Fantasy Buggy ON for this weekend

Posted on | by Sam Swift

An unexpected dose of rain/snow hit Pittsburgh Saturday morning and put the kibosh on most of our fun Céilidh plans, but not all was lost.  We were still in the mix of events in the UC with our table full of info and popular “Future Buggy Pusher” shirts for the kids.  Tom Wood’s fall 2011 edition of the History of Buggy was well attended and featured the 2011 winning buggy, Bonsai next to PiKA’s T-2 from 1968.  Thanks to everyone who came out for the talk or to chat with us at the table.

We were very sorry to miss out on rolls because we had donuts and coffee ordered and quite a few folks were planning on coming out, but also because we were excited to find out who took home the $250 prize for Fantasy Buggy.  Don’t worry, we’ll get a winner no matter how many times the weather screws with us.  Here are some new details:

  • Times for Fantasy Buggy will now be taken this Sunday, Nov 6th.
  • Sunday was picked instead of Saturday because daylight savings ends Sunday morning, meaning rolls on Sunday will be 1 hour longer, starting around 7am.
  • New entries will continue to be accepted until 11:59pm this Friday, Nov 4th.
  • If you entered previously and something about the change of date/start time/weather/moon phase affects your meticulously calculated predictions (or if you’ve just changed your mind), you may submit a new entry.  Make sure you use the same name and e-mail as your original entry.  Submitting a second entry completely replaces your first entry.  No take-backs.

http://cmubuggy.org/fantasy 

Also, FYI aspiring journalists on the buggy beat, I’ll be missing rolls one last time this semester, so leave a comment or send an e-mail if you would like to help put together the rolls report and I’ll hook you up with the google doc on which you can collaborate.

Introducing Fantasy Buggy

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 7 Comments on Introducing Fantasy Buggy



numberFire is a CMU-style, stats-driven fantasy football oracle founded by buggy alum and cmubuggy.org regular Nik Bonaddio. nF is sponsoring the prize in our first ever fantasy buggy game. Check them out, the numbers are good.

Buggy is the best.  Fantasy sports are fun.  Why did we not think of this earlier?  The Buggy Alumni Association brings you for the first time ever, Fantasy Buggy.  Even better, this is for the big time.  Make better picks than anyone else, and you’ll walk away with $250, enough for a ticket to carnival (or almost enough, depending on where you live and how good you are at shopping for tickets).

You can get the full details here  http://cmubuggy.org/fantasy

The basic idea is that you are trying to pick the fastest team you can from the rolls that happen next weekend during the Céilidh festivities, Oct 29th.  To do so, you must pick 4 freerolls and 4 backhills.  The sum of those times is your score (see the detailed rules).  The tough part?  You can only make one pick from each organization.  Every entry will need to pick one element from each org on the course.  You’re rooting for everyone this homecoming!

Here are some more details on the rules, but hit up the fantasy buggy page for the full details and to make your picks.  One entry per person, so choose wisely.  All picks must be in by Friday Oct 28, 11:59pm.

Basics

  • Pick 4 freerolls and 4 back hills
  • Each pick specifies Org-Roll-Buggy-Segment (e.g. SigEp-Roll2-Barracuda-Freeroll)
  • Must make 1 and only 1 pick from each org
  • 1 entry per person

Scoring

  • Score = total of 4 freeroll times + 4 back hill times
  • Segments that don’t happen (the buggy isn’t out or doesn’t roll the specified roll) are given that org’s worst time +1 second
  • Spins or stops are given the overall worst time + 2 seconds
  • Women’s freerolls are given their time – 3 seconds
  • Women’s backhills are given their time – 6 seconds
  • Tie-breaker: closest guess on winning men’s hill 2->finish time

Get it?  If not, leave a comment and we’ll sort things out.  Tell your friends!

Get ready for some Céilidh (Homecoming)

Posted on | by Sam Swift

> CMU has decided “homecoming” is way too mainstream for a campus that spends more time pushing small women down hills than we do watching our football team. Get ready for some Céilidh. I still can’t pronounce it, but it does seem to be drawing some extra energy into what was once a pretty dull event on campus. It’s still about the alumni, and we are the Buggy Alumni Association, so we’re stepping up our game…

Without further ado, the lineup of exciting events for the very first Céilidh weekend, Saturday October 29th (that’s next weekend, not this weekend)

  • Fantasy Buggy.  That’s right, the NFL’s got it, the MLB’s got it, (I think the NHL must have it, but I’m not sure anyone plays), and now we’ve brought it to buggy.  Whether you’re going to be in town or following along from home, fantasy buggy is your chance to get rich off buggy for the first time.  We’ve got a cash prize on the table and if you can pick the fastest rolls of the day, it’s all yours.  Details coming out first thing tomorrow.   Make your picks between tomorrow and Friday the 28th, times collected on Céilidh.
  • Mini-mini-Raceday.  Sweepstakes is also putting up some TBA prizes for the teams that can put down the fastest times on Sept 29th.  This year’s committee has decided to up the ante by offering prizes for men’s and women’s times, but also for the best downhill and backhills times.  Should make things interesting.
  • Free BAA Coffee and donuts.  Come out for rolls on Céilidh Saturday and find the BAA alumni table at the top of hill 2.  If you’re in town and you’re going to come out to rolls once this semester, make it Céilidh.  We’ll hook you up with some snacks and good fantasy buggy trash talk.
  • Actual breakfast at rolls.  The Exchange (formerly Ginger’s Deli (formerly The Fluted Mushroom)) will be open during rolls in anticipation of the larger than normal crowds.  Stop by and get some egg-and-cheese sammiches, etc.
  • History of Buggy.  Tom Wood will be giving his critically acclaimed account of the history of buggy.  Come on by Rangos I & II, University Center from 2:00p – 3:30p to get yourself educated.
  • BAA Membership & Info table.  This probably isn’t too exciting if you’re already reading the website, but we’ll be out tabling from 11:30-3:30 in the UC.  Stop by and say hi!
This is shaping up to be a pretty alright homecoming, so for real, if you’re in town and you’re thinking of coming out sometime, make it this weekend, and we’ll see you out there.

Rolls set to start Sunday, here we go again

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 10 Comments on Rolls set to start Sunday, here we go again

It’s that time of year again at the corner of Tech and Frew.  The permits are in and this Sunday the 18th is the first potential day of rolls.  The chairmen have been meeting for weeks, the drivers have had their meetings, and at least a few teams have their capes taken care of.  Currently these are the teams in the mix:

Ready to roll: CIA, Fringe, SDC, SigEp
Capes scheduled:  AEPi, KapSig, Spirit
Status unknown:  DTD/TriDelt, PiKA, Pioneers, SAE, SigNu

Those ranks are looking a little thin if the status-unknown crowd doesn’t show up soon.  Last year started with 8 orgs, so 7 isn’t that big of a drop but it’s the wrong direction for sure.  The schedule of fall freerolls is extensive though, so there’s time for the stragglers to get out.

Here at BAA headquarters, we’re preparing for another year of covering the buggy news you crave and generally putting the rest of the internet to shame.  Our #1 goal while we do that this fall is to get more people involved.  Personally, I’m about to (finally) finish grad school and it’s possible this is my last year in Pittsburgh.  Even this year, I will be missing a lot of weekends while I look for jobs.  The point being, I won’t be able to do rolls reports for much longer.  It is time to groom new buggy correspondents. Continue reading →

Buggy loses a pillar: PiKA kicked off campus

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 25 Comments on Buggy loses a pillar: PiKA kicked off campus

Aw crap.  It was announced this afternoon that PiKA’s charter has been revoked by the school CMU chapter will not be recognized for at least four years. Losing PiKA from campus is obviously a huge loss to the greek community and to the broader social community at CMU in which they played a consistently central role.

Losing PiKA from buggy is devastating.  As they proudly and frequently pointed out, PiKA is (by far) the winningest organization in the history of buggy.  Their 27 men’s and 11 women’s championships tower over the historical competition.  Their presence at the top of the leader board has been a constant throughout the history of the sport and their consistency has played a large role in the stability of our race across its 91 year history.   Continue reading →