Rolls Report: Nov 11 – Mini Raceday #1

Posted on | by ben | 25 Comments on Rolls Report: Nov 11 – Mini Raceday #1

Sorry for the delay, being on the opposite side of the earth, my times are a little messed up. I sadly was also not able to take any pictures this weekend. Anyone who was at rolls with a camera should send me all pictures they took so that I can add them to this report.

This was the first day of Mini-Raceday where I believe there is a second on its way (someone please check me on this). Times have not yet been calculated, but there was still plenty of excitement to go around.

Special thanks goes out to Jakes Reid and Rachel Johnson who were able to get me some fantastic notes for this week’s rolls report since I wasn’t able to take some in person.

In Attendance

Org Saturday
AEPi Kamikaze
Apex Phoenix
CIA Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Firebird, Quasar
Fringe Bissa, Bonsai, Borealis, Banyan
PiKA Raptor
SDC Bane, Avarice, Malice
SigEp Mamba, Peregrine, Barracuda, Pandora
Spirit Zuke, Seraph, Haraka, Fuko
No-Shows DU, KapSig, ROTC, SAE, SigNu

Observations (Saturday Gallery) Continue reading →

Rolls Report: Nov 3 – Short

Posted on | by ben | 9 Comments on Rolls Report: Nov 3 – Short

After two weekends of no rolls, many teams were excited to take advantage of the longest day of rolls thanks to the end of daylight savings. Unfortunately, the longest day is always preceded by the shortest day, which can always feel like a let-down for teams getting only a few rolls.

Unfortunately, Sunday rolls were called early due to weather, citing the precedent set from last year that rolls would not happen below freezing. While it is a little sad that rolls didn’t happen on the longest day of the year, it was nice to not be out in the freezing weather. Sadly this also means that I didn’t make it out to rolls this weekend, so thanks to everyone that I got info from to put this together, and sorry that there are no pictures.

As a note, I will not be able to attend any more weekends of rolls this year and I require volunteers to take notes and pictures so these can continue to happen in my absence. If you are interested in helping out, please email me at ben.matzke@gmail.com. Students and Alumni are both welcome and encouraged to help out. The more information the better!

In Attendance

Org Saturday
CIA Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Quasar
Fringe Bissa, Bonsai, Borealis, Bedlam, Banyan
SDC Bane, Avarice, Malice
SigEp Mamba, Barracuda, Pandora
Spirit Zuke, Haraka, Fuko
No-Shows AEPi, Apex, AEPi, DU, KapSig, PiKA, ROTC, SAE, SigNu

Observations (No Pictures) Continue reading →

Midsemester Break – No Rolls, New Rules?

Posted on | by ben | 4 Comments on Midsemester Break – No Rolls, New Rules?

With many students using the break to visit home and see their family, there were no rolls this weekend. The students that stayed on campus got the chance to sleep in, relax, and work more on buggy than they otherwise would.

Since there were no rolls this weekend, it seems like the perfect chance to talk about the other side of Sweepstakes. And while rumors are flying of new buggies being built, that can maybe be better served for when we actually start seeing them on the course. Instead, lets talk about the rules and what’s going on with them.

Next Rules Committee Meeting:

This Wednesday 10/24

From 9pm to 10pm

Location TBD

Continue reading →

Rolls Report: Oct 13 & 14 – First Double Header

Posted on | by ben | 7 Comments on Rolls Report: Oct 13 & 14 – First Double Header

This weekend we finally had the first combo with both Saturday and Sunday rolls. The people around the course also got to see just how bipolar Pittsburgh can be day-to-day. Saturday had temperatures nearing freezing and Sunday was a very pleasantly warm morning.

To follow the weather, the teams decided to match the weather and showed their own version of bipolar. There were no incidents on Saturday and having forgotten my tripod for the stream, I was able to get a lot of different pictures from around the course. The continuous rolling made the frigid morning a bit more bearable. With the warm weather on Sunday, teams seemed to lose their cool and we saw a few crashes and spins.

In Attendance

Org Saturday Sunday
AEPi  Kamikaze
CIA  Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Firebird  Orca, Ascension, Firebird, Quasar
Fringe  Bonsai, Bedlam, Banyan  Bonsai, Bedlam, Banyan
PiKA  Raptor, Chimera
SDC  Bane, Avarice, Malice  Bane, Avarice, Malice
SigEp  Mamba, Barracuda, Pandora
Spirit  Zuke, Seraph, Haraka, Fuko  Zuke, Seraph, Haraka, Fuko
No-Shows Apex, AEPi, DU, KapSig, PiKA, ROTC, SAE, SigNu  Apex, DU, KapSig, ROTC, SAE, SigEp, SigNu,

Observations (Saturday Gallery – Sunday Gallery) Continue reading →

Rolls Report: Oct 7 – A Merry Cèilidh To All

Posted on | by ben | 13 Comments on Rolls Report: Oct 7 – A Merry Cèilidh To All
‘Twas the morning of Cèilidh, when all ’round the course,
Not a buggy was stirring, they lay in their house.
The drivers asleep, all warm in their bed,
For on Saturday it rained and stopped all rolls dead.
 
The morning to follow, was far more exciting,
As the weather proved to be far more inviting.
 The buggies were brought and the teams got in gear,
They filled the alumni with an excess of cheer.
 

It was Homecoming this weekend which brought back buggy alumni from around the area. Some new along with some veteran made for a fun Sunday morning after a rained out Saturday. Unfortunately, Sunday saw its own issues delaying rolls until 8:00am, after which, everything went about as well as it ever has.

In Attendance

Org Sunday
AEPi Kamikaze
CIA Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Firebird
Fringe Bonsai, Borealis, Bedlam, Banyan
PiKA Raptor, Chimera
SDC Bane, Avarice, Malice
SigEp Peregrine, Barracuda, Pandora
SigNu Krait
Spirit Zuke, Haraka, Seraph, Fuko
No-Shows Apex, KapSig, DU (?), SAE

Observations (Sunday Gallery) Continue reading →

Rolls Report: Sept 29 – A Fateful Return

Posted on | by ben | 9 Comments on Rolls Report: Sept 29 – A Fateful Return

First off, I have to thank a few people for their help on this report. Rachel Johnson (sweepstakes assistant chair) got the roll count doc up and got me some fantastic notes from Saturday. Lou Conely was able to take some photos since I forgot to put batteries in my camera. Thank you both for your help this weekend!

Saturday saw a flurry of activity from the orgs, and also the Pittsburgh community. No new and exciting wildlife this time, just a pack of bikers, flock of runners, a car, and a police bike that sat and watched from the curb. The car came through from panther hollow and took a quick right down towards the pond.  Word on the course is that the bikers came through the Westinghouse barricade. Fortunately, none of it was out at the same time as a buggy and if anything just caused some minor delays. The newest addition to the course was what I can only guess to be a Phipps staff member sweeping up trash on all the parking spaces. He seemed very calm though all of it and was only called off the road when he started to stray close to potential buggy lines.

Next weekend is Cèilidh, so any alumni in the Pittsburgh area, or those coming in from out of town should stop by the CMUbuggy table in the UC on Saturday. Come catch up with all your friends, and mock all your rivals new and old about changes that are completely out of their control. Tom Wood will be giving his History of Buggy presentation in Rangos I. See a full schedule of events here.

PiKA made their return this weekend and joined the other orgs to make it 6 for the day. All orgs have been picking up speed and some people are taking advantage of the extra practice that comes with so few buggies on the course. This will hopefully make for an exciting show come Cèilidh next weekend.

In Attendance

Org Saturday
CIA Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Quasar
Fringe Bonsai, Borealis, Bedlam, Banyan
PiKA Raptor, Chimera
SDC Bane, Avarice, Malice, Envy
SigEp Peregrine, Barracuda, Pandora
Spirit Zuke, Haraka, Fuko
No-Shows AEPi, Apex, SigNu

Observations (Saturday Gallery) Continue reading →

Rolls Report: Sept 23 – A Mostly Uneventful Sunday

Posted on | by ben | 20 Comments on Rolls Report: Sept 23 – A Mostly Uneventful Sunday

In an attempt to give myself some kind of fight against my procrastination, I’m going to try and get these out at or before noon on Mondays. This will hopefully give me enough time to add things I had forgotten or get new info from others that were at rolls. Remember, if you were at rolls, I want to hear what you’ve got. Please email me at ben.matzke@gmail.com.

Sunday was the only day of rolls again this weekend, but this one is thanks to the diabetes walk that happens every year, so it’s not like we didn’t see this one coming. Next week we only have Saturday and from then on we should be back to the full weekend. With so few scheduled days to start with, and fewer still that will likely happen due to Pittsburgh doing what Pittsburgh does best, I’m interested to see how this will affect the spring, if at all.

Drivers have been getting more rolls in a day than previous year’s drivers got over a few weeks and because there are so few orgs in operation, Sunday started with only 5 teams on the course. Normally, at least 6 teams are required to make rolls happen, but sweepstakes had little choice in this circumstance and the organizations stepped up to man every barricade and sweep every hill. Despite being as hectic or more so than the first, there were fewer incidents making for a very uneventful Sunday morning.

In Attendance

Sweepstakes hasn’t yet gotten the roll count spreadsheet up, but it’s in the works. (Thanks in advance for getting that together Rachel!)

Org Sunday
CIA Orca, Ascension, Firebird, Quasar
Fringe Bonsai, Borealis, Bedlam, Banyan
SDC Avarice, Malice, Rage
SigEp Mamba, Pandora
Spirit Zuke, Seraph, Fuko, Haraka
No-Shows AEPi, Apex, PiKA, SigNu

Observations (Sunday Gallery) Continue reading →

Rolls Report: Sept 16 – First day of Rolls

Posted on | by ben | 5 Comments on Rolls Report: Sept 16 – First day of Rolls

Welcome back to Buggy for this Raceday 2013 season!

RIP Sam Swift

For those of you that don’t already know, Sam Swift has moved on from Pittsburgh and with that has passed along the reins of the Rolls Reports to current Pittsburghers. In particular I (Ben Matzke) have taken over the organization of getting these out to you every week. Since I feel I don’t have (or yet have) the same dedication/time that Sam had, I’ll be asking for collaboration from any alumni or current students that attended rolls each weekend. If you are in the Pittsburgh area and attend rolls on any given weekend, please send any interesting notes, funny stories or overheard rumors to me. With that out of the way, lets get into what you’re really here for.

Rolls were slated to start on Saturday, but ran into issues with the new parking meters and their lack of NO PARKING signs. Many buggy fans were disappointed to have a similar start 2 years in a row. Because of this, the Police made some of their temporary signs and taped them to the meters for Sunday.

Sweepstakes (I assume it was them) also made some nice giant signs to help alert people of the weekend closures.These signs allowed Sweepstakes to get things running on Sunday and things ran well. Aside from the typical shenanigans that accompany the first day of rolls, everything ran incredibly smoothly and some drivers are already maxing their fall rolls. It was an exciting day for everyone and the surrounding wildlife, so lets get into some of the details.

In Attendance

Sweepstakes hasn’t posted their roll counts for the year yet, but this is what I remember. And with my memory suspect from those late nights of buggy building, there’s likely to be something wrong.

Org Sunday
AEPi Kamikaze
CIA Ascension, Freyja, Firebird, Quasar
Fringe Bonsai, Borealis, Bedlam, Banyan
SDC Bane, Avarice, Malice, Rage
SigEp Peregrine, Barracuda, Pandora
Spirit Zuke, Seraph, Fuko, Haraka
No-Shows Apex, PiKA, SAE, SigNu

Observations (Sunday Gallery) Continue reading →

Whoa! Rolls start in 2 days, time to get the BAA back in action!

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 5 Comments on Whoa! Rolls start in 2 days, time to get the BAA back in action!

Sweepstakes and the teams are on the ball and the 93rd season of buggy is scheduled to kick off this Saturday at 7:01am.  Are you ready?  Are you excited?  Is this the last thing on the list telling you that you have to admit that summer is over?

Well get ready, and get excited, because it’s time to stuff the smallest ladies in Pittsburgh into carbon tubes, send them flying down the hill and then push them back up to the top.  If it doesn’t put a smile on your face to think about our most peculiar sport ramping back up for a new season … your smile must be broken because you’re on this website, who are you kidding!

So, what does it mean to start a new season?

  • Our highly-esteemed rolls reports will resume next week, with weekly coverage of the weekend’s action usually hitting the interwebs on Monday morning to give you  something to look forward to as you start your week.
  • Our fall activities are coming up.  We’ll be running a welcome table at Cèilidh to meet and greet, Tom Wood will be giving his history of buggy talk, and we’ll be running the 2nd annual game of Fantasy Buggy scheduled around mini-raceday at the end of the fall season of rolls.
  • Now is the time to start working on projects to make buggy bigger, more popular, and more fun for alumni and current students.  Ideas tend to come up in March when the buggy buzz is really getting strong, but it’s tough to pull off the big projects in a month.  If you’ve got a big idea, throw it out in the Project Zone and rally some troops to get it done.  We don’t raise money for our retirement accounts, we raise it to fund fun projects.  Let’s do it!
  • It’s time to re-up on your BAA membership.  BAA membership is an annual affair so any contribution now until the end of May makes you a 2013 supporter.  A contribution of any amount >$1 gets you on the roster for the year and gives you the happy feeling of knowing that you enable the BAA to support buggy and make it cooler than it was the year before.  Check out our membership page to see the past year’s rosters and for details on the money stuff.
How are we going to pull off this exciting new year of BAA activity?
  • Well, that’s an interesting question.  The BAA is at a bit of a turning point.  The BAA will celebrate its 5th birthday at carnival 2013 and many of the folks who founded and have led this awesome organization have new, probably less awesome things vying for their time (babies, jobs, living in different cities, whatever).  As a result, we’ve got opportunities aplenty for alumni with energy and ideas on how to continue to contribute to the sport of buggy even though you’re no longer paying your student activities fee.
  • Janice Schneekloth is stepping down as chairwoman after 2 great years at the helm, and that is the primary role we need to fill.  The BAA is a group effort.  We work on things the community thinks are worthwhile and interesting and we try to do it by including everyone who can contribute.  Still, we need one person to make the tough calls (there aren’t many) and keep the organization hanging together and moving forward.  We also need more people to be part of the committee and adopt specific parts of the BAA operation and make them their thing.  This post from May outlines the jobs that need doing.
  • I am also one of the people who has been forced to move on a bit because I physically moved to Chapel Hill, NC this summer.  Blackjack is already hung on our new wall, so I won’t forget about buggy, and being part of the beginning of the Buggy Alumni Association has been one of my favorite CMU experiences.  This is my 147th post on cmubuggy.org, and I’m sure it won’t be my last, but I don’t think I’d do a very good job with the rolls reports from 500 miles away.
  • So Ben Matzke (CIA chairman, 2011) is going to be taking over to start things off on the news front, but he could use your help.  I’ll let him do the coordination, but rolls reports is an ideal job for a 2 or 3 person rotating team.  You’d be surprised how nice it is to get out of the house early, go see some buggy, and then start your Saturday.  That, and telling the ladies you write for cmubuggy.org works like a charm every time, trust me.
  • So, for the next 8 days we will be accepting nominations for Chairman of the BAA and volunteers for the other myriad of  roles that need filling.  Next Friday, we will either announce the new 2013 BAA committee, or (if we have more than 1 candidate for Chairman) a ballot .  Please comment on this post or email admin@cmubuggy.org to get involved.  Get involved, you’ll love it, I definitely have.

Elections! Candidates wanted!

Posted on | by Janice (Golenbock) Schneekloth | 1 Comment on Elections! Candidates wanted!

It’s that time again…BAA committee members are stepping down, and we’re looking for candidates NOW. This is a call to action for serious volunteers who want to see the BAA through the next couple years of growth. The main position open this spring is Chairman, but we’re also looking for new people to join the committee in more task-oriented roles like web master and treasurer.
If you’re interested, please comment on this news post with the position you want and, if you like, a campaign spiel. You can also send email to admin@cmubuggy.org if you’re too modest to speak out here.

Elections will be via an online poll early next week! in the fall

Here are some example criteria:

  • Someone who has been vocal on the forum with good ideas and creative input.
  • Someone who likes what we do and wants to be more involved.
  • Someone who has plenty of time in the Spring to work on BAA stuff.
  • Nominees do NOT have to be Pittsburgh locals.
  • You can nominate someone else if he/she agrees.

Here’s a slice of what we do:

President

  • Act as primary contact with Alumni Relations for deadlines, event coordination, reservations, alumni contacts, membership lists.
  • Attend AIG (Alumni Interest Group) meetings at Alumni House or by conference call.
  • Hold occasional meetings with execs to prioritize and act on projects or new initiatives
  • Find volunteers, increase involvement of members, delegate chunks of projects and follow up or save the day as needed.
  • Work with the Treasurer to keep tabs on income and spending.
  • Have a grasp on the big picture and general scheduling of things. Communicate frequently with other execs and volunteers to get publications out on time, reserve space for events, etc.

Other tasks

  • Work to make sure the lead truck auction is ready to go, including coordinating with Sweepstakes and keeping tabs on winners.
  • Work with Sweepstakes on safety issues where the BAA’s huge knowledge of history can be of service. Be the primary Sweepstakes contact to exchange ideas on how to improve the sport.
  • On-Campus Liaison – someone on campus (or at least in Pittsburgh) to be present at planning meetings, transfer physical stuff from A to B, be in touch with campus and course changes and news
  • News Editor – compile and post rolls reports, always be thinking of content and news to keep people engaged with the site and our org, manage social media presence
  • Rolls Reporter(s) – someone out at rolls to observe and collect info by talking to people, take pictures, make observations about what is going on that is interesting
  • Publications – someone to take primary responsibility for publishing our annual products:  raceday guide, raceday preview, news letters, potentially much more
  • Finances – recording membership and handling membership communications, knowing how much money we have and whether we can afford to do XYZ,  communicating our finances to the rest of the committee and to our members, dealing with the school on financial details
  • Special project leader – the BAA should always be looking to do new and awesome things for buggy, someone to generate and vet new ideas, and then push projects forward
  • Raceday Timing – if we are going to keep doing things (as opposed to hiring someone), someone will have to … do it
  • Web-Development – improve website code, add website features, manage server-type stuff
  • Web-Management – updating content, moderating user-generated content, entering new data, obsessively checking analytics