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UCF Knights Thread; Football/Baseball/Basketball, etc.
Topic Started: Aug 21 2006, 04:14 AM (4,075 Views)
TheFalcon
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efenell
Nov. 12 2007 01:38 PM
Twardzik is scouting UCF-Nevada???? No wonder we suck when it comes to the draft

:lol: :lol:
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adamosthegreek
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Kings of Europe
C-USA Championship Game will be UCF-Tulsa next Saturday in Bright House Stadium.
Time to get our revenge from '05. We've already beaten Tulsa this season, time to do it again.
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adamosthegreek
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UCF BEATS UTEP, WELCOME TO THE TRAMPOLINE!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdmevlMkGFU
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adamosthegreek
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So yeah, I'm in the paper today (guess which person I am :) ), not happy that my name was misspelled but it's a great article.

orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-stadium3007nov30,0,4754238.story?coll=orl_tab01_layout

OrlandoSentinel.com
SENTINEL SPECIAL REPORT
Jumpy fans worry UCF, but officials call stadium safe
Luis Zaragoza

Sentinel Staff Writer

November 30, 2007

Some frenzied football fans at the University of Central Florida are calling their new stadium "The Trampoline" -- and treating it like one.

Fans have discovered they can make the upper deck bounce by jumping up and down at once.

Their cue to go crazy: the techno-pop dance beat of Zombie Nation's Kernkraft 400.

"It's fun!" sophomore Michelle Martin says of the bouncing sensation that resulted in the trampoline nickname.

School officials say the stadium is structurally safe and ready for a capacity crowd Saturday when UCF takes on the University of Tulsa for the Conference USA championship.

University officials noticed the movement during the stadium's inaugural game in September against the University of Texas, said William Merck, vice president of administration and finance, who oversees campus construction. He said the motion caught them off guard, but that visual and electronic monitoring since the first game has revealed no damage.

Engineers say there's nothing unusual about stadiums and even skyscrapers having some wiggle room. They're designed for a certain amount of movement.

Still, the motion has unnerved some fans, and it has UCF officials wondering whether all that bouncing will eventually damage the 45,000-seat, $54 million steel structure.

"I've been to a lot of stadiums, and I've never seen one rock back and forth like that," said Tom Di Figlio of Delray Beach, a former UCF employee whose first visit to Bright House Networks Stadium was last week's game against the University of Texas at El Paso. "Maybe it's designed like that, but I think they ought to be careful."

While university officials express full confidence in their stadium, they are concerned about whether the fans' bouncing will shorten its estimated 50-year-plus life span. The university has asked civil engineers to help UCF's building experts analyze the data they're collecting and decide by mid-January whether the stadium needs to be reinforced or left as is.

Officials already have taken one step. They decided midway through the season to limit how often the Zombie Nation tune is played over the public-address system "to address the uneasiness some fans may have," said Joe Hornstein, UCF Athletics Association spokesman. The current limit is four times per game, but Merck said the university will consider banning it outright.

What's happening at UCF is "not an extraordinary condition," said Prasad Samarajiva, a civil and structural engineer with Walter P. Moore. The Houston-based engineering firm was not involved with UCF's stadium but has a large portfolio of stadiums and other buildings.

Nearly two decades ago, students at the University of South Carolina -- revved up by "Louie, Louie" -- found they could get a 15,000-seat deck of Williams-Brice Stadium to sway. The school determined the deck was safe but discussed banning the song to keep the swaying down. Instead, the school spent about $300,000 to install reinforcements to stop the motion, said Russ McKinney, university spokesman.

Students at UCF said they want bouncing to become a tradition.

"Everyone seems more than happy with the stadium with zero concerns of safety," said Adam Papageorgiu, a UCF sophomore whose phone-cam video of the stadium bouncing was posted on YouTube under the title "The Trampoline."

Papageorgiu said fans have been bouncing to the Zombie Nation song since the stadium's debut game against Texas.

"I was immediately concerned about how the stadium almost felt like it was giving out beneath my feet," he wrote in an e-mail. "My friends began to look worried. . . . I got quickly used to it though."

UCF senior Steve Adams, who was buying his game ticket at the stadium this week, said steel structures such as Bright House Networks Stadium are "designed to take lots of stress."

Added the mechanical-engineering student, "If I had no idea about this stuff, I would worry too."

Paul Jehlen, another engineering student, joked that parents are more likely than students to worry.

All major stadiums in the U.S. are designed using the same basic structural principles, said Bruce Merrick, chairman of Dant Clayton, the engineering firm for UCF's stadium.

"There's noticeable movement," he said, but tests so far show the building is "performing in accordance with Florida building codes."

The stadium's design firm, 360 Architecture, did not return phone calls.

Noticeable shaking or swaying can happen in any stadium given the right circumstances, said Charlie Carter, chief structural engineer for the Chicago-based American Institute of Steel Construction. The nonprofit institute and trade association develops the standards used in building codes for steel structures such as UCF's stadium.

Many people are unnerved when stadiums sway because the movement is unexpected and often unpredictable. Movement depends on a certain number of people moving in a certain way for a certain amount of time.

Stadiums in general are "pretty strong" structures, Carter said, and metal fatigue is not a major concern for owners of newer stadiums because "it takes a long time to manifest."

"It's not a problem that develops one day to the next," he said.

Vibrations caused by groups of people making synchronized movements have been known to damage structures, Carter said.

In London, for instance, a pedestrian bridge across the river Thames was closed not long after it opened in 2000 because the movement of so many people crossing it made the bridge sway. It was closed, modified and later reopened.

But stadiums have more in common with buildings than bridges, he said, making the effect of vibrations on them more complicated.

In the absence of safety concerns, many stadium-movement issues become "purely a human-comfort and perception-of-motion issue," he said.
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adamosthegreek
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Can I get any confirmation on this:
I've gotten a few calls from friends saying that my face and video were shown on Local 6 (Ch. 5 for me) News between like 5 and 6:30, did anyone see it?
Want to avoid any pranks.
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MAGICMANEVAN
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I saw the news around that time today and i saw there were college kids on there from UCF. But idk why you would be on, but the reason for those kids on TV was the recent break ins of the Pegasus Landing apts.
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TheFalcon
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Kevin Smith better run all over these fools.
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dhoward541524
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Love_Is_The_Movement
kevin smith is SICK!!!! he is just amazing. heisman baby! :)
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adamosthegreek
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44-25, C-USA CHAMPIONS, BABY!!!! :D
I've got a lot of stuff to upload from this game as Kevin '24K' Smith has officially become a god.
Today alone he had 39 carries for 284 yards and 4 TDs.
HE HAS OVER 2400 YARDS RUSHING THIS SEASON AND IS 2ND ALL-TIME TO JUST BARRY SANDERS!!!
HE ONLY NEEDED 38 CARRIES TO PASS MARCUS ALLEN FOR MOST CARRIES ALL-TIME IN A SEASON AND HE GOT THAT!!!

LIBERTY BOWL ON DECEMBER 29TH IN MEMPHIS, LET'S GO KNIGHTS!!!
THE TRAMPOLINE/BOUNCE HOUSE WAS ROCKING AGAIN!!! :)

PS, Erin Andrews was drop dead sexy today. :D
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MagicMadness
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Congrats to the Knights, very impressive season.
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adamosthegreek
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Also, I caught a WR glove when the players were celebrating.

Was very unhappy to see 50 cops lined up across the endzone geared with tasers, bean bag guns, and paintball guns to prevent us from rushing the field.
A few people tried...man was that funny. :)
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adamosthegreek
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Kings of Europe
I had to chuckle at the SportsCenter intro that's on right now for the 11 p.m. show that had 24K doing an MJ-like shrug like he's jogging in the park. :D
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adamosthegreek
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Kings of Europe
24K finally got a lot of love from my boy Scott Van Pelt as it took SportsCenter about 40 minutes, but Kevin was given some major props for his spectacular season.
"Sorry we're late for the party." :) Just promote the sh*t out of him and get him to the Heisman ceremony and I'll be happy.
Showed Mama Smith a lot of love as well.
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adamosthegreek
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Kings of Europe
TOP 25!!!
http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/polls/120/index1
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adamosthegreek
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Kings of Europe
While the national championship picture won't be made clear until later this afternoon, UCF knows who it will meet in the Liberty Bowl.

The Liberty Bowl's website posted Mississippi State the Knigihts', winner's of Saturday's Conference USA championship game, opponent.

The Bulldogs were 7-5 this season and finished fourth in the Southeastern Conference's West Division. UCF is 10-3 overall.

The game is Dec. 29 at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. It is the second bowl appearance in three years for the Knights, who lost in the 2005 Hawaii Bowl.
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