6600 to 8800 LB Dually Truck on NEW TRACK?

[FirefightnRick]

I and the Talons have been told for two years that our bell is too heavy to drive over the track so that it can be displayed in front of cameras and fans, and heard by all behind the endzones, rather than out away from site behind the stands where it usually is kept during games. It weighs roughly 4400 lbs. This was reiterated to me four weeks ago that there is no way it could happen once the new track was installed, yet there is always a 10,000 lb ambulance at the north end parked on it for every game. Then there were two 15,000 lb Peterbilt Tractors driven on it for display the night of the Troy game. Let alone the countless heavy equipment that drove over the old track all summer long during the track installation. And now from the photo above, I will rest comfortably knowing our brand new track is as well guarded as the old one.

And people wonder why outsiders know nothing of our traditions?

Rick

Edited November 19, 2005 by FirefightnRick

[GoMeanGreen1999]

You know, you remind me of just how funny this school and athletic department can be many times. We want all of our fans to show up, we are just expected to come in a suit and tie and sit there in our seat like a bump on a log. We go out and try to get traditions started and they do everything they can to make sure we don't, yet they week in and week out try to get people to come out for the games.

whatever.

[KingDL1]

I and the Talons have been told for two years that our bell is too heavy to drive over the track so that it can be displayed in front of cameras and fans, and heard by all behind the endzones, rather than out away from site behind the stands where it usually is kept during games.  It weighs roughly 4400 lbs.  This was reiterated to me four weeks ago that there is no way it could happen once the new track was installed, yet there is always a 10,000 lb ambulance at the north end parked on it for every game.  Then there were two 15,000 lb Peterbilt Tractors driven on it for display the night of the Troy game.  Let alone the countless heavy equipment that drove over the old track all summer long during the track installation.  And now from the photo above, I will rest comfortably knowing our brand new track is as well guarded as the old one. 

And people wonder why outsiders know nothing of our traditions?

Rick

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Yeah, I though you might like this one.

I guess they did not figure on a www.gomeangreen.com member flying over the field at an inopportune time.

They are so full of SHHHHHHHH********TTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!

Oh well see y'all tomorrow!!!!!!

GO MEAN GREEN!!!!!

[KingDL1]

Oh, also if you look at the series of shots you will see the truck and trailer drove a complete lap around the track.

[meangreendork]

WTF.

Then again...this's the same administration that decided that they would send kids to the homecoming junk when there were 2 (count them) 2 victories on the basketball front. One of them was very close, the other was not only a win, but just total abuse of the opposition.

[SilverEagle]

You know, you remind me of just how funny this school and athletic department can be many times.  We want all of our fans to show up, we are just expected to come in a suit and tie and sit there in our seat like a bump on a log.  We go out and try to get traditions started and they do everything they can to make sure we don't, yet they week in and week out try to get people to come out for the games.

whatever.

←

Please tell me what sort of "noticable" promotions have been going on to get people to come out to our games.

And to make it worse, you don't know how much of a fight FFRick had to go through to convince some pencilheads in the administration that our battleflag was NOT ILLEGAL. The same aforementioned pencilhead(s) kept telling the Talons that they could not wave the battleflag at games because it was an "illegal flag".

Rick finally had to talk directly with one of the University attorneys who said that IT WAS NOT ILLEGAL. Even then the aforementioned pencilheads were reluctant to let go of that stupid opinion.

If you left it to all the leftover "old nesters" and the morons that they've trained through the years, this University would still be 1-AA, and "tennis applause" would still be the standard for fan behavior at games.

And that doesn't even address the issue of non-North Texas graduates trying to tell us what our traditions should be. And non-North Texas graduates who are in charge of promotions.

The best promotions ever at North Texas, and the best North Texas icon ever created were done by NORTH TEXAS GRADUATES. And these people were NOT part of the "old nesters" group.

Edited November 19, 2005 by SilverEagle

[untbowler]

WTF.

Then again...this's the same administration that decided that they would send kids to the homecoming junk when there were 2 (count them) 2 victories on the basketball front. One of them was very close, the other was not only a win, but just total abuse of the opposition.

←

Thinking about since homecoming was originally October there would not have been any conflict, as for the junk, were you there last night???

Probably not but the 2000 or so who showed up enjoyed the Yell like Hell and Homecoming Court announcements and yes even a less than enthusiastic Homecoming by DD, but Chris Miller was great and finally the streaker on the skateboard was a funny sight as he made two passes before the cops corralled him.. Yes the school could have done better planning on the fly but don't diss parts of homecoming, hell you could call tonights game junk.

Edited November 19, 2005 by untbowler

[tonyhuntoon]

Rick,

I can see your point and totally agree with you. However, you need to readjust your measuring systems. There is NO WAY an ambulance weighs 10,000 pounds!

How much does your car weigh? It's on your title.

[Monkeypox]

Rick,

I can see your point and totally agree with you. However, you need to readjust your measuring systems. There is NO WAY an ambulance weighs 10,000 pounds!

How much does your car weigh? It's on your title.

←

"The ambulance (Medic 3) involved in this incident was a 1995 Type IIIa ambulance body that was installed on a 1995 cutaway chassis with an automatic 7.3 liter turbo-diesel engine. The gross vehicle weight listed for the vehicle was 10,500 pounds."

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face200305.html

I believe I would defer to the firefighter on the weight of an ambulance. A police car weighs much much more than your normal production vehicle. They have heavy-duty suspensions, axles, radiators, etc. that all contribute to the weight. An ambulance is bigger, and has to have all of the medical equipment in it on top of all that other stuff. I'm pretty sure ambulances START at 6000lbs.

[VideoEagle]

Anyone asked about putting the cannon in the bed of the truck? Or on the trailer behind the truck?

[MGW]

"The ambulance (Medic 3) involved in this incident was a 1995 Type IIIa ambulance body that was installed on a 1995 cutaway chassis with an automatic 7.3 liter turbo-diesel engine. The gross vehicle weight listed for the vehicle was 10,500 pounds."

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face200305.html

I believe I would defer to the firefighter on the weight of an ambulance.  A police car weighs much much more than your normal production vehicle.  They have heavy-duty suspensions, axles, radiators, etc. that all contribute to the weight.  An ambulance is bigger, and has to have all of the medical equipment in it on top of all that other stuff.  I'm pretty sure ambulances START at 6000lbs.

←

Damn you facts! Great post.

Rick finally had to talk directly with one of the University attorneys who said that IT WAS NOT ILLEGAL. Even then the aforementioned pencilheads were reluctant to let go of that stupid opinion.

FFR deserves credit for keeping after the university on this one. I can't believe the university relied on such crap arguments to defend their position of not wanting the Mean Green Nation Battle Flag.

[SilverEagle]

FFR deserves credit for keeping after the university on this one.  I can't believe the university relied on such crap arguments to defend their position of not wanting the Mean Green Nation Battle Flag.

←

He certainly does!

You just haven't lived until you try and pitch a new idea to our old (and some new ones for that matter) University officials. Their first reaction is almost always no.

[tonyhuntoon]

I still doubt that it weighs 10k pounds! I also doubt that that bell weighs 4k pounds. I would seriously doubt that they would send an amped up ambulance to sit on the sidelines of a football game.

[good_ken]

Well, since we are hijacking the thread with useless details; this manufacturer's ambulances gross vehicle weight at 11,500 pounds.

And if FFR is trying to get the bell on the track; why would he exagerate the weight higher? If anything he would round down.

[FirefightnRick]

I still doubt that it weighs 10k pounds! I also doubt that that bell weighs 4k pounds. I would seriously doubt that they would send an amped up ambulance to sit on the sidelines of a football game.

←

th,

The Spirit Bell itself weighs between 1200 and 1500 lbs by itself. It was shipped to Texas from Michigan and the shipping expense was higher than a cats' back. Then it was mounted on an airport tug that was acquired from Lackland Airforce base in San Antonio when they liquidated it a few years back. An aircraft tug is that funny little vehicle you see at the airports hooked up to the front landing gear of the large jets towing them into place. They are made of solid iron and steel to prevent getting turned over in jet wash and can weigh several thousand lbs. Before the NT Spirit Bell was mounted on our tug, the tug was stripped of every bit of excess iron and steel possible, then the mounting deck that the bell was mounted to was re-manufactured for a specific purpose. It's been weighed and parts of it have been added and subtracted through the whole process. It is heavy, but not nearly as heavy as that truck in King's picture, or the ambulance, or the PeterBilts, or the countless tracters and equipment that drove over the track all summer long during the turf installation.

The Swartz' family vowed over 25 years ago to find the original victory bell that was forced into permanant retirement due to continuing cracks, a replacement. The original bell is the one that currently sits on display in the lower floor of the union. And after 25 years invested searching for it, and countless thousands of dollars spent, let alone who knows how much time invested, they found it's replacement with nearly an exact duplicate made by the original manufacturer of the first one. Yet the Swartz family recieves in return for their efforts seeing their investment(one of many) parked outside in the weather every day, and worse off, forced to sit out of sight and earshot during games and I have yet to see it's presence promoted as part of our traditions in print or on TV.

NMSU utilized an opportunity to get a "College Tradition" mention in Sports Illustrated one year for their large bell they use at their football games. Not only is it NOT MOTORIZED like ours is, I doubt it is even 1/3rd the size of ours. We finally get our alumni who can, donate back to revive a lost tradition and we refuse to take advantage of it. To me, it's something that is very unique to North Texas that can be used to differentiate us from the rest. But we refuse to use it, or even show it off at the games when we are on TV.

It blows the imagination?

Rick

Edited November 21, 2005 by FirefightnRick

[tonyhuntoon]

An ex-girlfriend of mine now weighs well over 1 million pounds!!!!!! She was only 110 when I dated her. Good thing I dumped her!