BU update synopsis from the mailing I received yesterday:

1) Everyone already knows about the lights
2) Tickets are now electronic, not too bad to install on my phone
3) 51 freshmen in this class
4) Only returning 5 starters on offense, including Cooper Drews at QB
5) Only returning 3 starters on defense

The fourth game against the Johnnies is going to be a mighty tall test for this young squad.

Quote from: OzJohnnie on August 01, 2025, 01:28:13 AMSome wrastlin' entertainment from Fargo, duff.

https://youtube.com/shorts/y0rYefkYkOg?si=AII7piFK6LP5s6AP

I haven't wrestled since the mid seventies, so the rules may have changed (like this might be Greco-Roman style) but it used to be that if you lifted your opponent off the mat, your knee had to be on the ground before your opponent hit the mat.

Quote from: hazzben on July 31, 2025, 01:35:13 PMFun news out of Arden Hills, Bethel officially has lights on the field and will play a night game to kick off the season against Northwestern!

You beat me to the punch - this is good news.

It's a minor slight, but it is a little surprising to see Bethel below Wartburg, who they beat in the playoffs last year. There are probably other "flips" in this pre-season poll that I just didn't see/know about. I think it is going to be an interesting season in the MIAC this year because of the complete round robin. We shall see.

Quote from: hazzben on July 01, 2025, 05:36:59 PM

Quote from: GoldandBlueBU on July 01, 2025, 02:28:47 PM

Quote from: art76 on July 01, 2025, 11:51:55 AMWe would like to approach alumni donors but are not allowed to.

I'm curious about this one...my first thought was that the sciences departments at BU have been pretty strong - though probably small compared to some schools for some time now - I would think there would be a decent cohort of alumni in that area who would be willing and able to help.

I assume there are some rules / restrictions on use of alumni email lists?

It's that, and also the Advancement Office working on other STEM fundraising initiatives simultaneously. If you've (theoretically) got a big Physics lab you're working to build/fund, and that's the priority, then you don't want multiple groups reaching out to math and physics grads. You go to a key donor to get his contribution, but he already gave to another initiative, not knowing that wasn't the university priority.

There's been some hurdles for the Bethel Gridiron Club in those regards as well. We've got a bunch of alumni contact info, but the advancement office doesn't want rogue fundraising that pulls away from say, the new track/stadium upgrades.

Add to that, we're not OSU with B1G money and massive pockets to keep tapping year in and year out. That's probably the primary hurdle for Art and Co. Having said that, I'd love to see Art roll into the national competition and throw down!

Exactly.

Quote from: GoldandBlueBU on July 01, 2025, 02:28:47 PM

Quote from: art76 on July 01, 2025, 11:51:55 AMWe would like to approach alumni donors but are not allowed to.

I'm curious about this one...my first thought was that the sciences departments at BU have been pretty strong - though probably small compared to some schools for some time now - I would think there would be a decent cohort of alumni in that area who would be willing and able to help.

I assume there are some rules / restrictions on use of alumni email lists?

Even - access to them. That's one of the huge frustrations. Everything is "clamped down" making it difficult to move/act on making connections. We've no doubt that there are alumni willing to assist, but we are not allowed to approach them for fear we would be contacting them "too often", or that if they decide to give us a small donation now that we might keep them from giving more/a larger donation at some future date.

Quote from: hazzben on June 30, 2025, 02:29:55 PMIs the point here that if they can afford to send the football team to away games then they should be able to send the rocket team to nationals for a week?

I'm all for the rocket team going to these events, even nationally. But the football team is a totally different budget, and a fixed/known cost that doesn't change much YOY. In a perfect world it'd be a yes to all of them.
 

You don't get to eat if you're not invited to the table...

The Bethel University Rocket Club has done well in regional competition, there's no denying that. But, and it's a big but, until those that disperse the funds recognize/realize the impact that BURC has on the student body as a whole, we'll always be an adjunct club in their eyes, not a contributing team member towards the goals of the institution. If you are on the outside, the door keepers are pretty effective in securing the doors that lead to the table. It's been frustrating wandering the labyrinth of financial opportunity in higher education. It's a chicken and egg/catch 22 situation. We would like to approach alumni donors but are not allowed to. We'd like to be able to have the time to approach corporate like-minded companies that might donate to our cause - but students are students, not fund-raisers. And I am still gainfully employed. (Not that I think I would be much of a fund-raiser - not my gifting.) So, we're stuck for now, relying on the monies that all clubs receive through the student government funds.

Could we do more for the furtherance of BU if we had access to more funding? Absolutely. But getting past the door keepers is a formidable task that neither the students nor I are up to. We could really use an advocate, so if you have any ideas on how to get past the impasse, please reach out - I'm all ears.

Quote from: OzJohnnie on June 24, 2025, 09:02:54 PM

Quote from: art76 on June 24, 2025, 09:12:14 AMInitial Team Standings about IREC teams from ESRA. Some schools from Australia took home some bling, as did the U of MN. Sorry, I don't remember which team you had some affiliation with Oz. Complete list here: https://www.soundingrocket.org/news1

The Aussies did all right.  I scanned the list of schools in the registration spreadsheet and didn't see BU.  Is this the comp your squad participates in?

My two youngest are still attending Monash University, and the eldest graduated from the University of Melbourne. Not one of them is close to rocketry. As they freely tell me, they're not nerds like their old man. Well, this old nerd loved model rockets (regretting only that he didn't have collegiate rocket competition experience), and he did alright for them.

BU was forced to drop out of this competition from lack of funds back in January. It costs a lot to send even half a dozen students half-way across the country for a full week. It's got to be that much more to send students overseas via commercial airline - oof-da! We're still awaiting word on how we did in the regional competition, which happens to be held here in MN, so travel costs are quite a bit more manageable. As I hear more, I'll share.

Initial Team Standings about IREC teams from ESRA. Some schools from Australia took home some bling, as did the U of MN. Sorry, I don't remember which team you had some affiliation with Oz. Complete list here: https://www.soundingrocket.org/news1

Quote from: SagatagSam on May 31, 2025, 08:51:12 AMMIAC official conference schedule webpage shows football championship weekend has been eliminated.

Boz Bostrom broke the story on Twitter:
https://x.com/bozbostrom/status/1928650310127358307?s=46&t=mGqTC79GJ1s2EzukNSOUQQ

Bethel's website is a little behind it seems - thanx for sharing.

Update on the Bethel University Rocket Club

The short story is that we are waiting for a few teams to get in their final flights, and until they do, we wait.

Back story – this competition was to fly one or two rockets using the same motor designation to a specified altitude, and an unlimited altitude. You got bonus points if you used the same rocket for both aspects of the contest. The first altitude to hit was 1000 feet, give or take 25 feet. If you hit the sweet spot you got full points for that aspect of the contest. Bethel hit it on their first flight. The second aspect was to design and fly a rocket that would go as high as you could make it go on the same motor designation that got you to 1000 feet. All the teams in the contest were using the exact same motor designation for both aspects of competition. On competition day, if you checked in on time, and were ready to fly in a timely manner, you also got the maximum number of points for that aspect of the competition. Bethel also received all those points on competition day.

The hiccup – there was a pretty low cloud ceiling on the day of the competition, roughly 3200 feet. Rockets that were predicted to go into the clouds and out of sight were grounded for safety reasons. Bethel's prediction was right in the neighborhood of the ceiling and we were not allowed to fly until near the end of the day when the clouds were as high as they had been all day. Thankfully, the rocket was visible all through it's flight, and we were happy with our flight. Unfortunately, two or three teams were not able to fly for safety reasons and they have been given an extension to fly all the way through the end of September.

So, we won't know who placed in what position on "flight day" until all the teams have submitted their final flights. That may be sometime in the middle of October, or it could be early as next month because those teams that have been given the extension may choose not to fly their final flights, or somewhere in the middle. We've done all we can do on the field. We need to finish up our final report, submit it on time, and then we have to wait to hear from the contest organizers once all the teams have turned in their flight data and their final reports.

Non-D3 football post follows: Just got back from this year's Oral Presentations and Safety Checks for the Upper Mid-West High-Powered Rocket Contest that will have the launches done tomorrow in North Branch, MN. There will be 19 teams launching tomorrow - yikes! The MIAC is well represented with Augsburg, Bethel, Concordia, Gustavus, and Macalester. Other notables mentioned here would be St. Thomas and Whitewater. Some of the bigger schools include NDSU, University of Iowa, Austin Peay, and three teams from the U of MN. It's gonna be a fun day launching tomorrow - could easily end up being over 50 or 60 flights.

Go Bethel!

Quote from: WashedUp on May 15, 2025, 10:59:22 AM

Quote from: faunch on May 14, 2025, 07:18:50 PM

Quote from: GoldandBlueBU on May 14, 2025, 03:57:52 PM

Quote from: hazzben on May 14, 2025, 02:37:01 PMSounds like the MIAC Championship game might still be on the chopping block. Mtgs ongoing but a lot of coaches want to get rid of the rematch games and just play a real round robin.

As in - it might be cut this year still?

So all 9 MIAC teams would be scrambling to find a 10th game? That sounds very MIAC-like.

They wouldn't need to find a game, they'd all play each other.  SJU would play St. Olaf week 11, since those two aren't currently scheduled to play.  Carleton would play Concordia, etc.

So BU would end with St. Scholastica - that would be interesting, as BU hasn't played them since 2013 when they met in the Metrodome in the first week of the playoffs that year.

Quote from: BiggieSmalls on March 29, 2025, 11:13:19 PMMIAC 2025 schedules:

Augsburg: https://athletics.augsburg.edu/sports/football/schedule/2025
Bethel: https://athletics.bethel.edu/sports/football/schedule/2025
Carleton: https://athletics.carleton.edu/sports/football/schedule/2025
Concordia: https://www.gocobbers.com/sports/fball/2025-26/schedule
Gustavus: https://gogusties.com/sports/football/schedule/2025
Hamline: https://hamlineathletics.com/sports/football/schedule/2025
Macalester: https://athletics.macalester.edu/sports/football/schedule/2025

Not posted yet: The 3 Saints (Olaf, John's, and Scholastica)

Was listening to the latest podcast while catching up on the posts here.

Go Hawks!

So it seems apparent that the MIAC is letting teams schedule their one non-con game in the first two weeks of the season. Also noticed the championship games start at noon while adding it to my fall calendar. Anybody know off-hand where to find out which teams will be hosting?  Inquiring minds are curious.

Very busy this time of year getting rockets into the air with the BU Rocket Club. Also, the company I worked for was bought out. I got to keep my job with no real changes - so, very grateful for that.

Finally had a chance to listen to the last podcast because I've had a tumultuous 10 days. I had a high school buddy pass very unexpectedly while taking a nap on Friday the 3rd, whose funeral was on Wednesday in New York State, South of Buffalo. Then on Sunday the 5th, one of our good friend's wife also passed from cancer. She had just been diagnosed in November, so it also was rather abrupt. Make sure that those you love know it because you never know when it will be the last time for them to hear it from you.

It was a very nice way for Matt Jung to finish his time at Bethel by being selected as the D3 Football Defensive player of the year.

Go Vikes?