(12-06-2019 11:07 AM)wewererebels Wrote:  I don't want to underestimate the chances of UT Arlington athletics, or for that matter, to slight the efforts of the other entities that are striving to send humans to Mars, but I think this could be a pretty evenly matched competition.

(12-26-2019 02:23 PM)wewererebels Wrote:  

(12-06-2019 11:07 AM)wewererebels Wrote:  I don't want to underestimate the chances of UT Arlington athletics, or for that matter, to slight the efforts of the other entities that are striving to send humans to Mars, but I think this could be a pretty evenly matched competition.

Here I go replying to myself...It appears the Spacex activity at Boca Chica has slowed somewhat since the Starship prototype I fuel tank blew its top during a pressure test. Since then, E. Musk has decided to abandon that "mark one" ship, as well as its sister ship in Florida, and proceed to build the "mark three" craft in BC. Lots of infrastructure work has ensued at BC and at the Roberts Road site in Florida, and much of the crew that was working on "mark two" has relocated from Cocoa Beach to help with work on the "mark three" ship at the BC Texas site. Less of the BC work is being accomplished out in the open, so it is becoming harder to tell what progress is being made.

Meanwhile, in Arlington, all work or progress towards re-starting football at UTA is likewise being done behind the scenes, out of public view. Whether the secrecy is being caused by fear of another publicly conspicuous failure, or whether it reflects a concern to keep all very sensitive steps being taken out of the public eye, one wonders how the fan base is reacting. Is it hopefulness, disdain, indifference, contempt, despair, optimism, or a combination of all these emotions? What is the half life of our interest in - much less obsession with - the future story of UTA Mavericks football? And why the heck did UTA join the WAC and then join the Sun Belt if we did not have the absolute commitment to returning to the gridiron?

Would a college football team be viable on Mars? I imagine scheduling and travel expenses for visiting teams would be similar to what happens at U of Hawaii, although players would likely need to get a free redshirt year or two for travel time.

(03-15-2020 05:52 PM)runamuck Wrote:  the current university president has stepped down so all bets are off. he was either not liberal enough for some powerful faculty members or was too far the other way and was evidently forced out. we can hope that the new guy might be more receptive to the notion of a full sports offering at one of the state's largest universities..

(03-17-2020 08:56 PM)UTArlingtonMaverick Wrote:  Apparently there are a lot of people who think Kharbhari is over-bearing and a micro-manager. On the plus side, he is a high-powered researcher and he knows how to stoke the research fires. The amount of research the University does has continued to shoot-up under his administration. Passed $100 million in 2019. Way past. Something like 117 or 119 or so. He has brought in a lot of talent. Among these are a total of 6 or 7 national academy members on the faculty, which is pretty impressive. The university moved from R2 to R1, and is on the cusp of being re-classified by the state from emerging research to research, which are prestige items.

The physical campus has continued to see massive improvements under President K, e.g., $125 million SEIR building, The Commons, West Parking Garage, Career Center, grand north entrance of the University Center, a new faculty support and computer center building under construction, a new $72 million social work and nursing building to start construction next year, along with enormous landscape and campus edge improvements. UTA is a pretty damn impressive place now.

Sports-wise, he lives in the same environment as all presidents we have had and will have. They support success of our current sports line-up, but they are not compensated to build a football team and the external and internal pressure to do so is weak, despite some truly great guys. Presidents move the needle here by accomplishing metrics which are under their control (research, student success, faculty quality) and for which they are measured.

We get to Pluto first

(03-01-2020 05:19 PM)wewererebels Wrote:  

(12-26-2019 02:23 PM)wewererebels Wrote:  

(12-06-2019 11:07 AM)wewererebels Wrote:  I don't want to underestimate the chances of UT Arlington athletics, or for that matter, to slight the efforts of the other entities that are striving to send humans to Mars, but I think this could be a pretty evenly matched competition.

Here I go replying to myself...It appears the Spacex activity at Boca Chica has slowed somewhat since the Starship prototype I fuel tank blew its top during a pressure test. Since then, E. Musk has decided to abandon that "mark one" ship, as well as its sister ship in Florida, and proceed to build the "mark three" craft in BC. Lots of infrastructure work has ensued at BC and at the Roberts Road site in Florida, and much of the crew that was working on "mark two" has relocated from Cocoa Beach to help with work on the "mark three" ship at the BC Texas site. Less of the BC work is being accomplished out in the open, so it is becoming harder to tell what progress is being made.

Meanwhile, in Arlington, all work or progress towards re-starting football at UTA is likewise being done behind the scenes, out of public view. Whether the secrecy is being caused by fear of another publicly conspicuous failure, or whether it reflects a concern to keep all very sensitive steps being taken out of the public eye, one wonders how the fan base is reacting. Is it hopefulness, disdain, indifference, contempt, despair, optimism, or a combination of all these emotions? What is the half life of our interest in - much less obsession with - the future story of UTA Mavericks football? And why the heck did UTA join the WAC and then join the Sun Belt if we did not have the absolute commitment to returning to the gridiron?

Would a college football team be viable on Mars? I imagine scheduling and travel expenses for visiting teams would be similar to what happens at U of Hawaii, although players would likely need to get a free redshirt year or two for travel time.

Spacex had a setback Friday, as their Prototype 1a Starship blew up on the pad during pressurization tests. I'm not sure if this puts UTA Football in the lead, or merely postpones the inevitable triumph of the rocket people. We shall have to closely monitor the situation, although telemetry from Arlington is lacking, and Bocachicagal has not been following any progress being made by College Sports Solutions.