AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic, Global Warming and Happy New Year

Yes, tis I, with balaclava 

Those of you from the frozen tundra are probably laughing at us about now, but we just hit a new low, not seen in over 20 years. The temperature dropped about 43° in a very short time period and the winds picked up to about 15 mph. This, of course, presented a rare opportunity to see how well my winter cycling clothing functioned at a -15°F wind chill. Quite well, thank you. Great way to start the new year.

I’m no stranger to the cold. Back in the ‘80’s, I spent the better part of the winter living in a GP tent at 9,000 ft. at the USMC Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, CA. It goes down to -20°F in January and warms up to 0° around March. The Sierra’s aren’t as bad as Colorado. At Ron Beckman’s place, it was about -29°F, presenting some challenges for starting up our trucks as we headed to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl.

For this year’s attendees of the Lion’s Den Invitational, we had 92 Challenge Competitors who provided the pre-game entertainment on the West Special Events Plaza. The photo array may be viewed on our Flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/49375068@N07/). This being our first appearance at a winter sports event, we were pleasantly surprised at the ease with which this event transpired. The only thing that could have been better would have been an absence of the wind. At 20kts, we could not drop the banners or put down the carpets.

So, this event marks a new paradigm for the Challenge with events around the year. For example, next month will see us at the Daytona 500 for speed week. Coming off of our CBS Sports Spectacular show and the attendant publicity and media coverage of the Cotton Bow, we’re off to a truly great year. And, it would appear that we pleased the organizers to the point that they suggested this become an annual ritual.

Virtually the entire complement of Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge competitors participated in the unfurling of the flag

If you’re just starting to get your feet wet, welcome to one of the greatest fraternities within the fire service. You’ll never find a better bunch of guys with whom to associate. As evidenced by all the smiling faces above, there’s not a happier band of brothers anywhere. Welcome to the club!

First Airing of the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge on CBS Sports

The first airing of this year’s World Challenge XXII from Las Vegas of the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge will take place on Sunday, December 29 at 11:00PM (2300hrs) EST, 2000hrs PST. Check your local cable listings for channel and times.

The shows are divided into 2 parts, each :30 minutes. The Individual Championship will be followed by the Relays.

World Challenge XXII Telecast

While we do not have the air date/time for this year’s competition, we do have a list of Canadian providers who carry CBS Sports and the channel number:

Cogeco – 744

Bell Express Vue (HD channel 1432, SD channel 413)

Rogers – 416

BellAliant – 479

Sasktel – 425

Eastlink – 134

AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic Confirmed List

 Cotton Bowl - Confirmed List

This is everyone who has been confirmed as coming to the Cotton Bowl. If you are planning on coming, and are not on this list, please contact Daniel (dpace@ontargetchallenge.com) as soon as possible.

RELAYS

 

Team Horry Hy-Conn

Carlsbad Fire Dirty 5

Oakville Fire Team Levitt-Safety

Montgomery Blue

Mr. Restore

Waukegan Fire Over 40

Team So-Flo/Ridebackwards

USAFA 
Arlington FD

INDIVIDUALS

Jeff Leonard Hayward Fire Department

Louis Boiteau Hamilton

William Gates Team USAFA

Aaron Makkinga Shell Scotford ERT

Joseph Waggett Missoula Fire

Matt Tavaglione

Amber Bowman Central York Fire

Al Ertzner Fort Calhoun fire

Jimmy Rogers

Bob Russell Whiteman Crash Fire Group

David Bowman Charlotte Fire Dept

Brad Johnston Darlington Nuclear FD

Patrick Kraft Team USAFA

Daniel Garner Pittsfield Fire Department

Dean Morrow Hamilton

Tommie Osborn Delray Beach

Thomas Hamberger
Chris Cerci
Walt White 

Updated Dec 13th

Cancer, Toxic Chemicals and Firefighting

I used to wonder why California seemingly lead the nation in establishing flame-retardant treatment of clothing, fabrics and furniture. Seemingly, every piece of furniture sold in the US (and Canada) had a label that touted the fact that it met the stringent CA requirements for being fire retardant.

This HBO show opens with San Francisco fire captain Tony Stefani (ret) discussing his love for the job and how he ended up battling a rare form of cancer. [Back in the early 1990's Tony was instrumental in bringing me to SFFD for one of our week-long Certified Fitness Coordinator training programs.] Ninety minutes later, you're seething over the fact that the chemical industry has attempted to pull the wool over everyone's eyes about the benefits of chemical treatment of fabrics and foams.

This is a fascinating story of how the Chicago Tribune started to connect the dots. Fire departments were duped, along with ordinary citizens by the chemical industry with assistance of the Tobacco Institute.

Back in the last century, we thought little about the residual effects of smoke on our bunker gear. You could always tell when there had been a worker as soon as you walked into the engine bay. Dirty bunker gear was a sign of machismo. Only rookies would have what looked like pristine gear.

This show should be required viewing for all firefighters. As of this posting, I don’t have a universal solution for dissemination through the fire service, but at some point, posting this on YouTube would be one. Tribune Media Services owns the copyright and may be persuaded that this belongs in the public domain. I’m on it.

Cotton Bowl Classic Post No 7- Course Helpers

We’ve been offered help from many of you, and we greatly appreciate the offers. Presently, the AFD is doing a solicitation from their ranks. We’ll be looking for 12 Course Re-cockers per side.

We do have a standby list of guys who would like to move up to the racing ranks if a vacancy occurs. Again, keep in mind that this event is NOT open to the public - in that you have to have a ticket to get inside the perimeter.

We will be on the west Special Event Plaza. The timeline is being moved by about 15 minutes. There will be a rallying point identified where the shuttle will begin each run to the event.

World Challenge XXIII- Heads Up

My usual practice is to not make any announcement about the specifics of the World Challenge before things are fixed, as in a signed contract.

I’m very sensitive to the need for bidding for leave a year in advance. Presently, we’re negotiating with LiftMaster to hold World Challenge XXIII at the Sprint Cup finals in Phoenix, November 8 & 9 (Saturday and Sunday).

There are a lot of details to be addressed before we go “hot” with the news. However, I get it- that you’d like to get the time off to compete. Most departments give seniority rights to leave requests in December. So, the heads up.

One possibility is the Wild Card Eliminations would be held downtown Phoenix and we would move to the track on Friday. This is being explored and may not happen. That means we might start on Monday. But, that could change.

There are no secret negotiations or other source of information. This is the official site for the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge and the first place that the official schedule will be posted. As soon as we know it, you will also know it.

Having just said that, we are not liable for changes of venues or airplane tickets.