I came form California and I'm overweight. In fact I didn't take up swimming until again until I spent 3 years in Arizona. Now, there was a country club pool I could have swam there but I didn't. In fact in my area in Arizona there are public pools or health club pools as just are ready as there was in California. I think that many people back east are probably are into other sports more like figure Skating, in fact a top figure skater name Sasha Cohen went back there to get better coaching and a better facility. Also, just because Long Island isn't into swimming as much as the Pacific region doesn't mean they don't workout. Also, I enjoy indoor pools, something that both California and Arizona lack. The weather is not always rosy in either states. There are sometimes bad rain storms in California in the January or February period and Monsoon conditions in Arizona in the summer. The New Yorkers are a little wiser to built the indoor pools, in Tempe we had rain problems and the 800 was delayed until the next day and the 200 IM relays got cancel. Now back east and in the mid-west where pools are mainly indoors they could have continue on with the meet.
Former Member
Originally posted by KenChertoff
Hmm -- now you're changing the challenge.
First you said it couldn't be one at all.
...
That's what I was told when inquiring.
Originally posted by KenChertoff
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But, I went from the GWB bus station home -- two blocks from Asphalt Green -- about two weeks ago in about a half hour, although sometimes it takes 45 minutes. I've done the same trip by car and sometimes it's taken more than an hour. (I have a brother who lives in Tenafly.)
See what I mean now?
I told you, attention deficit disorder:
Originally posted by Ion Beza
And how long it takes this?
(Asphalt Green in New York was the closest good Masters program).
Here in San Diego, I don't wait for buses, pay toll bridges, and parkings.
From my place I can access three Masters programs with 50 meters pools, in less than 25 minutes;
and that's only what I am already familiar with;
a Southern Pacific Masters newsletter I received a few days ago, tells me about facilities in Carlsbad, Solana Beach, Rancho Something, Rancho Something Else, Vista, Chula Vista and more.
Let's not talk about swimming time. Many people in California don't workout in swimming or other sports. And just maybe those other states prefer other sports. Figure skating is popular and so is hockey back east. In some parts of California like other little places like Truckee there is not much swimming or other activities since they are small isolated places. And back east they have museums and libraries that are considered better than the west coast. Tara Torres did to go back to New York City. She believes in being in shape and there are other ways besides swimming. And Long Island has one of the best pools in the United States, I don't know if they have as much practice time as your club does, but in USAswimming they beat a lot of teams from California.
Ion -- I think your East Coast experience may be a little outdated, at least as it applies to New York. Several new pools have opened in the past year or so (mostly at local colleges). My team rents a pool at one, for ten practices available per week. And, of course, you know about the Asphalt Green Aqua Center, on the upper east side, and the Long Island facility. So the opportunities for training are better than you may remember.
You're right about the parking situation in New York, though, which is only getting worse. But we do have extensive public transportation. And, yes, some people in public lap swims don't know (or care) about proper lane etiquette.
If we are not talking about "...swimming time..." but about athletic lifestyle in general, Eastern US still doesn't match Western US in my book.
New York for example, like I wrote in my post above, doesn't have parking space at the facility you go to, but has parking in private garages at $9 per hour in 1999 when I was there, and sure has too many toll roads, too much criminality in every minute of the day (a gas station attendant for example gave me a few cents change back to a payment of $20 for a $9.xx lying that I gave him a $10, a car that scratched my car on a ramp had had the driver taking off with the police officer after I called the police -talk about New York corruption, exactly like it is reported in newspapers-, a speeding ticket I got was erased when I manipulated the New York corruption system through a Master swimmer friend who is a lawyer, there were bugs galore and no ventilation in my expensive rent apartment, the banks had had protection bars at their customer windows inside their facility -"Is this a war zone?" I asked the cashier-), and too many obese people going on weekends to the mall and jamming the streets.
Pools are rare: Asphalt Green in Manhattan, Nassau in Long Island.
There is no parking and no alternative public transportation to Asphalt Green.
Granted, I heard Los Angeles in California is like New York, but I am comparing here New York with California's Silicon Valley and San Diego.
Dara Torres trained for the 2000 Olympics at Santa Clara and Stanford in California.
She went to New York where the TV networks are headquartered for her business career only, not for her athletic career.
Coming from Europe like I did, New York and New Jersey are a downgrade in civilization, they are third-world style where quality and harmony require extra money to spend.
Quality, harmony, beauty in an healthy life are in my today's menu, on my everyday's menu, at a regular price here in San Diego.
Originally posted by Rain Man
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Hey, where in San Diego can you go where within a 2 minute walk you can watch a movie, see a play, listen to an opera, enjoy a musical, watch professional hockey, watch an NBA game, or listen to a rock concert? Culture my good sir is defined by New York City.
Also by Paris, France. I know about Paris' art.
The thing is, this thread is about whether the most fit people, not the most cultured people, are in California.
I am pointing out with specific examples, that fitness, outdoors fitness, is way more accessible in California's Silicon Valley and in San Diego, than it is in New York.
To access good fitness in New York, one has to search first with a flashlight in that maze, then one has to travel a long and expensive commute to it.
Is Cynthia going to credit me with starting this inane thread?
Sheesh!
For the record, I have exercised and lived at least three months (sometimes 5 years) in the following cities: San Diego, Monterey, Virginia Beach, Key West, Philadelphia, Miami, Washington D.C.. Baltimore, Hamilton (NY), New York, Patchogue (NY), Chicago, South Bend (IN), Boulder (CO), Altoona (PA), Los Angeles, Cupertino (CA), San Francisco, Menlo Park (CA), and some places that I think I have forgotten. I was even born in Corpus Christi, TX, making me an official Texan.
In every one of these places I have found fit people and excellent ways to get daily exercise. In every one of these places I have found unfit people (sometimes it was me.) In every one of these places are people that will participate in internet flame wars.
Finally, I did wish that the bay area would get the nod for the Olympics, and I actually think it had a better case. But New York's case was excellent also, it will be a great place for the best athletes to gather, and I hope New York gets the nod from the IOC. I have fond memories of romantic times in Little Italy, Chinatown, Times Square, Central Park, Greenwich Village (well, I could have used a little more money, (and I hope I didn't mispell it)) and the subway. A great, international city!
Hey Rain man,
I've been to San Diego. Great place. I think the 2003 USAS convention will held there again, and I intend on going.
Don't want to malign the place because of Silly Ion's gibberish.
New York is great. San Diego is great. To get back to the topic, consider that there are lots of good people in both, whether they work out and stay in shape or not. Who are we to judge them - we've got an obsession with swimming that would make us suspect in their eyes.
But,
> San Diego has
> Ion
and, based on his posts, that's the only thing I can think of that might detract from it.
Enough of this nonsense, I've gotta run a marathon in the morning.
As a moderator of the USMS Discussion Forums, I occasionally receive a report on a post or thread. This thread has been reported with the following comments:
It's not this particular post... It's this entire thread. Discussion and even argument is one thing; hurling nasty insults back and forth is another. This entire thread is what I'd consider "harassment, fighting, and rude".
I think that it's time for the users of the USMS Discussion Forums to establish "Netiquette Guidelines". I hope that contributors to this thread will participate in the new thread that I have started.
Hugh Moore
USMS Communications Committee Chair
