Let me first say that I had a blast in Atlanta and enjoyed every minute of it (even the last minute of the 1000), so this list is somewhat tongue in cheek:
10. No Starbucks within walking distance of the Hampton Inn.
9. The taste of an Italian soda called "Beverly" at the Coca Cola Museum; it reminded me of viscous lidocaine--what is with that?
8. The stairway access to the pool deck from the stands.
7. Missing out on a medal in the 200 free relay because eight of the teams finishing ahead of us were from "regional" clubs representing entire states.
6. Two swimmers from TXLA trying to recruit my 87 year old father to join their team instead of swimming for Nitro.
5. No Starbucks within walkiing distance of the pool.
4. Turning at the bulkhead, although I nailed all of mine.
3. That one starter who shall remain nameless.
2. Not getting to meet Rich Abrahams, among others.
1. It ended.
Former Member
Dave, Bill, you two don't seem to have much problem with socialism any other time...why here?
Just wondering?
i don't have a problem with this, in fact i am delighted with your transformation.
i might just recommend that usms make you the honorary czar of benevolence.
Good one, Chaos! I had no issues with the warm up pool on any day. Spending a bunch of money on a temp pool seems like a colossal waste of money.
One solution is to use a "temp" Myrtha pool for warm-ups, but ensure that Myrtha has already found a buyer for the pool after the meet.
We're looking to put in a new 50m pool in our little town here out west, and the cost of a new pool is +/- $1.5 mln. A few months ago, we had a shot to buy a "used" pool (I think from WC Trials) for less than $1.0 mln.
i don't have a problem with this, in fact i am delighted with your transformation.
i might just recommend that usms make you the honorary czar of benevolence.
As long as you and Bill will be the Jesters!!!
Jeff,
On the topic of host teams not making any money, why is Nationals so cheap? If Nationals costs $50 or $200, it has very little impact on my decision to swim.
Almost every aspect of my trip to Nationals cost more than the entry fee when taken individually (getting to ATL, get home from ATL, parking at hotel, parking at pool, food, each night at the hotel) all cost more than the entry fee.
As for not having advanced notice of participation, open registration earlier and provide an incentive to make the decision sooner. $10 isn't much of an incentive.
Speaking of this, don't forget to sign up as a Gold Medal Sponsor if you can afford to at any Nationals you attend!
It is the best value around.It's well worth it just to be able to eat at the hospitality area without having to search for food and at some Nats the food is outstanding.(At Atlanta the food was uneven.Some days excellent though,see the above posts about food complaints.)
From Janet (swimsuit addict):
"But I do have one suggestion about warmup pools. One thing future hosts might consider is including in the pre-meet info a list of other pools that are open to the public and either reasonably near the competition venue or accessible by public trans. At this nationals and other big meets (worlds at Stanford, IGLA in DC) I've driven or walked to other pools to warm up when my events fell later in the day, and that has worked out well."
I remember the list at Palo Alto...it helped a lot to get into other pools at times! I brought my ymca card to Atlanta hoping to find a ymca (I had heard about wamups being in the diving well and i thought "2000 people!") The Y close by was a "YOUTH Y"...well, I'm not youthful and plus I had trouble getting a good warmup so I had probs with turns at the bulkhead! My own fault for not coming at 7 a.m! (I raced in the afernoons) :D
