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Dan Chief Pontificator
Joined: 22 Mar 1999 Posts: 9334 Location: Salem, OR
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Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 1:44 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: | I believe 60 meters comes out to 65 yards. |
65.62 to be a bit more precise... Which brings me back to my question, where did you get 65 yards?? You converted the actual distance to a different unit of measurement to make some point about it being an odd distance, but it's only odd after the conversion... That's true for every other distance in the sport! Why would 55m have been any more sensible?
Dan _________________ phpbb:include($_GET[RFI]) |
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PELLMELL Water Boy
Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Posts: 12
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Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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Dan wrote: | Quote: | I believe 60 meters comes out to 65 yards. |
65.62 to be a bit more precise... Which brings me back to my question, where did you get 65 yards?? You converted the actual distance to a different unit of measurement to make some point about it being an odd distance, but it's only odd after the conversion... That's true for every other distance in the sport! Why would 55m have been any more sensible?
Dan |
I hate meters, the only reason i mentioned 55 meters is because its close to 60 yards, and i can relate to that. _________________ A CLOSED MOUTH GATHERS NO FOOT. |
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Dan Chief Pontificator
Joined: 22 Mar 1999 Posts: 9334 Location: Salem, OR
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Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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So, I take it 100m is also a non-sensical distance?
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PELLMELL Water Boy
Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Posts: 12
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Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 3:58 pm Post subject: Topic |
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Dan wrote: | So, I take it 100m is also a non-sensical distance?
Dan |
Dan im not looking for a fight, but man you sure are sarcastic. Its just my opinion. I mentioned before that im a great deal older then any of you, and although i still enjoy our sport to me the metric system is not my cup of tea. When i ran it was yards, feet and inches. If by your hostile attitude you dont want me as a member just say so, and ill leave, no hard feelings. _________________ A CLOSED MOUTH GATHERS NO FOOT. |
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Dan Chief Pontificator
Joined: 22 Mar 1999 Posts: 9334 Location: Salem, OR
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Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 4:24 pm Post subject: |
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I'm not trying to be hostile, just trying to figure out what you were getting at. Every distance is pretty much arbitrary when all is said and done. I don't see why you find the 60m any less sensical than other distances or even the alternative you proposed...
I don't know why I have to keep explaining this, but anything that passes by me which doesn't make sense is going to be met with my best attempt at a logical analysis. If people are disturbed when their statements are analyzed in that fashion, then don't make them, especially not in public where thicker skin is a pre-requisite. People need to be a bit less sensitive. I'm not picking any favorites or looking to hurt people's feelings, just doing my part to dispell off the cuff marks that don't hold water... If I say something stupid, I fully expect someone else to point it out.
Dan _________________ phpbb:include($_GET[RFI]) |
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Conway Olympic Medalist
Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Posts: 3570 Location: Northen California
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Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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I ran yards for a great deal of time ... Then had to switch to meters ... I am not crazy about meters, centimeters and the rest BUT that is how this sport is measured ... So I have adapted ... That's just the way things are ... To discuss them any other way (at least as far as races are measured) seems rather futile ... Now discussion of field events imperialy I can understand ... _________________ Conway
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Justin Varsity
Joined: 08 Oct 2001 Posts: 312 Location: London
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Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 10:07 am Post subject: |
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It's a bit rich to say something as aggressive as "does anyone else think 65 yards is a dumb distance to compete at" and then get all upset when someone demurs.
No-one races 65y, they race 60m. I doubt anyone thought for a split second about what the imperial conversion would be when setting the distances in the sport. The only really stupid distance is 55m, a race no-one else in the world runs. I assume this was so as to keep close to 60y times following the NCAA's conversion to metric, but the same was not done for other events so I fail to see the point.
I have plenty of sympathy for Americans faced with field event measurements in metric, but none at all for complaints about metric distances on the track. How hard is it to work out that 400m is around a quarter mile? The USA is the only nation with this problem; even here in the country that invented Imperial measurements (hence the name!) we have no trouble mixing metric and imperial - I buy petrol in litres, beer in pints, measure long distances in miles, medium ones in metres and short ones in either inches or centimetres. Refusing to 'understand' 60m is just imbecilic; expecting the sport to adjust to accomodate one country in which track has only minority support is simply arrogance of a sort which ... hmmm, perhaps I won't go there, US vs the World is a contentious enough issue right now already.
As Conway says, the sport is and always has been metric - every Olympics since 1896 has been metric - in 1900 they even had a 60m!
Why 400m for a track? Because it fits around a standard size pitch (whether for gridiron, soccer, rubgy or whatever) and is thus perfect for a multi-use stadium. Why 200m indors? Because it's practical given venue sizes (ie large halls). Why 60m indoors? Because it fits inside a 200m oval. Not that it matters. As Dan says, all distances are essentially arbitrary - what matters is who gets to the finish line first, not how far the finish line is from the start in ones own personal measurement system.
Justin |
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Dan Chief Pontificator
Joined: 22 Mar 1999 Posts: 9334 Location: Salem, OR
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Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 10:45 am Post subject: |
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Good to hear a non-dissenting voice for a change.
The only other explanation I could come up with for 55m is it's half of the 110m used for the men's hurdles, but that's a stretch seeing as how the 110m doesn't make a whole lot of sense on its own merit...
Like Justin, I'm completely used to miles for long distances and meters/kilometers for medium ones. I'd be clueless (without first doing a quick calculation) if asked how many kilometers it is to drive from here to so and so, but the measurement system seems perfectly natural for T&F distances. Probably because I don't need to know what it converts to, just that that's how far the race is... Where I get into trouble is having to convert field events to something more familiar, i.e. Imperial, as everyone "goes their own distance." The point being, the 200m could be 187.37943218m for all I care, and it would basically be the same event. Times would be a bit faster, but that's about it.
Dan _________________ phpbb:include($_GET[RFI]) |
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Conway Olympic Medalist
Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Posts: 3570 Location: Northen California
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Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 9:55 pm Post subject: |
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USA v the rest of the World ... Now somehow doesn't that seem like it has always been that way !!! Not that I agree mind you ... Unfortunately we do tend to get a little caught up in ourselves over here ... But sport is sport and while we have had the likes of Edwin Moses, Evelyn Ashford, Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson - among a host of others - we did not invent track and field ... And when we don't show up the show goes on !!!! So it behooves thsoe who like the sport to get a Little Green Book from Track and Field News and move forward ... My Palm Pilot actually has a conversion program on it and I take it everywhere ... Never know when a track meet might break out !!! LOL _________________ Conway
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Dan Chief Pontificator
Joined: 22 Mar 1999 Posts: 9334 Location: Salem, OR
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Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 10:11 pm Post subject: |
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It's a bit ironic that the country where the sport arguably suffers the most in terms of popularity is the one typically claiming the rest of the world should change its ways...
My HP graphing calculator is quite nice for conversions, but I've never really considered lugging it around to meets. It would probably be more use than I ever truly got out of it in school, though.
Dan _________________ phpbb:include($_GET[RFI]) |
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Conway Olympic Medalist
Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Posts: 3570 Location: Northen California
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Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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Dan wrote: | It's a bit ironic that the country where the sport arguably suffers the most in terms of popularity is the one typically claiming the rest of the world should change its ways...
Dan |
Yeah ... With the primary reason given being lack of understanding and of course the good old metric system gets the blame ... Sad state of affairs ... Of course the sport world wide could use a dose of good marketing ... But that's for another thread .... _________________ Conway
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