[USMA:36507] Re: Contractors resisting metrication (was April 1)

[G Stanley Doore]

Athletic facilities probably will stay the same.   In a few years, Ohio Wesleyan University will  build a new indoor swimming pool and it will be 50 yards long.  The response I got from the OWU president was that the NCAA standard is 50 yards (and other college leagues too) and it will not change.  I suggested building the pool to the 50 m international standard and use an insert for 50 yard competition.  The suggestion was rejected because of the NCAA standard.  You can't convert a 50 yd pool to 50 m without reconstruction, but you easily can convert a 50 m pool to 50 yards by using an insert.   Competition in our local outdoor swimming pool summer league uses metres.  We reduce the 50 yard length to 25 metres by using an insert to meet the league's requirements for metric.  The outdoor pool was built in the 1960s.  Some indoor public pools are now 50 metres.   We need to get to the NCAA and encourage it to advocate 50 metre pools and use inserts.  That's the only way to convert swimming competition to metric and Olympic and international standards.   Incidentally, I set my car navigation system to metric.  Metric is much easier to use than miles when trying to locate nearby places since 100 m equals the length of a 100 yard American football field (not soccer) plus one end zone.  Also, 400 metres equals a quarter mile (440 yards) , etc.    Regards,  Stan Doore   ----- Original Message ----- From: Mike Millet To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Friday, April 07, 2006 11:26 PM Subject: [USMA:36505] Re: Contractors resisting metrication (was April 1) That would be a good idea, although it'd take some getting used to :). Speaking of terms that people should eventaully adapt to using, when do  we get to switch our football (American football not soccer) fields from yards to meters? That's probably the one area I hope stays the same. Some things are sacred :). Mike -- "The boy is dangerous, they all sense it why can't you?"