internetter
Postdoc
Posts: 3400
Loc: Los Angeles
Reg: 11-21-04
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12-01-04 10:52 PM - Post#433
Post deleted by internetter
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internetter
Postdoc
Posts: 3400
Loc: Los Angeles
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Lions' Hofstra start delayed
12-01-04 10:59 PM - Post#434
In response to internetter
The games has been postponed until Mon., Feb. 14, right after the P-P weekend.
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palestra38
Professor
Posts: 32803
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Lions' Hofstra start delayed
12-02-04 10:14 AM - Post#435
In response to internetter
Time to get a new driver...no New Yorker in his right mind would risk going Cross Bronx or Bruckner followed by the Whitestone or Throg's Neck instead of the Triboro when traveling from CU to Long Island. The chances of a fatal tie up is far greater going the route this bus took. All it had to go was go right across 125th Street (or 124th if it knew what it was doing) and it's right on Long Island.
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light blue heavy
maximus
Posts: 164
Reg: 11-22-04
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Re: Lions' Hofstra start delayed
12-02-04 01:27 PM - Post#436
In response to palestra38
Totally agreed, p38. Huge mistake there. The key is to get onto LI as fast as possible, since there are so many different potential routes. Every time I've been on the Cross-Bronx its been a disaster.
Though I will say that Throgs Neck is the nicest looking bridge in NYC. Having seen a substantial portion of them from underneath (though not Throgs Neck) makes you respect what a ridiculous engineering marvel the city is.
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penn nation
Professor
Posts: 21193
Reg: 12-02-04
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Re: Lions' Hofstra start delayed
12-02-04 01:55 PM - Post#437
In response to light blue heavy
I agree. I've lived in the Bronx for the last 2 years, and I have avoided the Cross Bronx at all costs--I've never been on it all during this stretch, and for good reason.
Suggestion for Columbia for the next Hofstra game: avoid traffic altogether by taking the MTA to Penn Station, take the LIRR to Hempstead. There's a free Hofstra shuttle that's a short ride away from campus--or they could hire a bus for the short 4-5 minute ride. I've done it before, and it's relatively quick and painless.
I know Penn used to take Amtrak into NYC and take the MTA up to Columbia when playing the Lions on Friday nights before heading up to Cornell. I'm surprised Columbia didn't consider a similar option for this game given traffic conditions in the greater NYC area.
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The Lion King
Senior
Posts: 394
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Lions' Hofstra start delayed
12-02-04 03:17 PM - Post#438
In response to penn nation
The driver was probably inspired by Matt Preston, who always finds a way to fight through traffic.
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BrownAlum
Freshman
Posts: 73
Reg: 11-22-04
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Re: Lions' Hofstra start delayed
12-02-04 04:01 PM - Post#439
In response to The Lion King
Agreed about the Cross Bronx. I grew up in Manhattan and have driven to and through the City tons of times and have only been on the Cross Bronx once, I swore never to do it again. Coincidentally the one time I was on it was on a Ivy road trip which turned into a nightmare.
Regarding the engineering marvel that is NYC. I am always amazed when I drive down the Deegan and approach the section where you cross the river and get onto the GWB. There are roads everywhere, going 80 different directions, amazing.
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Streamers
Professor
Posts: 8220
Loc: NW Philadelphia
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Lions' Hofstra start delayed
12-02-04 05:04 PM - Post#440
In response to light blue heavy
I also grew up in Manhattan and learned to avoid the Cross-Bronx right after I got my driver's license. For my money, the Verazzano-Narrows is the most impressive bridge in NY. Same basic design as the T-Neck, but much bigger. You can thank Robert Moses for both of them.
Back to the point; there is really NO good excuse for a Div. 1 basketball team missing a game across town, even if that town is metro NYC. Although I agree the MTA is probably not the answer in this case, they should have been on the Island a few hours earlier. The good news is that I doubt there were that many ticket holders that were actually inconvenienced... 
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Jon Solomon
T.A.
Posts: 88
Loc: Mercer County, NJ
Reg: 11-22-04
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Re: Lions' Hofstra start delayed
12-02-04 05:15 PM - Post#441
In response to Streamers
This was more than just "a traffic jam." See the following:
"being that i drive to and from work (5 mins. from hofstra) every morning i can attest to how ridiculous the traffic was yesterday. due to a blown over
billboard that shut down the LIE in queens, a blown over tractor-trailer that
closed the long island bound throgs neck bridge, and a blown over light pole
that shut down the northern state pkwy., it took me 2 1/2 hours to get into the city last night. and i go against the flow of rush hour traffic...."
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Anonymous
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Re: Lions' Hofstra start delayed
12-02-04 05:38 PM - Post#442
In response to Jon Solomon
Maybe I'm just lucky (for once) but recently I've found the Cross-Bronx Xway moving better than previous years. Of course accidents will mess up traffic anywhere in NY so you can't blame any one thing.
Still, considering that we just blew the previous game to Stony Brook, I hope it's only silly superstition or unreasonable pessimism that having the very next game postponed due to traffic gives me a feeling of foreboding.
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Old Bear
Postdoc
Posts: 3992
Reg: 11-23-04
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Re: Lions' Hofstra start delayed
12-02-04 05:44 PM - Post#443
In response to Jon Solomon
A few year's back, I attended a Brown-Harvard game in Cambridge on a Fri. night. I was a little surprised when the entire Prov. College BB team walked in. It seems they were playing BC the next day and were spending the night in a Boston hotel. (BC is less than an hour from PC). So the answer for Columbia is to Hofstra the night before.
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light blue heavy
maximus
Posts: 164
Reg: 11-22-04
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Re: Lions' Hofstra start delayed
12-02-04 08:22 PM - Post#444
In response to
a blown over billboard?! thats hefty stuff. I was noticing that it was particularly windy last night, but I didn't know it was THAT bad.
On the other hand, this might be a good thing. Lehigh is decent, but I'd put Hofstra a notch above them. Giving the lions a less difficult opponent might be a good thing here.
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The Lion King
Senior
Posts: 394
Reg: 11-21-04
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NY Post item on aborted Hofstra trip
12-05-04 03:41 PM - Post#445
In response to internetter
Dave Curtis in Sunday's Post:
"Here's a basketball geek's joke of the week: Columbia's 35-mile bus ride to play Hofstra on Wednesday was as slow and effective as former coach Armond Hill's offensive scheme.
"The Lions left Morningside Heights around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, figuring they had plenty of time to reach Hempstead for a 7 p.m. tip-off. But after 40 mph wind gusts and rush-hour traffic clogged the Throgs Neck Bridge, they headed for the Whitestone Expressway as an alternate route to Long Island.
"Unfortunately, what seemed like most of the metropolitan area followed. Stuck on the highway, Columbia coach Joe Jones placed several calls Hofstra coach Tom Pecora, his buddy from their time together as assistants with the Pride.
"'It was impossible traffic,' Jones said. 'We went 13 miles in the span of two hours. One of those days in the city, man.'
"Around 6:30, with the Lions still lingering near the Whitestone's toll booths, the coaches agreed to postpone the game until Valentine's Day. The coaches never discussed a Columbia forfeit loss, but look for the Lions to leave a little earlier come February."
Link is:
http://www.nypost.com/sports/32467.htm
(and I know we're supposed to just give the link, but it will change tomorrow, and with something this short I thought it would be OK to just copy it)
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dperry
Postdoc
Posts: 2214
Loc: Houston, TX
Reg: 11-24-04
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NY traffic and engineering
12-10-04 03:13 AM - Post#446
In response to The Lion King
Quote:
Totally agreed, p38. Huge mistake there. The key is to get onto LI as fast as possible, since there are so many different potential routes. Every time I've been on the Cross-Bronx its been a disaster.
1.) In fairness to whoever selected the route, if I remember rightly, the most direct route from the Triborough to Nassau, the Grand Central Parkway, is not open to buses (thank you, Robert Moses). The other possibility, the BQE, does not have a direct exit going south to the LIE going east. So one would either have to go way out of the way, or get off onto local streets for a protracted journey.
2.) My experience with driving through the New York area en route to many Penn games in New England has taught me that driving in New York is like quantum physics; there are no hard-and-fast rules, just probabilities. There are times when the Cross-Bronx is clear, and when it is, it's the best way to go. Unfortunately, there aren't many times when that is the case. I always just start listening to the traffic stations when I'm halfway through Jersey or Connecticut, and make my decision according to the situation. This particular day sounds like one where nothing was really going to help.
3. The Cross-Bronx is one of the greatest engineering feats of all time, given all the tunnels through hills, bridges over valleys and railroads, elevated lines that have to be held up, etc. Not to mention all of the incredible pieces of interchange sphagetti, all of which are as complicated or more than anything in LA or Texas, and in far less space. The I-95/Henry Hudson, Cross-Bronx/Major Deegan/Harlem River Drive/Alexander Hamilton Bridge, and the Cross-Bronx/Bruckner/Hutchinson/Whitestone/Throgs Neck/New England Thruway (breathe!  ) interchanges are all amazing. Unfortunately, all the money and effort still only produced a three-lane freeway. 
4. For amazing engineering of a rail variety, check out the subway under Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, particularly the elevation diagram.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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columbia92
goober
Posts: 73
Loc: NYC
Reg: 11-22-04
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Re: NY traffic and engineering
12-10-04 11:35 AM - Post#447
In response to dperry
You are correct about the GCP being closed to commercial traffic. In retrospect it may have been easier for the Lions to take the Midtown Tunnel and the LIE, but running a bus through midtown is never advisable at rush hour.
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The Lion King
Senior
Posts: 394
Reg: 11-21-04
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Spectator item on aborted Hofstra trip
12-10-04 02:44 PM - Post#448
In response to The Lion King
Here's yet another rehash of the traffic tie-up, from yesterday's Spectator:
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/12/09/41b7f665c9e24?in_archive=1
The article says: "Columbia teams are not unfamiliar with traffic tie-ups, as they have resulted in many cancelled games over the years around the metropolitan tri-state area." Is it really that common? This is the first one I can remember in basketball, except for snow problems in the winter, and there's not much you can do about that.
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DCAJedi
Masters Student
Posts: 582
Age: 40
Loc: Somewhere.
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Spectator item on aborted Hofstra trip
12-10-04 08:19 PM - Post#449
In response to The Lion King
They were delayed getting down to the Palestra two years ago, IIRC.
| "Here will be an old abusing of God's patience, and the king's English." |
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