Any way you spin it, these guys are jerks
spinning
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If you live in the New York metropolitan area, you've probably been hearing about the case of two Wall Street types who got into a fight during a spin class at a fancy Upper East Side gym last summer.
On Monday, a jury acquitted Christopher Carter of assault charges stemming from the incident in which he allegedly attacked Stuart Sugarman, who was making loud and obnoxious outbursts as they worked out.
Carter repeatedly told Sugarman to shut the f*** up, and was rebuffed. Finally, when he couldn't stand it anymore, Carter got up grabbed Sugarman's stationary bike by the handlebars, lifted it up and pushed it into a wall with Sugarman astride it, then dropped it.
Sugarman went on riding and completed the class, but afterwards he decided he had to go to the hospital, and claimed that he suffered a herniated disc as a result of the attack. The jury found Carter not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing in the incident, but Sugarman still plans to file civil actions against Carter and the Equinox fitness club.
My spinning instructor at World Gym, Brian Mahoney, didn't mince words when I asked him what he thought of the case. "I think that they are both jerks and the instructor should have handled this before it got out of hand! All three of them are wrong!" Brian said.
Here's my take on it: In most spin classes there's loud music playing, and if you have enough excess energy to yell loud enough to be heard, then you're just not working hard enough!
Fortunately, we've got a nice bunch of people in our class. Everyone's there for one reason: to get exercise, not to make spectacles of themselves. And even if a couple of loud jerks should infiltrate the class, I'm sure Brian, who's a former Marine, would be capable of handling it!
Here's the New York Times story about the verdict:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/nyregion/03spin.html
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on 6/5/2008
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