One of the very last posts of 2001 was from me on New Year's Eve. I don't remember whether the title was mine or the administrator who decided that it was a sub topic of something remotely connected with the subject that I was proposing. But, no matter.
Since the change of format this week to the new system, I don't know how to check it out or whether or not it makes any difference. However, after two weeks of no response of any kind and since it was my prerogative, being my birthday, the rare one that is divisable by both sevenses and elevenses, I went back to the subject to give it a boost, hoping that someone would give it some kind of notice. But, alas...
With Ground Hog's (or is it s'?) Day looming around the next corner I'm very much determined to thrust the subject forward a third time in the hope that it will get some serious attention. And it is about time whatever way you choose to take the title.
I don't remember everything I wrote the first two times but I'll simply make the proposal without any but the barest essential elaboration.
As soon as possible post all swimming times in seconds only!
Eliminate the use of minutes, or hours entirely. Having just yesterday having competed in the National Championship Event, The Hour Swim, (a Mail-in Event) I could consent to keeping the title. But for all listing and taking of times it would be 100% beneficial to use seconds only.
The only reason to oppose the notion that I can think of would be related to the existing hardware. But transpositions would be easily done until the mass of the hardware is ready to conform on its own. My guess being that the computer timing systems would need only a nudge to adapt.
Sprinters, of course, wouldn't understand what I'm talking about. But all swimmers who have a use for splits in their calculations run into stumbling blocks, not to mention common errors, that are bound to creep in whenever minutes become part of the results.
I have one other helpful suggestion to make on the subject, and because of the opportunity, why not... If Splits, for example, of a 200 or a 1500 were listed in reverse order, it would be infinitely easier and more instructive to see their value and significance.
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Former Member
If Masters were to adopt the seconds-only concept we'd be entirely out of step with the rest of the world - or, rather, we'd be adding confusion every time a person wanted to compare their time to what's being done in other countries, by USA swimmers, in the Olympics etc.
If all of swimming, worldwide, were to change we'd eliminate the above problems but you'd still have the watches. Right now virtually any watch that claims stopwatch functions is a swimming stopwatch. But, in a seconds-only environment we'd have to find and buy special swimming watches (of course the triathletes in our programs would revel in the opportunity to purchase one more piece of equipment).
If all sports adopted seconds-only timing we'd eliminate all the above problems but we still have spectator appeal. Is 32,000 a good Ironman time? Not sure, better get out the calculator. Imagine John Madden verbally stepping all over the "120-second warning" in the SuperBowl - or, worse, MISSING the game due errors trying to figure out what time the game was really going to start in your time zone.
Mebbe if we got the whole world to switch over to seconds-only timing for everything....yeah.....THAT's the ticket!
If Masters were to adopt the seconds-only concept we'd be entirely out of step with the rest of the world - or, rather, we'd be adding confusion every time a person wanted to compare their time to what's being done in other countries, by USA swimmers, in the Olympics etc.
If all of swimming, worldwide, were to change we'd eliminate the above problems but you'd still have the watches. Right now virtually any watch that claims stopwatch functions is a swimming stopwatch. But, in a seconds-only environment we'd have to find and buy special swimming watches (of course the triathletes in our programs would revel in the opportunity to purchase one more piece of equipment).
If all sports adopted seconds-only timing we'd eliminate all the above problems but we still have spectator appeal. Is 32,000 a good Ironman time? Not sure, better get out the calculator. Imagine John Madden verbally stepping all over the "120-second warning" in the SuperBowl - or, worse, MISSING the game due errors trying to figure out what time the game was really going to start in your time zone.
Mebbe if we got the whole world to switch over to seconds-only timing for everything....yeah.....THAT's the ticket!
