Should USA Swimming recruit?

I voted no, but not for the usual reasons. I don't have an ethical, legal or moral problem with the U.S., Australia, or any other country hiring professional swimmers for their teams. I simply think we shouldn't do it now because we don't need that to field competitive teams. We're already like the NY Yankees in swimming. What 's the point of suiting up Roland Schoeman in USA toggs? For the same reason, I am down with Qatar or any other nation trying to kick start their program by hiring some outside talent to make a splash, as it were. The unwritten assumption in this debate is that Americans cheering for "real" Americans is critical to the identity of the Olympics? Why? Yes, nationality can be an effective hook to give us a rooting interest in sports where we know little or nothing. In that sense, it gets people the world over to be mesmerized by athletes we could not have picked out of a police line-up a few weeks earlier. But, other professional sports have long since dropped the idea that every player on the Bears has to be from Chicago, and the fan base seems to be OK with that. Please, oh Tall One, look at the potential effects of this developement. Right now, international athletics are working under a system comparable to the old baseball reserve clause (i.e. even players who have completed a contract with their current team cannot negotiate a new deal with a different team, or play for them, unless their current team trades their "rights" No free agency). You can't switch teams without going through the arduous process of emmigrating and naturalizing. The effect is that there is not so much money in world class swimming (unless you happen to be a world record holder, and photogenic, and have a relentless drive for self-promotion). This is why we lose world class athletes to soccer and football and basketball (where even a lightly used reserve forward with knees like rusty hinges and a shooting touch like a poorly tuned Studebaker can be a multi-millionaire), because of the money. You're worried about a bidding war for top swimming talent. I'm telling you that is a development that may completely transform the reality of swimming being a minor, non-revenue sport. In other discussions, you've called for stuff like that there. Don't lose your nerve now. Matt

I voted no, but not for the usual reasons. I don't have an ethical, legal or moral problem with the U.S., Australia, or any other country hiring professional swimmers for their teams. I simply think we shouldn't do it now because we don't need that to field competitive teams. We're already like the NY Yankees in swimming. What 's the point of suiting up Roland Schoeman in USA toggs? For the same reason, I am down with Qatar or any other nation trying to kick start their program by hiring some outside talent to make a splash, as it were. The unwritten assumption in this debate is that Americans cheering for "real" Americans is critical to the identity of the Olympics? Why? Yes, nationality can be an effective hook to give us a rooting interest in sports where we know little or nothing. In that sense, it gets people the world over to be mesmerized by athletes we could not have picked out of a police line-up a few weeks earlier. But, other professional sports have long since dropped the idea that every player on the Bears has to be from Chicago, and the fan base seems to be OK with that. Please, oh Tall One, look at the potential effects of this developement. Right now, international athletics are working under a system comparable to the old baseball reserve clause (i.e. even players who have completed a contract with their current team cannot negotiate a new deal with a different team, or play for them, unless their current team trades their "rights" No free agency). You can't switch teams without going through the arduous process of emmigrating and naturalizing. The effect is that there is not so much money in world class swimming (unless you happen to be a world record holder, and photogenic, and have a relentless drive for self-promotion). This is why we lose world class athletes to soccer and football and basketball (where even a lightly used reserve forward with knees like rusty hinges and a shooting touch like a poorly tuned Studebaker can be a multi-millionaire), because of the money. You're worried about a bidding war for top swimming talent. I'm telling you that is a development that may completely transform the reality of swimming being a minor, non-revenue sport. In other discussions, you've called for stuff like that there. Don't lose your nerve now. Matt