I was talking to my Dad and telling him about my first swim meet since 1980. I was telling him that everything is much more high tech and they didn't use a gun to start the races, but a horn.
He started laughing and said "you mean the wild west is dead?" I asked him what he meant and he said that when I was a kid - about 8 years old - we went to a swim meet in McCook Nebraska. McCook is a small town in the south western part of the state.
He said that the starter could not get the starting gun to work so he went out to his car and got a real live pistol with a long barrel - like the kind Dirty Harry carried - and used that to start each race.
Ahhhh, those were the days. :p
Parents
Former Member
That is a good story, unlikely to ever be duplicated. I hope that he fired into the ground and not in the air.
At my last meet, the starting system would not work so they used a whistle until an official returned with another starting system. A lot of grief could have been spared if somebody had the courage to bring a gun.
That is a good story, unlikely to ever be duplicated. I hope that he fired into the ground and not in the air.
At my last meet, the starting system would not work so they used a whistle until an official returned with another starting system. A lot of grief could have been spared if somebody had the courage to bring a gun.
