I am just back from the SPMA meet where all the top finisher were wearing the latest generation tech suits,mostly B-70s(or were named Jeff Commings.)I have here to for been in favor of the suits,but now I am not so sure.First,they eliminate the old bench marks.I went my fastest 100m BR in 5 yr in my LZR,but it was only .3 sec faster than I did untapered 5 wk earlier in my first swim in the LZR.So was my swim good or not,I'm not sure.Also,instead of focusing on technique or pace I found myself ruminating over aspects of the suits,how many more swims did the suit have,is it the right size,was the reason I didn't get better results from my B-70 because it was too big?etc.The B-70 has somewhat mitigated the "too expensive,not durable" problem,but for how long.
Lets say a company comes up with a suit that is much faster,say 4 sec/100.Further that it is very expensive(say $1000) lasts 4 swims and is very hard to make so that quantities are always limited and the fastest way to get one is to bid up to $3000 on ebay. Now lets say your nemesis has one,or that getting one is your best chance to get TT or AA or a ZR or WR,or that your child is close to making JO cuts,or finally beating his/her nemesis etc. Is it worth it and where does it stop?
Quote from The Fortress:
"The suits have brought increased excitement, exposure and revenue to the sport. I hope they're here to stay."
Hey Fortress
Just where is all that increased excitement and revenue to the sport of swimming?
The only increased revenue is to the suit makers who are hooking plenty of suckers willing to pay several hundred dollars for the tech suit fad.
By the way, the Olympics (either summer or winter) are just another form of corporate welfare that ultimately costs the host cities a lot more than they take in. In fact, San Francisco lost a huge amount of $$$ just sending buses and drivers from our transit system (while the riders here had to wait over an hour to get home) to the Olympics in Salt Lake City and I am urging the city officials NOT to bid on having the Olympics here anytime in the future.
As for them being "here to stay", I hope they are eventually gone for good so the Olympic swimming events are not tacky "infomercials" for Speedo, Nike, Tyr, etc.
Dolphin 2
Hey...they make some of us look better than we really are! Enough reason to get em for me. :afraid:
Lucky!
Unfortunately for others such as myself, these suits make us look like the Michelan Man (of questionable gender) on steroids. :roids::afraid:
Dolphin 2- I'm not making any kind of a judgment here, but I am wondering why are you opposed to the companies making money who make the suits? Who should make the money? While our country is obviously heading toward socialism (which I find terrifying) it's not here yet.
I don't know what you do for a living, if anything, but I dare say that not too many people go to work every day out of the goodness of their hearts, they do it for a paycheck. Why would companies who make suits be any different?
I'm not opposed to the companies raking in the $$$ on these new suits. However, I'm amused by the naïveté of the people who are willing to spend several hundred dollars to buy one of them. It's almost like the sub prime mortgage crisis -only we're dealing with a much smaller amount of money.
Furthermore, I strongly suspect there is some kind of influence going on behind the scenes where the suit makers are urging publically funded colleges and school districts to buy these expensive suits. The last thing the failing public school system needs is more corporate influence from the sports/atheltic community.
One thing for sure, this suit fad has turned out to be an excellent marketing tool for the suit makers and as P.T. Barnum once said "There's a sucker born every minute".
Dolphin 2
A bad night of sleep, a bad cold, the stomach bug, a missed taper will all have greater impact on a meet than a suit but I guess it's easier to whine about the suits since the other maladies come free of charge.
Felicity Galvez is poster girl for super suit debacle
"Swimming Australia has urged FINA to ban the practice of swimmers wearing multiple suits to gain an advantage, and pushed for zippered suits to be outlawed."
I feel like a biker. They blow their tire and are out of the race. I blow my suit and I'm out. Can't say I like that.
QUOTE=CreamPuff;171321]Lucky!
Unfortunately for others such as myself, these suits make us look like the Michelan Man (of questionable gender) on steroids. :roids::afraid:
:eek: :eek:
Furthermore, I strongly suspect there is some kind of influence going on behind the scenes where the suit makers are urging publically funded colleges and school districts to buy these expensive suits. The last thing the failing public school system needs is more corporate influence from the sports/atheltic community.
One thing for sure, this suit fad has turned out to be an excellent marketing tool for the suit makers and as P.T. Barnum once said "There's a sucker born every minute".
Dolphin 2
You must be a prime example of the P.T. Barnum quote. You really have proved that you don't read,study, know anything about the sport of swimming. If you did, you wouldn't have made you dumb statement about colleges and school districts buying suits.
One of the biggest concerns among people is how the majority of colleges will be able to afford suits in their budgets, if they decide to get the latest brand.
School districts don't buy the suits. Most swim teams to raise the majority of their funds for competition suits. School districts provide a small stipend but they certainly aren't buying high tech suits for high school/middle school teams.
