Masters Swimmers Acting Like Triathletes

I still don't understand why it's bad to be competitive and focused. Maybe in addition to having the oft-proposed tech suit division we could also have the milk toast division where people who are scared about compeititve peers can race on their own, without the burden of timing their races or doling out awards. In this special division we will only hand out the "I Did My Best" ribbons they give out to kiddies who dont' place.

I still don't understand why it's bad to be competitive and focused. Maybe in addition to having the oft-proposed tech suit division we could also have the milk toast division where people who are scared about compeititve peers can race on their own, without the burden of timing their races or doling out awards. In this special division we will only hand out the "I Did My Best" ribbons they give out to kiddies who dont' place. You crack me up hillbilly! You are as obvious as Mr. Negative...baiting us by pretending you're not "getting" what the point is thats being made (which has nothing to do with competitive and focused and evyerthing to do with ego, vanity and in the case Laura pointed out...taking it WAY to serious) ...oh and calling out TYR but neglecting to share with everyone your signing on as chief antagonist for Rowdy's super team "Team Blu Frog" proves my point!! So now I will sit back and wait to see if anyone has the guts to Rowdy bash...

Received the ultimate compliment last weekend when I went to Schlitterbahn with my 18 year old daughter and a few of her teenaged friends. The guys in the group told her that her dad was really "ripped" and that they were planning to swim Masters too. BTW, Rowdy gave an interview after his 200 free at Nationals. Didn't sound like he thought the race was "amusing." From what I have heard, Mr. Gaines seems pretty relaxed about the whole thing. I even heard he laughed and joked afterward when he couldn't rheel in a 60+ year old on an anchor leg during a long course relay in 2006.

... but neglecting to share with everyone your signing on as chief antagonist for Rowdy's super team "Team Blu Frog" proves my point!! Sargent at Arms is my title, get it right.

...has more money than brains. That's like telling us a banana is yellow. Everyone knows this about tris.

What age group can you win a record in while being just a weekend warrior? Does it require ****, because I don't have ****, but otherwise I will eventually be in whatever this age group random slackers like me can set a record. And believe me, I want that no work record more than I want some elitist to join USMS. Point me in the right direction Mr. Smith! Ah...its "MASTERS"...everyone is (technically) a weekend warrior....thats the whole point!

From what I have heard, Mr. Gaines seems pretty relaxed about the whole thing. I even heard he laughed and joked afterward when he couldn't rheel in a 60+ year old on an anchor leg during a long course relay in 2006. "Amusing" sounds condescending, even dismissive, and Rowdy has been anything but that when discussing Masters swimming.

"Cater"..... of course not..... "try to attract".... yes. These are individuals with great experiences and knowledge to share with others in the sport, not to mention their potential friendship. Most would enjoy working out and racing for fun, but most don't feel it's "real" competition compared to their previous experience. Sometimes they are amused by what they see. These people you describe sound very condescending. I am not sure trying to attract them to USMS would make USMS better.

I'm not reading Mr. Negative as saying being competitive is a bad thing...I'm seeing it more as mocking of a very small number of adult athletes who are so far over the top thats its kind of embarrassing. I had the "pleasure" of meeting just such a person at a workout i coached earlier this week. A woman in her late 40's was visiting from another town, she rolled into the parking lot in a car that had every possibly Yakima rack attachment on top, multiple Ironman stickers and a vanity plate...she was spoting an ironman tattoo on her ankle, wore an ironman cap, had 3 sets of paddles, 2 sets of fins, etc. but couldn't make 100's (LCM) on 3:00 and barked at me for moving her to a slower lane (where Laura was coaching, ha!). She challenged every set, lectured us on how bad kicking work was, shared her race schedule...on and on and on. Again a rare case...but one that even the soft spoken world class pro who was training with us pointed out "gave our sport a bad name". lol I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of certain triathletes either. I used to write in a triathlon forum because it was the only forum I could find at the time that included swimming. I actually do the other two triathlon sports too(I used to even work as a bike messenger) but I was never interested in Triathlons and consider swimming as my main sport. I noticed that there were a lot of big shots on that board. Their favorite thread was to show off their 5000+$ bikes or talk about their really expensive heart rate monitor watches or other triathlon gear like wetsuits even though half of them can't even swim free style:D Ok, I'm being a bit harsh but that was my impression from that board.

This thread ran its course about 15 posts ago, yet it continues... I can't even tell what anyone's arguing about anymore... yeah it's time to create a diversion HEY LOOK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TRIALS ARE GOING TO BE ON TV!!! www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../21565.asp