Here is a question for the lawyers out there.
Do FINA regulations supersede US federal anti-sex discrimination laws?
Granted, I am not sure I know what the latter are. However, if I were to show up at a USMS swimming meet, wearing a perfectly legal women's swimming suit, one of the zipper-free kneeskin type models that also covered my ample boobage, and the officials rightly disqualified me for wearing this get-up because it is against the FINA/USMS agreed upon New Order, could I then turn around and sue under some federal statute prohibiting discrimination because gender?
In my mind, the new FINA rules are going to end up making swimming even more of a dying sport for boys in the US than the unintended consequences of Title IX, etc. Girls, especially in the younger age groups, can often beat boys in swimming, and in fact our own Mr. Qbrain got a top 10 time in the men's 30-34 LCM 1500 this summer. His wife, if I am remembering correctly, beat his time but failed to make the top 10 in the women's category.
If anything, it is we men who are now at a disadvantage. I say make the dystaff gender wear thongs and let us wear body suits fashioned to look like very streamlined tuxedos.
Suits for women now remain pretty much unchanged by the new FINA ruling, with the exception, that is, of getting rid of zippers and getting rid of non textiles. But that means women can continue to swim in what are still arguably very fast suits--FS1's, for example, that are very close to the short john types that helped loads of people get their best times. Men are prohibited from wearing anything but jammers.
Chicks, in other words, get 2004 technology; guys are back to the 60s. Why not let us go back to the 20s instead, when Johnny Weismuller wore a full body suit, albeit of wool?
So, in the spirit of Larry David, who recently concluded an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm with the line, "I'm Larry David, and I am comfortable in women's underwear"--I propose that any men who want to join me in the latest civil rights battle of our time show up at nationals this summer in women's suits and accompanied by our class action lawyer, and join me in echoing in a collective voice that rings out in natatoriums all across the fruited plain:
"I am a male USMS swimmer, and I am comfortable wearing women's suits."
Provided I can find an esquire who will agree to take the case on a contingency basis, I say this to the USMS sexist powers that be:
See you in court! Suckers!
Parents
Former Member
You must not be too far from Griffin, Georgia.
That's where I was raised, during the era when the textile industry was dying. I do not have fond memories. But I still have friends there and visit for the occasional poker game. It's only about half an hour away.
Was the team that you competed for connected to Tallman Pools?
Yes, that was my team. After it disbanded, I quit swimming and went to work. My mother was opposed b/c swimming was going to be my ticket to college, but I knew it wasn't feasible to join a team all the way up in Atlanta and travel up there every day.
I still think it was the right decision b/c with my wages I was able to buy a car and pay for gas and insurance, which otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do (and my mom certainly couldn't have done for me).
But I hit the books and managed to get academic scholarships. All of us boys managed it one way or another, with work, scholarships, loans, and grants. Ended up with 2 lawyers and a writer.
Coach Vince wanted to take me with him to Florida when the team broke up, and let me get tutored at the university and train intensely, but my mother refused, and I doubt I would have enjoyed it. Sometimes you wonder what could have been, but life is full of choices.
I think I've just found Coach Winters' address in Orlando, and I'm going to send him a letter and a Christmas card.
I've only returned to the pool just this year, and I hope to get back into shape and see some of y'all at competitions in a couple of years. I don't have a coach, so it's slow going. And the pool I'm at has no blocks and doesn't allow diving, and is only 25yd. So we'll see.
You must not be too far from Griffin, Georgia.
That's where I was raised, during the era when the textile industry was dying. I do not have fond memories. But I still have friends there and visit for the occasional poker game. It's only about half an hour away.
Was the team that you competed for connected to Tallman Pools?
Yes, that was my team. After it disbanded, I quit swimming and went to work. My mother was opposed b/c swimming was going to be my ticket to college, but I knew it wasn't feasible to join a team all the way up in Atlanta and travel up there every day.
I still think it was the right decision b/c with my wages I was able to buy a car and pay for gas and insurance, which otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do (and my mom certainly couldn't have done for me).
But I hit the books and managed to get academic scholarships. All of us boys managed it one way or another, with work, scholarships, loans, and grants. Ended up with 2 lawyers and a writer.
Coach Vince wanted to take me with him to Florida when the team broke up, and let me get tutored at the university and train intensely, but my mother refused, and I doubt I would have enjoyed it. Sometimes you wonder what could have been, but life is full of choices.
I think I've just found Coach Winters' address in Orlando, and I'm going to send him a letter and a Christmas card.
I've only returned to the pool just this year, and I hope to get back into shape and see some of y'all at competitions in a couple of years. I don't have a coach, so it's slow going. And the pool I'm at has no blocks and doesn't allow diving, and is only 25yd. So we'll see.
