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!
While I can't go against my 'Heels, I do have to agree with Kenyon and Indian River. I swim with two Indian River guys and they are seriously fast. Kenyon's records is stupefying, to say the least.
Jokes aside, the team that impresses me the most from either school is the UNC women's soccer team. They may be the most dominant team in any college sport. There was an interesting interview with Anson Dorrance that touched on some of the differences in coaching male and female athletes (at one point he coached both men's and women's soccer at Carolina).
Sorry for the thread hijack...
Sorry for continuing this hijacking, but I think I will have to disagree with your statement as the most dominant team in any college sport. Im thinking either Kenyon's men and women swimming teams or Indian River Junior College...If were going any sport in college. While UNC has won 20 of the 27 NCAA championships, I think Kenyon's 29 straight Mens NCAA Championships is pretty good. Indian River while its a JR college still brings in some amazing swimmers and just cleans house at NJCAA championships, still impressive none the less.
All in good fun! Admittedly, Alabama fans can be a little tough on the opponent after a game. I wish the fans would stop singing that obnoxious, "Rammer Jammer" after the game. At least the team shows humility. I thought it pretty cool that the QB took a knee with 1:20 left in the game when Alabama was inside the Florida 20. Some teams probably could not have resisted trying to score another TD.
I don't think UT is overrated. Alabama will need to play as well against them as they did against Florida to win.
Now that the regular football season is over, guess many of us will now be even more focused on the suit issue. I'm eagerly awaiting the decision from FINA to see if I can get one race out of my B-70.
Did you see Rolando Mclean(sp?) knocking the water bottles and gatorade jugs out of Mt. Cody and some of the other players right before they were to splash Saban? On the video, you can hear him telling the others players "this is not what our season is about!"
While I am not a supporter of alabama, I do admire him for staying focused on the national championship game and taking the leadership to keep his teammates focused. They won't have any easy time with the devo's and that donkey.
No no no, Jim. With the notable exception of Levon, all the members of The Band were Canucks and Yankees.
You want Southern culture in song?
Here you go....
YouTube- Johnny Russell "Rednecks White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer"
Not quite sure how we got from men wearing women's suits to the peculiarities of Southern culture, but since we have arrived here, I invite you to enjoy "Virgil, quick come here, there goes the Robert E. Lee" and the rest of this great song...
YouTube- The Band - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
You want southern culture in a Christmas song? Here ya go . . .
YouTube- Robert Earl Keene's Merry Christmas from the Family
Definitely not a typical Southern family in that video. Southern men do not wear sleeveless t-shirts and those women don't have on the requisite amount of make-up and hairspray (aquageek and wookiee - Correct me if I am wrong.). Plus, it is snowing which is a rarity in the South.
A good Southern Christmas party would have the fine china and silver on display. Of course the china would have to be the china that survived Sherman's March through Georgia or Grant's shelling of Vicksburg.
I think I went to a party like the one in the video somewhere in West Virginia.
wookiee - I missed that during the game. I saw Mt. Cody getting the gatorade ready, but didn't see anything after that. Think some will get dumped on the Alabama sideline in California?
On the suit issue, I'll have to research this, but I don't think reverse discrimination claims fare too well in the Deep South. The only time one might be successful is if the female who has won out over the male is a young, very attractive 20-something year old and the jury is made up of a bunch of plain-looking matrons.
Definitely not a typical Southern family in that video. Southern men do not wear sleeveless t-shirts and those women don't have on the requisite amount of make-up and hairspray (aquageek and wookiee - Correct me if I am wrong.). Plus, it is snowing which is a rarity in the South.
A good Southern Christmas party would have the fine china and silver on display. Of course the china would have to be the china that survived Sherman's March through Georgia or Grant's shelling of Vicksburg.
I have to disagree on the sleeveless t-shirt as the wifebeater is the state shirt of Florida, although Florida really isn't a Southern State.
I have to agree on having serving items that survived The War of Northern Aggression. My Mother and Aunt claim a preserve stand was "buried from the Yankees" during the war in my Great Grandmother's back yard, and therefore is some family heirloom. This, of course, causes all the kids and cousins to hoot with laughter. I guess eventually this ugly glass stand will be mine and I will continue the myth to annoy future generations.
