I've certainly heard more men complaining. And, if so, should Rob be flaming the dying embers of only the male addiction? Just askin'. :D
You bit your tongue? Hmmm ... And here I thought you'd been calling them "cheatin'" suits for ages ... You've always been focally anti-suit with the very appropriate caveat that you would vote for what your LMSC favors.
I think the new rules change things more drastically for men than women. And then there is the whole shaving thing.
Plus men just like to whine more than women.
The "cheatin" suit thing (borrowed from J Smith) is mostly to try to get a rise; it clearly isn't cheating if it is legal. I've never liked the suits but didn't argue against USMS using them until last July, when FINA came out with their first ruling.
If this looks like it will come up, I will probably do my own poll of the LMSC to see what people think. Popularity isn't everything, though; I don't know that it is in the best interest of my LMSC to possibly marginalize LCM and SCM further. Also, if the one faction is in the majority but doesn't feel too strongly about it, while the other is violently pro/anti, then that should probably merit consideration. And the opinions of "newbies" might also be especially worth noting. Designing a poll that captures all that will take some thought.
:applaud: Kudo's to Rob for all he is doing to promote USMS! I love these idea's...I've never worn a tech suit but I completely understand the coverage issue. I don't think masters is intended as a forum for elite swimmers. I don't think there are many masters swimmers who will challenge the Fina records in the coming years. Let us have our tech suits if it make some of us feel more comfortable. I'm gonna go old school for as long as I can!
I got so excited when I heard about the 2012 long course Nationals that I started trying to figure out how to do 2 a days this summer. I haven't been in competition in years but I'm strongly considering taking a week off and attending the trials for motivation...It would be so much fun...:bliss:
I wonder if it's the men who are more addicted (Cue Jim Thornton complaining about his belly and chest hair)? I've certainly heard more men complaining. And, if so, should Rob be flaming the dying embers of only the male addiction? Just askin'. :D
There was one female, a WC Trialist, who was in attendance in Atlanta and kicked everyone's ass and set numerous records: Tanika Jones. Of course, I could argue that the lack of women furthers my theory of male addiction ...
1. Leslie, I actually don't complain. That was a side effect of my recently diagnosed sleep apnea--involuntary noises emitted during a parasomnia that sounded like complaints but were in fact simply grunts signifying nothing.
I have read that shaving of body hair does very little to increase swimming speed...in the walrus.
In terms of suits, all I have ever asked for is a level playing field. Let she-males like me pick whether we want to compete in a man's or woman's suit. Enough discrimination against us swimming transvestites. I absolutely don't mind if you and CreamPuff want to swim in men's suits. I welcome this, in fact.
Why can you not find it within your charitable heart to reciprocate this generosity of self-less spirit I am showing to your gender?
Where are the other Pro-Choice swimmers in USMS?
2. Tanika, who I hope to meet for the very first time tomorrow at Pitt's masters practice, swam for Team Pitt. Our team is small, but it is wiry.
I think the new rules change things more drastically for men than women. And then there is the whole shaving thing.
Plus men just like to whine more than women.
See my responses to Leslie, Chris. I must say, however, that the whole cost argument is pretty much moot. With jammers now retailing for $200 plus, it seems that the Speedos of the world are out to do what Big Pharma has been so effective at: marketing products with a tiny tincture of active benefit, and whole lot of placebo halo effect buffed up by superstar endorsements.
I think you and Leslie should start your own line of swim wear. Just get grab bag suits, have somebody design a handsome SL logo (for Stevenson-Livingston), find a maquiladora to stitch these logos on the cheap suits, and sell them at a 1700 percent markup.
Put me down for five!
Jim, I wish I would have had the opportunity to meet you at Nationals. You would have been great comic relief, on Sunday, when I was dreading competing in the 200 breaststroke, because of heat fatigue that caught up with me... :D
I was looking at the photo gallery from 2008 Trials and the competition pool was a ten-lane pool with only eight lanes used, even in preliminaries. The two end lanes did not even have blocks. For USMS Nationals, we should use all ten lanes, like at Atlanta nationals last week. I'm putting this out there early, so that we don't end up with those two extra blocks not being installed in the temporary venue :)
Edit: four extra blocks. It's a long course pool, there are blocks at each end....
Listened to the interview and it sounds like we have a great leader in Rob Butcher.
+1.
I'm really looking forward to the growth of the sport under Rob's direction. He's done a great job so far, and I think as USMS consolidates its base, continues to innovate (2012 LCM Nationals), and extends outreach, we will become the envy of sports federations.
I have a proposal that will end the techsuit debate once and for all, and also improve the spectator interest in swimming. It'd probably get our sport on national news, and improve revenues for professional swimmers.
Here's my contribution to USMS innovation: I propose that for 2012 LCM Nationals, we take advantage of those four extra blocks and have the first real combat swimming. Take the 200 IM for example - ten lanes per heat, two heats per starting gun. Both ends of the pool start at once, and meet somewhere near the middle on the fly. (Sort of like water polo).
Then, once you've muscled your way past your opponent (who's now wearing a football pad type REAL techsuit), you finish the lap, then come back to battle on the backstroke segment. This part even gets better, because you don't know exactly WHEN you'll butt heads (literally).
I can't wait for this groundbreaking (and possibly bone-breaking) rule modification to take place. Thanks in advance to Rob Butcher for taking this idea and implementing it. If we're lucky, we can even do this in a short course meet - talk about intense...
Heresy, man! Krispy Kremes are absolutely part of a healthy (mental, at least) lifestyle and a just reward after a killer workout. Chased down with a triple espresso and you're golden, tech suit or no.:anim_coffee:
I wish that I could eat a donut after a killer workout but I don't have that body composition to enjoy that. :(
I think Rob's argument is sound. But I also equate tech suits with moving our sport forward. Plus, I like wearing them. And I like people around me wearing them (if they like to).
Mandatory naked swimming for everyone competing in USMS meets.
That's one way to solve the tech suit/ technology issue!
TJBurk: Does that qualify for your "swimmer against swimmer" idea??? :D
Having been there...and compressed my chunks into a tech suit...I am absolutely positive I don't want to see those people naked...as a lot of them would not want to see my gut hanging out all over the deck!!! LOL
If one issue is coverage and the other issue is bringing more attendance to the meet can't that not be solved with one solution? It seems to me there would be a trend that if the women's suits get smaller and smaller, then more and more men will sign up. Very scientific, huh? :D I'm sure Jim Thornton could do a study on this hypothesis and relay the findings back to us.
Sorry to break into this discussion with a serious suggestion. You can all go back to joking about tech suits actually coming back to our sport now... :bolt:
