Okay, so maybe it's not that new. It's more of a variation on yesteryear's controversial dead-horse-beaten-into-a-Phoenix-and-ready-to-rise-again topic.
I just watched the women's 400 m freestyle A final at the 2011 Indianapolis Grand Prix where Chloe Sutton closes at the end to beat Katie Hoff. Great race, which, by the way, shows that for American female distance swimmers, at least, staying down on the turns and throwing in a SDK or two doesn't necessarily win the race. (But that is not the controversy I am trying to stoke here.)
First, watch the first 30 seconds or so of the video (you can even watch the race itself if you want, but mainly I just want you to see the swimming suits these elite women swimmers are wearing.) YouTube - Women's 400m Freestyle A Final - 2011 Indianapolis Grand Prix
Second, a quick vignette. Last week, I went to swim the 1650 at Carnegie Mellon University, which annually holds a 1650 meet with the timing pads out, etc. It's supposed to count for USMS, but for whatever reason, our local chapter of the USMS organization never seems to actually get things together enough for any of our "recognized" or "sanctioned" or "what have you" meets to ever "count." But again, allowing Western Pa/AMAM to secede from our Zone and join Colonies Zones, where we belong, is NOT the contoversy I am trying to stoke here, albeit one truly worthy of being stoked.
Anyhow, at that CMU meet, a friend, Carl Goldman, shaved down in an attempt to beat his previous year's B70 time, which he actually did do. (I, on the other hand, was about 29 seconds slower--going from last year's mediocre 19:34 to this year's more mediocre 20:03.)
Flash forward one week to yesterday, when our local Y, the Sewickley Sea Dragons, held our yearly Amish Mudhole Series meet ( visit our web site for the entirely unrecognized by USMS Y league that dominates these here parts http://www.amymsa.org ).
In the lockerroom, I happened to see Carl's chest. A riot of ingrown chestal hair blisters made his thorax look like something out of a small pox epidemic.
He claimed the suppurating wounds didn't hurt.
But it hurt me to look at them.
I know FINA has settled the suit issue for all time, but think of the human suffering, albeit male human suffering primarily (but a little female human suffering, too, because women have to look at and listen to their angry rash-chested male loved ones post any major swimming competition) that could be avoided by one simple change in the rules!
This IS the controversy I am trying to stoke here: Let guys who don't want to shave their chests wear the same suits that are legal for women.
I am going to post a poll here, but I shall make a prediction before the first votes come filtering in:
1) women who are not intimately associated with wooly chested male swimmers will likely vote no
2) men who do not have a lot of body hair will likely vote no
3) men who already shave their chests regularly, for god only knows what reason of vanity or Gillette razor marketing propaganda, will likely vote no
4) the Kinks and other Ape Men will vote yes.YouTube - The Kinks - Apeman 1970
Put me down in the latter camp.
If you want a testimonial, pm me in a few weeks after I get my suits! geochuck is very responsive to questions! I ordered one of each 925 and 937. I ruminated a long time over the white vs. green stripe, but in the end, I suspected the green probably wasn't glow-in-the-dark, so opted for the traditional white stripe.
Now back to this thread, it isn't that you need to make USMS change the rules, you need to go out and establish fun events that aren't "sanctioned" - I think a lot of LMSC's probably have an annual relay meet, or something like the Republic of Texas meet in North Texas. These meets are every bit as much part of masters and I took that decathlon seriously this year - even trained for it! Meet events, suits, etc - that is all up to you for making the rules!
If you want a testimonial, pm me in a few weeks after I get my suits! geochuck is very responsive to questions! I ordered one of each 925 and 937. I ruminated a long time over the white vs. green stripe, but in the end, I suspected the green probably wasn't glow-in-the-dark, so opted for the traditional white stripe.
Now back to this thread, it isn't that you need to make USMS change the rules, you need to go out and establish fun events that aren't "sanctioned" - I think a lot of LMSC's probably have an annual relay meet, or something like the Republic of Texas meet in North Texas. These meets are every bit as much part of masters and I took that decathlon seriously this year - even trained for it! Meet events, suits, etc - that is all up to you for making the rules!