The anti-sandbag law:
"if a swimmer enters an event with a time significantly slower or faster than that swimmer's recorded time in the past two years, the meet director may, after a discussion with the swimmer, change the seeded time to a realistic time" (104.5.5.A(10)).
Concerning my Auburn nationals entry, I confess, when faced with a 7 hour 2 stop flight and 3:45 nonstop at an earlier time, I did what any warm-blooded middle-aged American swimmer with low self-esteem would do--sandbag my entry so I could catch the earlier flight, thus diminishing the possible time spent sitting next to a 400 pound Alabama slammer with sleep apnea wearing nothing but overalls and body odor. Of course, I was caught in my bold fabrication and my time was "fixed."
USMS seems to have an identity problem. Are we hard core with rigid qualifying times? It would seem not as 2 of my not-so-speedy family members were allowed to swim four events last year in Puerto Rico. If we are not hard core, why does anybody care that I sandbag? More to the point, why can one person enter a crappy time and another cannot? Just wondering.:)
q brain you are indeed Yoda-like. I agree with all your sentiments except the cancer part. It was a small sample, nonrandomized and an overwhelming number of the cancer patients lived next to power-lines.:)
As for the unsportmanship argument, I certainly can see that. But entering 60 minutes for a mile, actually doing that time, and forcing everybody else to watch it may be just as wrong. My point: I agree sandbagging is a crime, but sucking may be a bigger crime.
Triathlon is an inviting sport as evidenced by their meteoric rise in participation, but they don't invite everybody to their championships. Don't get me wrong, I like the inviting nature of our sport and championships, but which are we? Serious or inviting.
q brain you are indeed Yoda-like. I agree with all your sentiments except the cancer part. It was a small sample, nonrandomized and an overwhelming number of the cancer patients lived next to power-lines.:)
As for the unsportmanship argument, I certainly can see that. But entering 60 minutes for a mile, actually doing that time, and forcing everybody else to watch it may be just as wrong. My point: I agree sandbagging is a crime, but sucking may be a bigger crime.
Triathlon is an inviting sport as evidenced by their meteoric rise in participation, but they don't invite everybody to their championships. Don't get me wrong, I like the inviting nature of our sport and championships, but which are we? Serious or inviting.
