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.:)
I will keep this in mind next year at the albatross meet when I do a reverse sandbag to warm-down from an event that is scheduled to close to another favorite event.
We'll be happy to take your money! Please enter the maximum number of events. And buy a t-shirt and social ticket, too :applaud:
I'm glad all you guys are so willing to dismiss the concerns of the opposite sex in mixed gender meets. As I asked before, and no one answered, is it fair for the fastest women to swim in outside lanes while the fastest men swim in center lanes or for women generally to get more outside lanes? Is this concern really tantamount to seeing "shadows" in lanes? Doesn't really seem all that sporting to me or to other women. But the guys are set, so I guess it's just easier to rag on women for sandbagging.
I've heard you loud and clear that you don't like swimming in meets seeded mixed gender. And you are absolutely right that other women feel the same way as you even if they haven't said so here. Last year a woman wrote a request to the Albatross meet staff asking us to consider seeding the sexes apart. And I know of men who don't like racing against women because they don't take it so well getting beat by women (I'm starting to get used to it, BTW!). And obviously there are meets that address these concerns and seed the meet M&W apart. In fact, there are two annual meets at your own home pool that seed the sexes apart (Sprint Classic in the fall, Zones in the spring) and another meet a short drive away (David Gregg in February). And of course Nationals twice a year.
And there are also women who prefer mixed gender seeding because they simply want to race against people of similar speed regardless of age, gender. And there are men who like swimming against women because it gives them extra incentive to not get "chicked." And there are meets seeded this way.
I think I finally get it that you are trying to justify why it is acceptable to sandbag in a mixed gender meet (however, I'll still disagree because it means placing you next to somebody seeded with a much slower time and it isn't fair to them). And I haven't seen you sandbag in a separate gender seeded meet so this all makes sense.
The meets that seed everybody together don't do this just to irritate women who don't like to swim against men, they do it because they can't rent the pool any longer. Since there are already meets in place that seed the way you prefer, can't you just focus on those meets for ideal conditions and then do the other ones just for fun?
Jeff
I will keep this in mind next year at the albatross meet when I do a reverse sandbag to warm-down from an event that is scheduled to close to another favorite event.
We'll be happy to take your money! Please enter the maximum number of events. And buy a t-shirt and social ticket, too :applaud:
I'm glad all you guys are so willing to dismiss the concerns of the opposite sex in mixed gender meets. As I asked before, and no one answered, is it fair for the fastest women to swim in outside lanes while the fastest men swim in center lanes or for women generally to get more outside lanes? Is this concern really tantamount to seeing "shadows" in lanes? Doesn't really seem all that sporting to me or to other women. But the guys are set, so I guess it's just easier to rag on women for sandbagging.
I've heard you loud and clear that you don't like swimming in meets seeded mixed gender. And you are absolutely right that other women feel the same way as you even if they haven't said so here. Last year a woman wrote a request to the Albatross meet staff asking us to consider seeding the sexes apart. And I know of men who don't like racing against women because they don't take it so well getting beat by women (I'm starting to get used to it, BTW!). And obviously there are meets that address these concerns and seed the meet M&W apart. In fact, there are two annual meets at your own home pool that seed the sexes apart (Sprint Classic in the fall, Zones in the spring) and another meet a short drive away (David Gregg in February). And of course Nationals twice a year.
And there are also women who prefer mixed gender seeding because they simply want to race against people of similar speed regardless of age, gender. And there are men who like swimming against women because it gives them extra incentive to not get "chicked." And there are meets seeded this way.
I think I finally get it that you are trying to justify why it is acceptable to sandbag in a mixed gender meet (however, I'll still disagree because it means placing you next to somebody seeded with a much slower time and it isn't fair to them). And I haven't seen you sandbag in a separate gender seeded meet so this all makes sense.
The meets that seed everybody together don't do this just to irritate women who don't like to swim against men, they do it because they can't rent the pool any longer. Since there are already meets in place that seed the way you prefer, can't you just focus on those meets for ideal conditions and then do the other ones just for fun?
Jeff
