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.:)
It is unwise to ever try to intervene in a knife fight, but here I go anyway.
Why couldn't meets just use a database to discover a swimmer's best time over a previous period, say a year, and seed accordingly? More competitive heats and less waiting around: sounds good to me.
My knifefight intervention wouldn't be complete without weighing in on the profound moral issues sandbagging raises for society, posterity, and our sacred honor. A zen koan shall serve.
The other day on my way out of the swim complex I hung around to watch an h.s. water polo practice. The coach was earnestly teaching the team how to fake a suit snag, or other underwater foul, to sucker the refs. Pretty good acting jobs, gotta say, with groans, armflops, blah blah. Now as we know from watching the NBA, faking a foul isn't against the rules. But is it the way we wish to live? To teach h.s. kids to dupe the ref, sending your opponent to the alley while you score a goal?
Sorry for the redirect/hijacking. Please resume the highly enjoyable knifefight.
Woofus, may I offer an (almost) appropriate Smilie to emphasize your point (no pun intended): :duel:
And, you forgot this one: :hijack: (How did I do, That Guy ?)
See, your comments in bold: :applaud:
On that note, I have sufficiently stuck my neck out (something I was avoiding up to this point): :bolt:
It is unwise to ever try to intervene in a knife fight, but here I go anyway.
Why couldn't meets just use a database to discover a swimmer's best time over a previous period, say a year, and seed accordingly? More competitive heats and less waiting around: sounds good to me.
My knifefight intervention wouldn't be complete without weighing in on the profound moral issues sandbagging raises for society, posterity, and our sacred honor. A zen koan shall serve.
The other day on my way out of the swim complex I hung around to watch an h.s. water polo practice. The coach was earnestly teaching the team how to fake a suit snag, or other underwater foul, to sucker the refs. Pretty good acting jobs, gotta say, with groans, armflops, blah blah. Now as we know from watching the NBA, faking a foul isn't against the rules. But is it the way we wish to live? To teach h.s. kids to dupe the ref, sending your opponent to the alley while you score a goal?
Sorry for the redirect/hijacking. Please resume the highly enjoyable knifefight.
Woofus, may I offer an (almost) appropriate Smilie to emphasize your point (no pun intended): :duel:
And, you forgot this one: :hijack: (How did I do, That Guy ?)
See, your comments in bold: :applaud:
On that note, I have sufficiently stuck my neck out (something I was avoiding up to this point): :bolt:
