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.:)
And if you're lucky the bridge won't be out and Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane won't be out enforcing the $100 "exit fee" for leaving Hazzard County.
Hazzard County is clearly on the Georgia side of the border (en.wikipedia.org/.../The_Dukes_of_Hazzard)
And before you go there, Mayberry was in NC and I think the Clampetts were from Arkansas. I'm pretty sure we've had our fair share of citizen appearances on COPS though.
Did the "bad seed" have any effect on the outcome?
Probably not. I remember thinking at the time "who cares?" Of course falsifying times to get kids into a meet that haven't qualified for is a different scenario entirely, but it's probably a slippery slope. The coach knows a swimmer can swim faster so he doctors the seed time. It's just another step to go from this to doctoring times to get kids into a meet they haven't qualified for.
Apparently it is not insignificant to those who choose to sandbag. Why then does it become insignificant when other swimmers complain about it?
I don't complain about it, I laugh about it!
Flip side however: two weekends ago I raced the 100 SCM breaststroke for only the second time in my life. So I entered with the only time I had, which was from 2007. That time placed me in the next-to-last heat. I beat my seed time by over 7 seconds and finished way ahead of the rest of my heat. Needless to say I was happy with the time (I thought I could improve on the 2007 time, but NO WAY did I see THAT coming) but I also thought, "I must look like a jerk right now" because of the appearance of sandbagging to get "clear water" or whatever. In that situation, maybe I should have entered with a conversion of my SCY time, which would have been faster than the time I entered with.
Like second hand smoke, seriously? ... you have the luxury of virtually always swimming in a center lane. ... Try being a fast women in a mixed meet and always being in an outside lane unless you enter slower seed times.
You're Outside Smoke, he's Second-Hand Smoke, this could be the best gridge ever! :banana:
Working on my southern drawl!
Do people in Alabama sandbag? I think so judging from the Feb. Auburn meets. :) :bolt:
Yes, I frequently try to move from heat 5 to heat 8 becasue I look awesome swimming against 83 year old ladies. Well... except for that one lady... but I'm pretty sure she was lying about her age and she hasn't produced a birth certificate yet. I'm thinking next year I'll hide her walker so she has to get to the starting block on her own like the rest of us.
We had our share of "NTs" and sandbaggers at Auburn in Feb. I think most were just trying to buffer some rest so that they could compete in back to back events. I can see why officials don't like it. Still, Auburn ran like clockwork this year so sandbaggers didn't impact the schedule at all.
LIs it fair for the fastest men to always get the coveted center lanes and the fastest women to always get the outside lanes?
But, a meet isn't about a single swimmer or their lane assignment. Should everyone sandbag to get a better lane? Wouldn't that put us right back in the same position? What makes it more or less fair for one swimmer is completely irrelevant because that invariably makes it less fair for another, which is also irrelevant.
For the record I have never seen a mixed gender event in the Dixie Zone meets I attend except the 400/500+ events. And, I've been chicked in many distance events where the woman had a "better" lane than me. That's not fair, or is it?
That's how it was when I was there in 2009. I entered an NT in the 100 fly because it was my SCY taper meet and my events were close. I really don't think I bothered a soul. Well, maybe I've annoyed Chris and Gull just reading about my outrageous dishonesty. :)
Truth be told, they still speak of the '09 sanbagger even today. I wasn't there but I hear this individual billy clubbed the knees of an elderly man because he might finish on the same lap as said sandbagger.
I wasn't saying it was about a single swimmer. I was commenting on the fate of a gender in mixed gender meets. And there is an actual rule that addresses this inequity -- the fastest seed in an age group at a mixed gender meet is not supposed to be in an outside lane. The rule is there for a purpose, right? To prevent unfairness, right? Yet it is almost never applied, so unfairness ensues.
Take it up with the meet directors then. This isn't a problem here, nor in OW where all are equal.
And what about scratching? If someone enters more events than they plan to swim to keep their options open and then leaves an open lane, is this dishonest as well?
This, too, merits discussion. Good question. If a meet is a flat fee I have done this. Actually, I have done it in a number of meets, flat fee or per event fee, especially if I sign up way in advance.
If we had both prelims and finals, sandbagging would be less of an issue. Since we only have timed finals, the practice appears self-serving and unsportsmanlike.
