Friday, April 01, 2011
What's the big deal?
For those of you who're wondering why Texas high school swimmers, parents, officials, and coaches are losing their minds over automatic relay take-off judging, below is a scan of page 82 of the NFHS rule book. If we're to follow rule number three, we need to be certain both the pads and platforms are accurate 100% of the time.
And of course EVERYTHING that is electronic and near or in water works 100% of the time - right?
ReplyDeleteHere is what is really crazy - the rules (#4) indicate that any automatic judging that is outside of the range -0.09 to 0 MUST have dual confirmation - so that says the equipment CAN and MIGHT fail - but only if it not close. Additionally, rule #6 indicates that an "alleged" infraction by the equipment MAY NOT result in a DQ. I guess they mean that the equipment can mess up but oh wait, not it can't, but oh wait, yes it can????
ReplyDeleteI'm no MIT grad but seems they don't know what they want.
And shall I also add that if a pad messes up and doesn't record the first touch of a swimmer but does record the second touch (fingers on first touch not recorded, palm on second touch is recorded, or palm on first touch not recorded and elbow on second touch that is recorded) then the resulting reaction time may indeed look as if it were within the range of -0.09 to 0 but in fact be outside of the range. Which rule should apply then????
Are these the same people that write the tax code?
'I'm no MIT grad'
ReplyDeletefollow through, fer cryin' out loud!
i'm no mit grad...but i did stay at a holiday inn express last night...
rules seem to contradict one another, don't they?
we should be using technology as a back-up in case humans miss a call. no one is perfect. let's use take-off judging systems to save relays if a call was missed.
After all of these hundreds of posts/comments/blogs/articles - why haven't the manufacturers gotten a word in? Seems that they KNOW that their equipment is not 100% perfect - no equipment is. Admitting it isn't perfect is not the same as admitting it is awful. And by their silence, I'm wondering if they know that it is worse than we can imagine. Any manufacturing company such as theirs will have tested and retested their designs - they will know with certainly what all of the limits are. Why hasn't that been published - are the manufactuers of the equipment worried or do they just think this will go away? I'm with you Button - I like the equipment, not the rule. But the more I read about the rule, the more it makes me question the equipment... Maybe I needed to stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!
ReplyDeleteI'm no MIT grad, but I'm a Rice Univ grad....which in the state of Texas is even better!
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who is a physics professor and testifies in court cases and says the human eye/brain can see/calculate touches at .03 as easily at .09. Why aren't our trained officials allowed a chance to weight in? Why isn't there a back up for timing in relay exchanges when there is a back up (buttons, watches) in every other race?
What is this rule based on? Common sense? NO. Science. NO. Six Sigma manufacturing Quality? NO
Did anyone ever hear if this was discussed at the NISCA meeting in Minneapolis?
ReplyDeleteI think this is ONLY being discussed either 1. here on Button's blog or 2. behind closed doors and in the vein of "darn those people for writing on Button's blog"...
ReplyDeleteSeriously - got a note back from UIL early on saying they were looking into it but nothing since.
I didn't attend Rice or MIT...but I do have a question. Looking at the 5A Boys 200 Medley Relay Prelim results, the 4th place team's swimmer #3/#4 relay exchange was recorded at -0.01 seconds. Is there an explanation as to why this wasn't ruled a DQ? Do the rules apply most of the time, but not all of the time??
ReplyDeleteon real time results (http://www.tsc.utexas.edu/results/5a/index.htm), prelims show reaction time you mentioned. scroll down left side for finals and it will show the relay was, in fact, disqualified. only fifteen boys' medleys swam in finals.
ReplyDeleteonce again, that's one of my reasons for wanting more qualifiers. when we went from 16 in prelims to 12 in finals, having open lanes in finals of our state meet used to bug us, right?
while qualifying sixteen to finals has helped cut down on that, it still happens.
how many high school state championships run their finals sessions with open lanes?