Survivor: Tempe

Now that Lisa Love's been voted off the island campus, maybe ASU men's swimming can get out of survival mode and into a long-term arangement with help from new AD Steve Patterson.

See what you can do to help the Sun Devils here.

Alabama's Eric McIlquham has resigned. Read more here. The program has been a bit down in recent years. The men were 6th and the women 7th in this year's conference championships.

Advice to new coach: Quickest way to turn around the program is to eliminate all travel. According to facility link:

The Tide is tough to beat at home - and the Aquatics Center is part of the reason why.

Did you know Texas has a high school cycling organization? Read about the Texas High School Mountain Bike League (THSMBL?) here.


Watch a great interview with Kathleen Hersey here. She discussed her training and what it's like to work out with the Longhorn men.

As Kathleen noted, boys & girls (men & women) are different. That isn't news to most of us, right? What about those who think males and females are the same?

Rosalind Simson (Mercer University) wrote "The Title IX Athletic Regulations and the Ideal of a Gender-Free Society". You can read it here (click on "One-Click Download").


Simson suggests eliminating male-only sports teams and instead having only co-ed and all-female teams.

I'm posting this today, so you don't think it's a joke. It's real . There's no sense in arguing Title IX reform with anyone like this. She's just too far removed from reality...

What do you say to someone whose stated goal is achieving a "gender-free ideal"?

Thus, for example, the regulation height of the basket in basketball was chosen with the range of male heights in mind. In a gender-free society, a committee charged with setting the height of the basket perhaps might consider the possibilities of lowering the basket so that more players of both sexes could dunk the ball or raising it so that no one could do so. Alternatively, a rules committee might consider awarding only one point for successful shots taken from within five feet of the basket, so as to neutralize to some degree the advantages of being tall.

Talk about "March Madness"...

Former Aggie Julia Wilkinson is London-bound. Read more here.

The 2012 YMCA SC Nationals begin Monday. Real time results will be here.

Quote of the Day

People like eccentrics. Therefore they will leave
me alone, saying that I am a mad clown.



Vaslav Nijinsky

Quote of the Day

Hypothetical questions get hypothetical answers.



Joan Chandos Báez

I think the Love...

...has gone out of our relationship...

You're thinking Burt Reynolds in The Longest Yard, right?

No?

Then, you've already heard?

That gal who worked against men's swimming and wrestling at Arizona State University, Lisa Love, has been canned.

Read more about ASU's fallen Title IX hero here.

This season the Sun Devils averaged just 5,411 fans per game in men’s basketball, a 42-percent decline from 2009. That doesn’t look too good when your arena seats 14,000.

So, how are those "revenue" sports workout out for y'all?

Clueless? Catch up here.

Money can't buy me love...but it can buy Love's contract. More here.

University spokesman Mark Brand said Love's contract ran through June 30, 2014. He said the buyout terms had not been determined because of the nature of her contract, which includes bonuses and other factors.

"But we expect it will be several hundred thousand dollars," he said.

Quote of the Day

I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.



Robert Allen Zimmerman, a.k.a. Bob Dylan

Quote of the Day

No matter how big or soft or warm your
bed is, you still have to get out of it.



Grace Barnett Wing, a.k.a. Grace Slick

Quote of the Day

Do what you love, and you will find
the way to get it out to the world.



Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins

Quote of the Day

Ah, stardom! They put your name on a star in
the sidewalk on Hollywood Boulevard and you
walk down and find a pile of dog manure on it.
That tells the whole story, baby.



Lee Marvin

Quote of the Day

I took direction when I respected the man.
When I didn't respect the man - and most
of the time I didn't - I didn't take direction.



Dennis Lee Hopper

Quote of the Day

Well, I'm not going to sit here and pretend
that I haven't been a rogue most of my life.



John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson

Quote of the Day

Arrogance is believing you're so high up that
you don't have to keep an ear to the ground.



Harvey Mackay

Okay, D-III Swimmers & Divers...

...bring it in and take a knee. Time for me to use you for a little postive PR:


Cynic? Me? Never!

Read the article at the NCAA's site here.

“We spend a huge amount of time to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t; what works for your colleges and what doesn’t.”

Ummmmmmmm...Dr. Emmert...sir...I think I can save y'all a lot of...um...time...you see...sir...Title IX...specifically proportionality...isn't working for us...sir...so...if you could...please stop being a wimp...sir...and stand up to those bullying lawyers...please...sir...thanks...have a nice day...we appreciate all your support...

Quote of the Day

If you want to succeed in the world, you don't
have to be much cleverer than other people.
You just have to be one day earlier.



Leó Szilárd

Quote of the Day

The most challenging part of being a boss is that
nobody will tell you if your work is suffering.



Bill Williams

Updates

A comment on Friday's Quote of the Day:

would like some updates please.. How about a whatever happened to:

1. coach that pulled the hair of the swimmer
2. U Tenn coach that got canned

3. Relay rule at NFHS

4. UD swim/track

5. Splash of Truth


etc etc

1. Hair-pulling coach resigned shortly after incident. Unable to confirm rumors of major surgery and a new career in pro wrestling. You be the judge: Dirty Tactic

2. Story is making the rounds, but I'd rather not share. Will leave that job to Splash-O-Truth.

3. UIL decided to go part way back to old policy. Still not the rule we were promised back when the technology was being sold to us, though. Still not the way NCAA uses equipment, either. A few hundred bucks worth of camcorders/tripods worked very well as back-up at our D-II meet last week. Guess our high school kids aren't worth that expenditure, though. See Rules and More on Rules posts for latest.

4. UD still sponsors eight (8) men's sports, two (2) more than the NCAA minimum. Men's swimming is one of those eight. See Holy Guacamole! Is this how it's done? for damaging revelations on the timeline followed in axing UD's men's running programs. Delaware House Bill 126 deals with the lack of transparency at UD. Read about it here.

One of the chief authors and sponsors of the bill, state Rep. John Kowalko (D-Newark South), said HB 126 will require university officials to be more open about decisions made during Board of Trustees meetings. He said numerous decisions made by board members, such as the reclassification of the men’s track and field team as a club sport, have received criticism but cannot be closely examined by members of the public because information from internal discussions is not openly available.

“The UD running programs were cut, master’s degree programs’ tuition increased for in-state students to the rate of out-of-state students, out-of-state labor controversy, and summer classes for matriculating Delaware high school seniors were canceled, which were only restored after a huge public outcry,” Kowalko said.

5. Nothing new has been posted on Splash since early February. The only conclusion I can draw is that coaches, swimmers, officials, fans, etc. are behaving themselves like never before!

More on Rules

A comment on yesterday's Rules post:

I'm just a parent and have no vote, nor have I ever read an NFHS voting notice before but it seems there to be some disconnect as it relates to the separate suggestions about the relay take off pads/electronic judging. Does this all make sense to those of you who have a vote and please tell me you all are voting to amend the rule as it is written!

SZ

Editorial Change #9

By substituting "human" for "relay take-off judge(s)" in Appendix B, it looks like they're just:

Millersville Rejects Funding Offer

The administration at Millersville University took a two-step approach in nixing a deal that would have saved their men's running programs:

Step 1: Open Mouth

Step 2: Insert Foot

Read more here.

A Millersville University grad offered $300,000 as part of an alumni proposal to run men's track and cross country for three years while the alumni look for permanent funding.

On Monday, alumni learned the university had rejected the proposal.

Not familiar with the fork-tongued devils that run Millersville? Catch up here.

"What I was basically told was, 'We don't want to set a precedent, and we don't want anybody telling us how to run our school,' " he said.

Really? Didn't the university claim - just over a month ago - that they'd used an outside consulting firm that advised them to drop men's running?

They didn't seem to mind Bob Oliver & Chuck Lindemann telling them how to run their school then, did they?

p.s. Here's a comment on the recent article by Mville Resident:

Stadium lights at Millersville University have been on ALL NIGHT and they are currently on at 6:37am...I really wish I had money to "throw away" like they do.

Quote of the Day

The reason sport is attractive to many of the
general public is that it's filled with reversals.
What you think may happen doesn't happen.
A champion is beaten, an unknown
becomes a champion.



Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister

Rules

Rules & Regs Chair for USA Swimming, Dan McAllen, put out another clarification on the breast pull-out rules. Read it here.

High school rules proposed to NFHS are here.

If you would like to "vote" and/or comment on any proposal, Paul Torno needs to hear from you no later than Wednesday, March 21st at 6:00pm Pacific Daylight Time. The annual NISCA Conference is being held next week in Seattle and a discussion and vote on the rule proposals is a part of each convention - and input from non-attendees will be shared with the group. Paul will then go directly from the NISCA Conference to the NFHS Rules Committee meeting in Indianapolis. He is able to share the views of NISCA members with the committee - and hearing from more members is very valuable. If you respond, please be sure to connect the Proposal # (left hand column) to your vote and/or comments. Knowing the "why" of your vote can be helpful. E-mail your votes/comments to Paul at rules@niscaonline.org

I'm definitely voting against one of the diving rules. The rationale says it all:

Rationale: Many of our officials (new and old alike) use the dd as a guideline for judging lives.

Give the poor kids a break...

Discrimination in the news room!

Sad, but true:

The lawsuit reads: 'It appears the defendants do not want knowledgeable weather professionals as their prime-time weather broadcasters.

'It appears instead that they only want attractive young women, and only attractive young women, broadcasting the weather.'

Read more here.

Watch Kyle Hunter in action:


Now, here's Nancy Gribble*:


"My job is to pronounce it, not predict it!"

"I don't even know if I want to work in an industry that values brains over beauty."


*Sorry, unable to un-reverse. Any HTML brainiacs out there with that coding info?

First Things First

Plenty to catch up on, but first some braggin'! Leon's first triathlon went very well. He did a little sprint up in Denton yesterday and finished first in his age group.


More later, including jobs, meet results/recaps, updates, Title IX idiocy, etc.

Quote of the Day

The only real training for leadership is leadership.



Sir Antony Rupert Jay

Quote of the Day

Over every mountain there is a path, although
it may not be seen from the valley.



Theodore Roethke

Quote of the Day

How wonderful that we have met with a paradox.
Now we have some hope of making progress.



Niels Henrik David Bohr

Quote of the Day

I think someone should explain to the child that
it's okay to make mistakes. That's how we learn.
When we compete, we make mistakes.



Ferdinand Lewis "Lew" Alcindor, Jr.,
a.k.a. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Quote of the Day

Remember me with smiles and laughter,
for that is how I will remember you all.
If you can only remember me with
tears, than don't remember me at all.



Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder

Momentum?

Listen to a short bit on momentum in athletics. No, not the mass times velocity type. Academic Minute is here.
UNO Privateers are going to stay D-I after all. President of UNO, Dr. Peter Fos, announced addition of four (4) sports to help them meet minimum for Division-I membership:


Might swimming return a year or two down the road?

Sam Houston State needs an assistant director for aquatics and safety. Job info is here.

The City of Coppell needs a Recreation Center Manager. Job info is here.

A coach is needed at Frisco Liberty. Contact Galen Zimmerman at 469-633-5870.

2012 UIL 4A Results

Top Texas teams in Virtual Club Championship - as of 3/13/12 - w/national rank in parentheses:

Alamo Area Aquatics Association - 229,554 (7)
Nitro Swimming - 229,493 (8)
North Texas Nadadores - 206,712 (19)
The Woodlands Swim Team- 201, 551 (26)
Cypress Fairbanks Swim Team - 200,308 (27)

Take what you need? Former Rangers pitcher Don Carman didn't want to waste time in post-game interviews. In 1990, while with the Phillies, he posted this on his locker:

You saw the game. Take what you need.

1. I'm just glad to be here. I just want to help the club any way I can.
2. Baseball's a funny game.
3. I'd rather be lucky than good.
4. We're going to take the season one game at a time.
5. You're only as good as your last game (last at-bat).
6. This game has really changed.
7. If we stay healthy we should be right there.
8. It takes 24 (25) players.
9. We need two more players to take us over the top: Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig.
10. We have a different hero every day.
11. We'll get 'em tomorrow.
12. This team seems ready to gel.
13. With a couple breaks, we win that game.
14. That All-Star voting is a joke.
15. The catcher and I were on the same wavelength.
16. I just went right at 'em.
17. I did my best and that's all I can do.
18. You just can't pitch behind.
19. That's the name of the game.
20. We've got to have fun.
21. I didn't have my good stuff, but I battled 'em.
22. Give the guy some credit; he hit a good pitch.
23. He, we were due to catch a break or two.
24. Yes.
25. No.
26. That's why they pay him _____ million dollars.
27. Even I could have hit that pitch.
28. I know you are but what am I?
29. I was getting my off-speed stuff over so they couldn't sit on the fastball.
30. I had my at 'em ball going today.
31. I had some great plays made behind me tonight.
32. I couldn't have done it without my teammates.
33. You saw it... write it.
34. I just wanted to go as hard as I could as long as I could.
35. I'm seeing the ball real good.
36. I hit that ball good.
37. I don't get paid to hit.

Via Lists of Note (check it out!)

Another good one is 10 Commandments for Con Men:

1.Be a patient listener (it is this, not fast talking, that gets a con-man his coups).
2.Never look bored.
3.Wait for the other person to reveal any political opinions, then agree with them.
4.Let the other person reveal religious views, then have the same ones.
5.Hint at sex talk, but don’t follow it up unless the other fellow shows a strong interest.
6.Never discuss illness, unless some special concern is shown.
7.Never pry into a person’s personal circumstances (they’ll tell you all eventually).
8.Never boast. Just let your importance be quietly obvious.
9.Never be untidy.
10.Never get drunk.

Buy UIL State Meet Pics:

5A Awards

5A Action

4A Awards

4A Action

Tuscon Ford's Kevin Milak (formerly of Blue Tide) talks about the NCSA Junior National meet:

Quote of the Day

The single most powerful tool for winning
a negotiation is the ability to walk away
from the table without a deal.



Harvey Mackay

Quote of the Day

The longer term you make the plan,
the more successful you will be.



Gregg Troy

Quote of the Day

I dream a lot. I do more painting when I'm
not painting. It's in the subconscious.



Andrew Newell Wyeth

Quote of the Day

Americans are so enamored of equality
that they would rather be equal in
slavery than unequal in freedom.



Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville

Spring Ahead

Don't miss your warm-up tomorrow morning, TAGS'ers. Clocks go forward tonight!

Budget issues at Minnesota could spell trouble for the athletics department. Read more here.

Let's hope that if and when the University of Minnesota is forced to cut teams due to budget shortfalls, it doesn't use proportionality to guide its decisions. After all, when schools claim that they're considering Title IX alongside the budget, they usually mean that they will implement enforcement mechanisms that cause rather than prevent discrimination on the basis of gender.

Read Dana Vollmer's (Granbury HS/Fort Worth Area Swim Team) first two installments of My Journey to London here and here.

It is not only physical training that impacts success at major competition. There are numerous emotional stressors that an athlete needs to be prepared for. Milt Nelms and my coach, Teri McKeever, have taught me how to use the ocean to enhance my mental training for racing in a 50 meter pool. We use the complexity and unpredictability of the ocean's waves to build not only physical resilience, but emotional resilience as well.
Sprint star Cullen Jones visited Houston's Buffalo Creek Elementary and Clay Road YMCA the other day. Read about it here.

Part two is where six lucky children were pre-selected to have a private water safety lesson with Cullen in the pool. Today was different. We had a special guest joining us to encourage water safety and highlight the tragic drowning stats – Duane Brown, left tackle for the Houston Texans. When the Texans heard about the impact the USA Swimming Foundation is making through the Make a Splash program, they were more than eager to show support. Kevin Cooper, Director of Communication for the Texans, showed the USA Swimming Foundation tremendous support onsite and in recommending future programs for the area in support of our water safety mission.

Kansas offers swimming opportunities for women, but not men. It doesn't look like that's changing anytime soon. Read more here.

This is what it's come to, folks:

After the complaint, KU’s sports participation exactly matched the percentages of men and women enrolled at the university. In December, KU had 294 men participating in sports and 283 women, which was almost exactly the same percentages of the 8,846 men and 8,484 women enrolled on the Lawrence campus.


Results? Let's catch up:

TAGS (real time)

Columbus Grand Prix (real time)

American Short Course Champs (complete)

Time Trials (LCM)

Border B/C Champs

Border Champs

Gulf Champs II

Gulf Champs III

Gulf Champs III

LSST Gulf Champs I

CFSC Gulf Champs I

PACK Gulf Champs I

ESA Gulf Champs I

Mustang BB

MARS BB

NTN A Champs

MARS B/C Champs

COPS B/C Champs

South Texas A Champs

Jan Maresca Memorial

AAAA Gold/Silver/Bronze

Jesse Coon Memorial

Republic of Texas Pentathlon

DAM Spring

Introverts of the world, unite detach!

She's got a great message for all those teachers & administrators that go overboard with "collaborative learning". You know the type, right? They "think" or "feel" they know what works in the classroom. Don't try undermining those folks with facts, right?

Stop the madness for constant group work...just stop it!

The City of Wichita Falls needs a pool supervisor. Job info is here (search "Recreation")

Quote of the Day

The promises of this world are, for the most
part, vain phantoms; and to confide in one's
self, and become something of worth and
value is the best and safest course.



Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

Quote of the Day

Once you can accept the universe as matter
expanding into nothing that is something,
wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.



Albert Einstein

D-I Qualifiers = Gender Imbalance

View both D-I psych sheets:

D-I Women

D-I Men

A comment on a College Swimming message board thread that says it all:

spike33

Its just absurd to see girls taking 15 relays and 30 girls per individual event. Then on the other hand you have the guys meet thats top 12 relay and now top 17-18 guys-its a completely different playing field, thank you title 9

Where are all those Title IX lawyers when the men need them?

Would parents, coaches, and athletes accept this sort of thing in a UIL state meet? What if we swam prelims with two (2) heats of boys (with some empty lanes) and then had four (4) heats of girls? You can bet the lawyers would be all over it, right?

How can this be happening at the highest level in our sport?

Quote of the Day

By gnawing through a dike, even
a rat may drown a nation.



Edmund Burke

How does spending on college sports...

...impact an athlete's academic performance?

This may sound ultra-booooooooooooring (because it is), but it's important.

Lousy grades by scholarship athletes can cost athletic programs dearly. Schools lose scholarships when their athletes underperform in the classroom.

Read a report on how spending in college basketball programs relates to their APR's here.

Does it prove a cause/effect relationship? Probably not, as there are many other variables involved here. Still, it's interesting reading if you...if you don't have anything better to do...

via Players

Quote of the Day

The dream was always running ahead of

me. To catch up, to live for a moment in

unison with it, that was the miracle.



Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira
Nin y Culmell, a.k.a. Anaïs Nin

Quote of the Day

The heart has its reasons, which
reason does not know.



Blaise Pascal

Quote of the Day

Compromise used to mean that half a loaf
was better than no bread. Among modern
statesmen it really seems to mean that
half a loaf is better than a whole loaf.



Gilbert Keith "G.K." Chesterton

Holy Guacamole! Is this how it's done?

Okay, kids, it's time to see how they make the sausage.

The following is from the Save UD Track site (The Truth):

We have recently confirmed a number of things from the University of Delaware’s administration regarding how the decision to cut the men’s running programs was made:

In early 2010, Scott Douglass (photo), UD’s executive vice president and treasurer, came up with the idea to cut a varsity athletic program (or programs) solely in order to cut costs.

Soon after deciding to cut an athletic program, Douglass worked with UD athletic director, Bernard Muir, to decide that the teams to be cut would be men’s Cross Country and men’s Track & Field. They also came up with the idea to use Title IX as a cover. They needed a reason to cut the teams other than simply to reduce expenses, so they looked to use Title IX as many Universities now do. The two men analyzed what happened in 1991 after the wrestling program was removed as a varsity sport. There was little to no outcry from the wrestling community, so they assumed they could do the same with the men’s running programs. UD even cited this while explaining why the teams were cut: “The decision to discontinue varsity sports is not unprecedented at UD. Men’s sports that previously held varsity designation include wrestling and men’s indoor track and field.”

At a later point in 2010, Bernard Muir decided the University of Delaware would hire a Title IX expert to act as a consultant regarding whether or not UD needed to make changes to comply with Title IX. Although the identity of this consultant is yet to be determined, Muir chose someone who he knew would give him the answer he was looking for – that the University needed to reduce the number of male student-athletes to comply with Title IX. This consultant was simply an alibi to protect Douglass and Muir’s cover.

When proposed to University President Patrick Harker, the decision was approved, although it was likely that Harker was not aware of the wrongdoing that went into the decision. Harker may have been informed that the University actually did need to cut men’s athletes, which is far from the truth. Contrary to previous assumptions, President Harker may not have been directly (knowingly) involved in fabricating the reasons behind the decision.

In late November 2010, UD’s administration notified John Burmeister, the Chairman of the University’s Athletics Governing Board and its NCAA Faculty Representative, of the decision to drop the programs. After 30 years holding those positions, Burmeister decided this decision had gone too far. He resigned from his positions representing UD’s athletics.

The University’s Board of Trustees was informed of the decision after it was finalized and had no input, nor vote, contrary to what UD released in it’s press release announcing the reclassification of the programs: “Appropriate committees of the UD Board of Trustees have examined and approved a plan to meet these objectives”. A number of these trustees now wish the administration would revisit the decision that was announced on January 19th and reinstate the men’s programs.

It's certainly right to request...

...funds for updating labs, right? Read about the $3 million "Save UD Labs" story here.

While you're at it, visit Save UD Track, too!

When the state discusses this item with University of Delaware President Patrick Harker, I hope they will ask him about the athletic budget. Dumping men's running isn't saving them a whole lot of money, is it?

If he's got a budget issue, why didn't he consider dropping other sports that cost much more than track? Better still, did he consider sharing the "pain" and asking all sports to knock a little off their budgets?

More on this fiasco shortly...

Quote of the Day

Thought is the wind, knowledge
the sail, and mankind the vessel.



August Hare

Quote of the Day

How often when we are comfortable,
we begin to long for something new!



Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm

Quote of the Day

Research is formalized curiosity. It is
poking and prying with a purpose.



Zora Neale Hurston

TISCA State Meet Awards

See state swimmer, diver, and coach of the year awards on the TISCA site here.

Quote of the Day

If we're the opening act, they'd better

be good if they come after us!

David Thomas "Davy" Jones