Team Joseph Meet & Workouts

Time to share some pics John Dissinger was good enough to send. Find some familiar faces by clicking on pics to enlarge.

From the April 9 Team Joseph Meet at Summer Creek HS:


From Team Joseph workouts around the US:


Arizona

Arkansas - Little Rock

Penn State

Ouachita Baptist

Florida International

UCLA
The only requirements to join these teams in supporting Team Joseph?

Contact John (John.Dissinger@humble.k12.tx.us) for caps and send him your pics!

Democracy Inaction

El Presidente Richard Davenport of MSU-Mankato doesn't care what students at his university say. He's dumping men's swimming, even though students voted earlier this month to pay extra to keep the sport. Read more here.

On April 12 Minnesota State Mankato students, in an advisory referendum, voted 1,796 to 1,287 in favor of raising student fees by 75 cents per credit – approximately $20 per student per year – to keep the four sports programs viable for three years.

Don't think for a second that Title IX wasn't a factor here.

The only sport saved - women's tennis - has a roster of ten (10). Put them in the "plus" column.

The three sports dumped - men's tennis (9), women's bowling (15), and men's swimming (20) - means they lost a net of five (5) female athletes while dropping twenty-nine (29) men.

A department-wide gain of twenty-four (24) women doesn't sound like much, does it?

Wait! There's more!!

There's a reason they didn't dump the entire swimming program, folks.

While their bowling team of fifteen women sounds like a lot to lose, their women's swim/dive team has thirty-six (36) on the roster.

Now do you see why only the men's swimming program was on the chopping block?

Quote of the Day

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.



William Butler Yeats

Quote of the Day

You cannot invade the mainland United States.
There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.



Isoroku Takano, a.k.a. Yamamoto

Following Up

A follow-up article on the relay take-off judging controversy has been posted by Mark Dent. Read it here.

TISCA president Penny DiPomazio said TISCA proposed to the UIL that it use video backup for the state meet and also that it return to having dual verification for disqualifications. That would mean at least one human official would have to call an early exchange in addition to the timing equipment. She said that TISCA wanted the timing equipment to "save" rather than punish a swimmer.

If you missed the original article, view it here.

Just because a swimmer touches the pad, that doesn't mean it will register. Jason Warne, aquatics product manager at Daktronics, said a degree of pressure is necessary.

"I would refer to it as more of a press - not a punch, a solid, firm press," Warne said. "If you just come in and touch it, a touch is not a press."

Speaking of dent, Susan B. Anthony Dollar-sized hail has been reported in the DFW area this evening.

Quote of the Day

The battles that count aren't the ones for
gold medals. The struggles within yourself -
the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us -
that's where it's at.



James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens

Catchin' Up

A few commenters on the TISCA & Meet Committees posted some good stuff. Bear, bare, and/or Bayer with me as I wade through some. Coach O commented on this and another post.

Coach O - When Warren left B.C., it just wasn't the same anymore. He sure was a great guy to work for. He expected coaches to take care of business and gave us total support. If we needed something, he made it happen. Not long after he left, a bunch of other coaches left, too. He's been at Dickinson since. Beau coached there for a while after playing for UT. and is now at Baylor. Not sure what Blaise is up to. Was watching a game last fall and an Aggie was going the length of the field for a touchdown but a Bear didn't give up on the play, ran him down, and knocked him out of bounds. It was Brody. Couldn't believe it. Big kid now!

Just found this article from 2009 with more.

You being a regular reader puts me up to two danged dozen! Liked the pun. I think I've heard it somewhere before, though. Oh yeah: The timers can't see the strobe! Back up, Button!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled post:

Readers would like referees at championship meets to select their meet committee early, include coaches & an athletes, and make sure everyone's well aware of who committee members are. That doesn't guarantee a referee will call the committee, but at least it won't be a mystery...

Coach O asked about coaches and our knowledge of the system/rules. Question made me ask "Why should coaches join TISCA?"

How about this:

Join TISCA now for the low, low price of just $34.99! Membership allows you to vote for District, Region, and State Coaches of the Year! You'll also be eligible to attend the TISCA clinic (for a small additional fee) in September!

Wait! There's more!

Become a TISCA member by October 1st and you'll also receive this handy 2011-12 NFHS rule book! What are you waiting for? Sign up now!!!

Just a thought, that rule book idea...

Maybe TJ will cut us a deal.

Many of us remember being told that, if there was a DQ (via dual confirmation), the system could be used to overrule and "save" the relay.

Somewhere along the line we got away from that. I looked over TISCA meeting minutes for the past 3+ years and could only find two (2) mentions of the issue. Both were in last fall's minutes.

In TISCA board meeting minutes (Friday, September 9, 2010, 7:01 - 9:03 p.m.) under Other Business:

6. Carl Auel spoke about the relay touch pads in the case of a human error; i.e. an elbow or the back instead of a hand touch.

In the TISCA general meeting minutes (Saturday, September 10, 2010, 8:34 - 10:14 a.m.) under Other Business:

Kevin Murphy asked the question about relay take-offs. Clarify the ruling and asked about possibly using a video.

Couldn't find anything more there.

Remember the warning we got before the state meet? No? Read it here.

However, it is recommended that if the equipment is used, the protocol described in Appendix B be used for the sake of consistency.

Yeah, for the sake of consistency...

We know some early take-offs in relays don't get called. Human error works both ways, right? Still, wouldn't we rather have one go uncalled - instead of having a relay incorrectly DQ'ed due to a pad malfunction?

This meeting recap from Anonymous:

At 11:41 PM, Anonymous said…

The Tisca Board voted to approve two recommendations to put forward to the UIL.
1. return to dual confirmation of relay exchange DQ's by humans in the -.01 to -.09 range.
2. Video review of any DQ's called by the "machine" in the -.01 to -.09 range.

The UIL, then came in to "suggest" that "we move forward" with video review, as an addition to Appendix B, "suggested" protocol for automatic relay exchange equipment.
The video equipment would be the same equipment used at the NCAA Division I Meet at UT. 100 frames per second. The NCAA rule book only recommends 25 frames per second and a very inexpensive way to set it up for review.
The video review does not need to be cost-prohibitive.

HOWEVER, the UIL proposal was very costly, as the high-level video equipment would have to be rented. Due to the cost ($8000-$10,000) it was determined by the UIL, that a large number of swimming HS's, 300 or so, should contact (by letter) the UIL, to show the UIL that this was an issue important to MANY schools, not just to a couple of schools that complained.
In addition, TISCA was tasked with getting this done in only 60 days.

It was pointed out that only about 120 schools, of the near 500 that swim in Texas, ever have representatives at the Texas State Meet. Never-the-less, the UIL feels the need to have more schools weigh-in on the need for changes to the current protocol, in order to justify the expenditure.

Politics, instead of justice and focus on the kids. A University of Texas employee, speaking on behalf of the UIL, did admit that touchpads fail and RTOP's can fail, and that there is, likely a need for an adjustment to the protocol being used and that there is room for the UIL State of Texas HS swimming to move forward to video review without breaking the NFHS rules.

We will see. No admission was made by the UIL that they made any specific mistakes at the 2011 Texas State HS Meet.
Remember, Daktronics time data acquired in an open records request, showed unequivocally, that the touchpad failed in lane 6, the Southlake Carroll Girl's 400 free relay. The entire DQ should have been thrown out. Video was not necessary to overturn the DQ, just competence by the Meet Referee and an actual review by a "real" Meet Committee.

Now, how do we go about getting over 300 schools to send letters to the UIL, saying they want video review of relay exchanges at the 2012 Texas State Swim Meet? Some of them have never even seen an RTOP, or sent a swimmer to the Texas State Meet. Many of them are uneffected and may never be effected by this problem.

That should be quite a trick. Oh, might that be the "trick" by the UIL to side-step the issue and avoid any future changes?
Stay tuned...the "fat lady has not yet started to sing and Red Auerbach has yet to light his cigar"
The TISCA General Membership Meeting in Sept 2011 should be interesting, if this does not get ironed out before then.

What? It now falls on TISCA to prove to the UIL that we should avoid using a suggested protocol that's flawed?!?! Why make the coaches spend more time jumping through hoops on this subject? We've got important Texting, Facebooking, Tweeting, and Blogging to do!

In related news, the Flat Earth Society is open to discussing the theory of - get this - a spherical planet! If revolutionaries can find at least three hundred astronomy teachers to weigh in on the side of a round Earth, they'll consider entertaining the possibility. If overwhelming support for the radical orbists isn't seen within sixty days, they'll continue on with business as usual.

Quote of the Day

Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts.
Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts.
Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me...
Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.



Shledon Allan "Shel" Silverstein

Quote of the Day

Upside-down trees swingin' free,

Busses float and buildings dangle:
Now and then it's nice to see
The world - from a different angle.



Sheldon Allan "Shel" Silverstein

Quote of the Day

Success seems to be connected with action.
Successful people keep moving. They
make mistakes, but they don't quit.



Conrad Nicholson Hilton

Quote of the Day

The only way to deal with an unfree world
is to become so absolutely free that your
very existence is an act of rebellion.



Albert Camus

Quote of the Day

Believe that you can whip the enemy,
and you have won half the battle.



General James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart

TISCA & Meet Committees

We're counting on our TISCA leadership to come down strongly on the side of our athletes and demand changes to protect them from potential machine malfunctions.

They may also want to remind coaches at the fall TISCA clinic about Rule 4, Section 1, Article 1.

This part of the rule book lists officials and their duties.

While coaches are unable to protest judgement calls, they are able to ask the meet referee to call the meet committee at a championship meet.

"The meet committee shall make decisions on matters not specifically covered by the rules or on the misapplication of a rule during a meet."

Presspad failures occur. It's usually not a big deal, and we get it cleared up quickly.

In those cases where that doesn't happen, a meet committee should be allowed to weigh in when a coach feels he/she isn't being heard.

The coach may state his/her case to this small group of unbiased adults. They are trusted to look into the matter. Even without the use of video evidence, data from the system can be reviewed.

While the meet referee is still going to have the final say, this committee can give him/her good guidance with which to make that final decision.

Dallas Morning News

You have to be a subscriber to read the front-page online story.

There is an extra variable needed for success at the University Interscholastic League swimming state championships. Besides the training and desire that lead to perfectly choreographed swims, so much depends on the machines, the electronic timing systems.

I learned something today...

We should not call them "touchpads". I'm going to try to remember to call them "presspads".

Quote of the Day

Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow.
Don't walk behind me; I may not lead.
Just walk beside me and be my friend.



Albert Camus

Quote of the Day

While he was not dumber than an ox,
he was not any smarter either.

James Grover Thurber

Weighing In

You can post a comment or two on this crappy site and a few hundred folks might give it a look.

Have you thought about letting your voice be heard by thousands of swim fans?

Registering for Swimming World's Reaction Time membership is free.

Once you're a member, you can vent there at Swimming World - for the whole swimming world to read!

Here's a recent comment on their relay take-off judging post:

April 11, 2011 I don't understand why these articles are posted. To what end? To show that in our sport it takes several years of wrangling to finally, possibly, do the right thing?

Oy veh!

I feel for all the level-headed, hard-working, young athletes who take part in our sport, only to realize that, when it counts most, they can't expect the adults to exercise common sense and fair play.
Submitted by: mario2007

Register here.

Weigh in on automatic relay take-off judging here.

Unwind here.

By the way, there's no money in this bloggin' deal. No ads. No incentive for linking to other sites. Heck, I don't even get a free sample of TriSwim shampoo thrown my way.

Ain't complainin', though - that's how it outta be. It's wonderful to be independent!

Let's laugh a little. Learn a little. Vent a little. Whatever floats yer danged boat, alright?

Okay, that's enough ramblin' fer now. Scroll back up and git yerself registered. Let yer voice be heard.

Just lay off the cursin', will ya?

The Article & Video...

...you've all been waiting for is here.

edited 10:11 p.m. - Be sure to view vid full screen.



In the aforementioned Carroll swim, Jillian Roberts is registered at a -0.09 takeoff, while a frame-by-frame look at the take-off in question would suggest that a +0.27 takeoff occurred.

Quote of the Day

Since when do we have to agree with
people to defend them from injustice?



Lillian Florence "Lily" Hellman

Quote of the Day

One of the striking differences between a cat
and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.



Samuel Langhorne Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain

Quote of the Day

It is better to have a known
enemy than a forced ally.



Napoleon Bonaparte

Quote of the Day

In politics stupidity is not a handicap.



Napoleon Bonaparte

Quote of the Day

Men are moved by two levers only:
fear and self-interest.



Napoleon Bonaparte

Quote of the Day

I can no longer obey; I have tasted
command, and I cannot give it up.



Napoleon Bonaparte

NFHS Stands Pat

The NFHS did not address the automatic relay take-off judging issue at their annual rules committee meeting.

The systems are used by only a few states at their championships. I guess we've figured out why, right?

If only a handful of coaches have voiced - or do voice - their concern over the use of the NFHS "Suggested Protocol", don't expect any changes, fans.

Quote of the Day

Ability is of little account without opportunity.



Napoleon Bonaparte

Quote of the Day

Soldiers generally win battles;
generals get credit for them.



Napoleon Bonaparte

Quote of the Day

Publicity is justly commended as a remedy
for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight
is said to be the best of disinfectants;
electric light the most efficient policeman.



Louis Dembitz Brandeis

Quote of the Day

Writing is learning to say nothing,
more cleverly each day.



William Allingham

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.

Duncan Training for 2012?

San Antonio Spurs big man Tim Duncan has announced he'll retire from basketball at the end of the 2011 season.

As Duncan's NBA career winds down, he's expected to resurrect his swimming career in preparation for London 2012.

"You know what they say," said the seven-footer, "when one door closes, another opens."

Duncan is expected to shoot for a spot on the U.S. Virgin Islands squad in both the 50m and 100m freestyle events. His older sister, Tricia, competed in the 1988 Seoul Games in both the 100m and 200m backstrokes.

Duncan hinted at a swimming "comeback" in an Express-News interview last year.

"I always loved swimming," he said, "and I still get in the water as much as possible. I'd like to get into some serious training, just to see what I could do. I've always wondered how far I could have gone in the sport had I not gotten into basketball."

With just a year to prep, Duncan admits he may lack the endurance for the longer race.

"The 100 free is definitely a long shot, but I think I'd have a pretty good shot at the 50."

Read more here.

Quote of the Day

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when my

mother took me to see him in a department

store, and he asked me for my autograph.



Shirley Jane Temple Black

Title IX Wake-Up Call

Check out this article comment. Original article w/all comments is here.

Please note that today is not the first day of April!

Equality in sports—and life

Re “Leveling the playing field” (Newslines, by Melody Gutierrez, March 24):

Thank you to Ms. [Cindy] Wolff and all of her AAUW friends in Chico! You are appreciated and admired for all of the great work you are doing.

We are working on the same issues here in Ventura County, and our AAUW chapters are great too! Title IX is all about opportunities for both genders; it is not for females exclusively. Boys need to be encouraged to be yell leaders (even George Bush was a Yale yell leader) or on a competitive dance team, for example.

How many young girls who are playing baseball at the elementary age are still playing that sport at the high-school level? How many superior female soccer kickers are also point kickers on football teams? Maybe these young people might like to have the opportunity to try these sports!

Sally Hibbitts
AAUW, Thousand Oaks

Right on, Sally! That's all the fellas needed was a little encouragement!!

Now, watch those boys quit those boring sports like lacrosse and swimming. Sponsors had better stock up on outfits for all those guys who'll be going out for the baton team.

Quote of the Day

It is thus with farming: if you do one thing
late, you will be late in all your work.



Marcus Porcius Cato, a.k.a. Cato The Elder

Quote of the Day

Words make you think a thought.

Music makes you feel a feeling.

A song makes you feel a thought.



Edgar Yipsel "E.Y." Harburg

With so many big meets...

...being decided on the last relay, here's a comment on the post Video Moved that's worth sharing here:

At 9:55 AM, Anonymous said…

Great meet!

To those that are tired of hearing about the "automatic relay take off judging" issue, I'd like to point out one more thing. When watching the ESPN3 coverage last night, I found it eerily similar to the coverage of the Texas high school girls 5A finals. Cal didn't need to win the race to win the championship - they just needed to NOT DQ. The announcers were pointing out each exchange indicating it was safe. The crowd was cheering because they saw a safe start. They knew the WIN was in the bag. National Champs!!!

BUT WHAT IF... a pad had malfunctioned and the seemingly SAFE START became a DQ??? What if that DQ could not or would not be overruled? What if that meant that Texas won and Cal was second?? Certainly we would be happy for Mr. Reese and team but also certainly we would be sick to our stomachs that something that ridiculous had caused a change to the winner. I'd guess that Mr. Reese would do the right thing and protest along side the Cal coach but even if he didn't - wouldn't we all still be talking about this a year from now? Whether or not we wanted Cal to win - whether or not we wanted Southlake Carroll to win, we certainly didn't want either team to lose because of an equipment error!

As written, the NCAA rule says that if the automatic relay judging equipment is used that video MAY be used as a backup. It is NOT REQUIRED. So this scenario could easily have played out - no question about it. As written the NFHS rules and therefore the UIL rules indicated that there does not need to be any dual confirmation (for the inclusive range of -0.09 to 0.0). Shouldn't the rules be written such that swimmers are protected against malfunctioning or insensitive equipment?

So congrats to Cal, congrats to Texas and to all the others who have done well. I'm glad that Minnesota saw fit to shut off the automatic relay judging after the first night (if that is indeed what they did - and not just HIDE the results) - because if they didn't, we could have seen a repeat of the girls 5A Texas results. And then ALL OF US would be calling for a reversal and a change to the rule.

Think about it!

Quote of the Day

There are no rules for good photographs,
there are only good photographs.



Ansel Easton Adams

Which side is Nancy on?

It seems as though Nancy Hogshead-Makar has been doing more to hurt the Women's Sports Foundation lately than help it. Their defense of Title IX quotas is looking more ridiculous by the day.

The three-time Olympic gold medal winner's appearance in John Stossel's piece on gender quotas must have made Billie Jean King cringe. Catch up here.

More recently, she lost a Tweet-fight with the College Sports Council. Read more here and here. She's Hogshead3au. Get it? No? Think periodic table...I gotta do all the thinkin' 'round here?

Last Friday evening, the College Sports Council got into an extended conversation with Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Senior Director for Advocacy for the Women's Sports Foundation on our Twitter feed. While the issues we discussed were serious, I had a good time jousting with her on behalf of the CSC, even if she worked hard to dodge some of the more pointed questions we posed to her, while also working to blindly distort many of the CSC's public positions on the reform of Title IX enforcement.

Showed up to an iPhone fight with a danged Jitterbug...

Quote of the Day

The correction of silence is what kills; when
you know you have transgressed, and your
friend says nothing, and avoids your eye.



Robert Louis Stevenson

Quote of the Day

No one can beautify his own lot by sowing

seeds of weeds in the lot of another.



Charles E. "Skip" Bird

Quote of the Day

Everything has its wonders, even darkness
and silence, and I learn, whatever state
I may be in, therein to be content.



Helen Adams Keller

This Just In!

Quote of the Day

Great men always pay deference to greater.



Walter Savage Landor

Quote of the Day

You find out who your real friends are
when you're involved in a scandal.



Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor

Quote of the Day

Never pray for justice,
because you might get some.



Margaret Eleanor Atwood

Quote of the Day

It is human nature to stand
in the middle of a thing.



Marianne Moore