Us Indoor Rowing Team Selection

[[old] ranger]

<!--QuoteBegin--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Frankly, it doesn't sound as if you were part of the USIRDS </td></tr></table><br /><br />Yes, I was a part of the USIRDS. Thus, the logo.<br /><br />ranger

[[old] ranger]

<!--QuoteBegin--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->but apparently you do want the USIRDS logo displayed along with your Alias </td></tr></table><br /><br />The USIRDS has nothing to do with selection. I qualified for the USIRDS because I was a former world record holder. I "qualified."<br /><br />ranger

[[old] ranger]

<!--QuoteBegin--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->So you joined something you felt was irrelevant </td></tr></table><br /><br />Yes, I think the USIRDS is irrelevant.<br /><br />But supposedly,<br /><br /> <br /><br />as it stands now, selection for the USIRT depends upon qualifying for the USIRDS. <br /><br />I don't know about you, but most of the things I do, I don't agree with. You do them because you have to; they are a prerequisite for getting something else done.<br /><br />I didn't have to do anything at all to be a member of the USIRDS.<br /><br />I would certainly like to be a member of the USIRT, if the selection process were open and fair and therefore worth the trouble.<br /><br />ranger

[[old] ranger]

I clearly thought it was worth the trouble in 2003.<br /><br />Boy, did _I_ get a surprise!<br /><br />Watch out who you trust!<br /><br />A knife in the back is just around the corner.<br /><br />Ides of March...<br /><br />ranger

[[old] PaulS]

<!--QuoteBegin-ranger+Nov 21 2005, 11:22 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(ranger @ Nov 21 2005, 11:22 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Frankly, it doesn't sound as if you were part of the USIRDS </td></tr></table><br /><br />Yes, I was a part of the USIRDS. Thus, the logo.<br /><br />ranger <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />All I see is the logo, which you say you "qualified" for because of some past achievement, rather than your desire to be "part of" anything.<br /><br />Did you submit a time trial that qualified you for the USIRDS? (witnesses?)<br />Did you participate in any of the USIRDS recommended workouts? (certainly not required)<br />Did you participate in any of the USIRDS scheduled test pieces? (results?)<br />Where are these mystery competitors who had better trial performances than the selected 2005 USIRT members?<br /><br />From what you have been sharing so far, it looks like the answer to these questions is "no".<br /><br />To "be part" of something, it would seem that you would have had to actually participated at some level in the present program, other than this constant bitch-moan-complaining about long gone history.

[[old] ranger]

<!--QuoteBegin--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Ranger the trials were completly fair </td></tr></table><br /><br />Give me a fkn break, George. Let's go over it again.<br /><br />I was the CRASH-B champion and world record holder in my division. I did two solid months of sharpening training specifically for an official, publicly offered trial--at a remote site, on a Saturday morning, by myself. I broke the world record _again_ in my trial. Nonetheless I was not selected for the team. On the team, none of the six male selections broke a world record in their trials, two of the six did not even end up rowing at EIRC, and one of them, while rowing, did not win.<br /><br />!!<br /><br />Impossible stuff.<br /><br />ranger

[[old] ranger]

<!--QuoteBegin--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->long gone history. </td></tr></table><br /><br />What I am objecting to is not at all "long gone history," Paul. The explicitly stated selectional process for the USIRT is _exactly_ the same as it was in 2003. There _is_ none.<br /><br />Therefore, C2 is asking participating rowers to trust them that they will be fair in their selections. They are asking participants to believe that anyone who would offer officially verified trials is a serious organization that respects sports and judges in terms of merit rather than ad hominem, in-group out-group loyalties.<br /><br />But in the past, C2 has been flagrantly _untrustworthy_ on this point.<br /><br />So what to do?<br /><br />Wait for a change in their officially stated policy, I would say. <br /><br />And keep talking.<br /><br />The 4th estate is hard at work.<br /><br />C2, you are getting _very_ bad press. Be indifferent if you'd like. It's your choice.<br /><br />The Age of Information. Sometimes you just gotta love it.<br /><br />ranger

[[old] ranger]

<!--QuoteBegin--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Did you submit a time trial that qualified you for the USIRDS? (witnesses?) </td></tr></table><br /><br />I didn't have to do a trial. I was a former world record holder. That was enough to qualify for the USIRDS.<br /><br />ranger

[[old] ranger]

<!--QuoteBegin--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->All I see is the logo, which you say you "qualified" for because of some past achievement, rather than your desire to be "part of" anything. </td></tr></table><br /><br />Already answered this one, Paul. <br /><br />Supposedly,<br /><br /> <br /><br />to be selected for the USIRT, you had to be a part of the USIRDS. I do indeed want to be selected for the USIRT, and would be happy to do trials, etc., if they are open and fair. <br /><br />Doesn't seem that they are. At least, C2 is unwilling to say that they are.<br /><br />ranger

[[old] ranger]

All of the evidence that I have from my past experience indicates that the trials are not at all fair.<br /><br />So I don't see that C2 can demand that participants put themselves out in any way beyond the ordinary. The result of the effort is a crap shoot, not dependent on the trials rowed, but on how C2 feels abou things--that year, that day. <br /><br />Wierd. In athletics, this is bizarrely, brazenly wierd. <br /><br />ranger

[[old] PaulS]

<!--QuoteBegin-ranger+Nov 21 2005, 12:27 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(ranger @ Nov 21 2005, 12:27 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->The 4th estate is hard at work.<br /><br />C2, you are getting _very_ bad press. Be indifferent if you'd like. It's your choice.<br /><br />ranger <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />You've got a pretty high opinion of yourself and your posting on this matter.<br /><br />If anything, you are strengthening (justifying) the very "policy" that you are trying to break down. (If it even exists, which is highly doubtful.)<br /><br />Is there anyone, other than yourself and John Rupp that gives a damn that you are not on, or ever will be on, a C2 USIRT? Anyone? Anyone at all?<br /><br />I'm not defending C2, nor supporting you. After 2 years with no stated change in policy by C2 apparently you are either too dense to understand that the policy either doesn't exist (therefore can't change) or is simply not going to change. Yet you continue to be "the victim".<br /><br />Let's make this more interesting. Everyone who has NEVER had any sort of injustice done to them, please speak up. Apparently Ranger is the only person to have ever suffered such a thing and therfore feels the need to go on endlessly about it. Come on, there must be a lot of you out there who have been treated fairly your entire life!<br /><br />Keep posting, if it makes you happy. Perhaps the catharses will be complete some day.

[[old] John Rupp]

This photo says it all!<br /><br />Here is Eddy Merckx just before smashing the 1 Hour World Record at Mexico City in 1972.<br /><br /><img src='http://www.thespincycle.com/files/merckxMoltini.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' /><br /><br />"Throughout this hour, the longest of my career, I never knew a moment of weakness, but the effort needed was never easy ... I will never try it again ... <b>I don't think I could ever improve on this record</b>."<br /><br />Certainly not at sea level!

[[old] John Rupp]

<!--QuoteBegin-NavigationHazard+Nov 20 2005, 11:11 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(NavigationHazard @ Nov 20 2005, 11:11 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><br />In setting the altitude adjustment for Crash-B qualifying times done at the Mile High race in Denver, C2 seems to have decided to refer to the NCAA adjustments for Division I athletes running 3000m indoors in that city.<br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Perhaps but why stop there. Just use the marathon and subtract 5 minutes from his time! <br /><br />Rowing 2k is nothing like running a 3000 meters. Do you think Graham Benton or any other top hwt's could compete in a 3000 meter running race! Heck no!! A 2k on the erg is more like running a 400 meters, or an 800 meters at the most.<br /><br />And both of those events are FASTER AT ALTITUDE, not slower!<br />

[[old] John Rupp]

<!--QuoteBegin-george nz+Nov 21 2005, 01:22 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(george nz @ Nov 21 2005, 01:22 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Go Dennis !!! No matter what happens you made the effort to get selected and now that you have will represent the 'team' to the best of your ability on the day and who could ask for more  [right] </td></tr></table><br /><br />George,<br /><br />Maybe you could give him one of your New Zealand feathers!!!

[[old] John Rupp]

<!--QuoteBegin-ranger+Nov 21 2005, 05:18 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(ranger @ Nov 21 2005, 05:18 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->If this were the case, C2 would have just made the results of _all_ of the 2K trials public from the beginning, like the national team trials. That they didn't (and still don't) is telling. Initially, they resisted revealing _any_ of the 2K times, as though the whole process were application for admission to some sort of secret society![right] </td></tr></table><br /><br />Plus giving Dennis a 12 second bonus!!! <br />