>===== Original Message From Mark Sirota <msirota@isc.upenn.edu> =====
>miket wrote:
>> I'm not sure why so many people feel so compassionate about doing
>> away with ladies classes. Can anyone put forth an specific example a
>> time when having ladies classes had a negative effect on an event
>> that you attended??
>
>People have already pointed out two:
>(1) Too many classes make for long and boring Nationals banquets.
I guess that was brought up... Eliminating ladies classes sounds like a
rather drastic solution to this "problem". I'm sure most of us could think a
quite a few other solutions that would have fewer secondary conseqeunces...
>(2) People feel slighted when a woman wins big trophies and
>contingencies while running slower than people who drove the same
>class and won nothing.
I suppose some people may feel this way. I still don't understand these
feeling though. In this case, the bottom line is that I didn't win my class.
Why should I try to take the reward and recognition away from someone else
who did win a class even if it is similar to mine and they ran slower than me.
Taking their trophy away doesn't give me the satisfaction of winning - only
the satisfaction of taking the award and recognition away from someone else
who may well have worked harder than I did at achieving their goals. It seems
to me that this is a rather selfish position.
Is this different than giving trophies to kids in carts because you are pretty
sure you would be faster in the same cart?? Or to the winner of the rookie
class at a local event?? Or to take the analogy even further, I'm sure that
the winners of the NBA championship don't feel slighted because the winners of
the CBA championship get a (possibly larger) trophy. Or in intramural sports
where there are severel levels (A,B,and C leagues), each with their own
championship. I now that winning the C league Championship is not the same as
winnign the B or A league. And the A and B league winners are pretty sure
they could whip our butts any day without even working up a sweat.
I guess my point that for alot (most?) of competitors measure the
significance & meaning of the victory by how hard you had to work for it, the
difficulty of teh competition, etc. rather than the size of the trophy.
>(3) The message it delivers about our sport may be wrong.
This I don't understand either. What is the wrong message?? That we have our
sport structured to encourage participation, competition, and fun for everyone
who wants to participate? If this is a bad message then the world is in real
trouble!!
>
>Note that I'm not saying that I necessarily buy into any of these; I'm
>just playing back what I've heard here.
Thanks Mark!!! Discussions like this are much more productive (and fun) when
the emotion is removed....
Mike Taylor
miket@interaccess.com
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