I had a teammate in college whose last name was Sizemore. He had a good sense of humor, and didn’t mind when we gave him the nickname “Circum.” It went so far that one meet, one of our other teammates actually announced: “Circum’s next dive will be a 105B.” (105B is a front 2 and 1/2 in the pike position). A good laugh was had by all.
Now, on this blog I often write about quirky things like this, and I don’t usually say too many controversial things. But I wanted to submit a topic for discussion and see if there are any other opinions. Hopefully I will not have a bunch of readers who are angry at me. Anyway, I haven’t read all that much on circumcision, though I would probably read a lot more if I ever had a newborn son, but I guess my current thesis is that circumcision should not be performed on infant boys except out of religious custom or medical necessity.
In previous decades in the United States, it seemed that circumcision was a suggested, even standard practice for reasons of cleanliness and prevention of infection. There is also the fascinating, unfortunate case of the boy who was raised as a girl because his penis was burned off during his circumcision. In the end, he chose a male identity, despite efforts to convince him of his femaleness. Presently, it is my understanding that circumcision is no longer the “norm,” and in fact may be unnecessary and even harmful to boys. Plus, circumcision removes the most sexually sensitive skin on the male body! If I was male, I think I would be upset if I had been circumcised.
Circum Sizemore? More like, circumcise less.
Nice. Do they really have numbers for every single combination of dive?
Comment by Daniel Poth — December 24, 2005 @ 7:19 pm
Ah yes, they really have numbers for every single combination of dive. Every dive has three or four numbers and a letter. It four numbers if it is a twist dive, and three if it does not. The letters stand for positions, A is straight, B is pike, C is tuck, and D is “free” which is used for twisting dives.
For all non-twisting dives there are three numbers. The first number is either 1, 2, 3 or 4, and indicates the direction of spin. One is forward, 2 is backward, 3 is reverse, and 4 is inward. The second number is always a 0 for all non-twisting dives. The last number indicates the number of somersaults, with each increment representing a half somersault. So 201B would be a backward dive (the 1 indicates 1/2 of a somersault, so a dive) in the pike position. 403C would be an inward 1 and 1/2 somersaults in the tuck position.
For twisting dives there are four numbers. The first number is always a “5″ for twist. The second number indicates the direction of spin, the third number is the number of somersaults, and the fourth number is the number of twists. So my favorite dive 5223D is as follows: 5 = twist, 2 = backwards, 2 = one somersault, and 3 = one and 1/2 twists, D = free position. I also used to compete 5225D which had a 2.7 degree of difficulty (DD). This was exciting because I had the highest DD of anyone in the state competition. I don’t think anyone else could complete that dive.
Comment by stargazer — December 27, 2005 @ 3:56 pm