I have flown with 200 pilots and 20,000 hour pilots and one thing I can assure you of, is time means nothing. If you are eager to learn your craft and stay focused on continued education as well as refreshing skills that may have become rusty you will be a useful crew member in a 121 environment. So I say attitude beats flight time everyday. No flight deck will ever have a combined flight time of less than 1500 hours so this rule is silly. This rule wouldn't have prevented any of the last 15 years of accidents that were deemed the result of pilot error. If you want quality airman you must maintain and high standard. The FAA needs to impose a standard on their own FSDO's as well. There should not be such a difference between the MEM and MSP FSDO'S.