So what if I feel like bitching about this every week! Deal with it!

Speedo has a large stable of elite athletes; all amazing in their own right. However, within that team of swimmers, they only have so many WORLD RECORD HOLDERS. The way they continue to omit 2 of them infuriates me. And many probably don’t think it’s a big deal, but around here, we do. Speedo continuing to overlook Pete and Klete in Speedo promotional photoshoots and catalog inclusions is inexcusable. In a sense, it seems to devalue their work and accomplishments in the pool. I liken it to a slap in the face.

So at first, I just thought it was an oversight. Then I moved on to thinking about how awkward and uncomfortable Pete looks in staged/posed pictures, and assumed he declined their invitation to the photoshoot. But after my brief convo with PVK yesterday, I really am at a loss for words!

When I asked him why he isn’t in the catalog he said:

I don’t know…

I also offered to write a strongly-worded letter on his behalf, but the ever-modest PVK didn’t think that was necessary. I, however, do!

Seriously, I don’t know what’s going on over at the Speedo USA Headquarters, but they need to get it together! This is unacceptable. Pete just became the 4th fastest 200m Free performer in history at Nationals! I think he is more than deserving of a spot in that catalog. This isn’t about vanity, or the fact that PVK is my dawg. It’s about respect.

We’ve mentioned it before, but it’s time to say it again: We Love Paul Yetter!

Now, I’ve essentially had him to myself for the past 2 years. He’s the one who got me in touch with The Hoff way back when. He also helped me police the Swim Stars message boards and showered me with praise at the work I was doing on the site. So after countless stories, it was time to share him with the Swim Aids.

They ate him up!

Kiwi got her first “experience” in Mizzou. We have great stories from that trip! Then she and I continued the Paul lovefest in A2 where he fully embraced all of our jokes and referred to PVK by the nickname he instructed me to call him last year. (Sorry, it’s an inside joke and y’all are currently on the outside!)

So after rubbing it in for many months, the rest of the Swim Aids became anxious and demanded they meet Paul as well. We hooked them up last week in Indy. We caught him at the end of the first night of competition and had a long chit-chat session. We were hoping The Hoff would join us, but she peaced out while we were on our way down to the deck to get Paul. (It’s ok, she more than made up for it by posing specifically for my camera while on the awards podium.)

So, we had a lengthy convo with Paul, learned some new things, and the girls even tested his memory by making him recall their names after rearranging their seats. He “passed” by remembering 3 out of 4 names. Not bad for a pop quiz!

During the convo, Paul wrote down his website address. He’s way into photography and recently upgraded his camera! The Swim Aids are all pretty much camera-whores ourselves, so this pleased us. If you’d like to check out Paul’s photos then click here. It’s ok. He wanted us to publicize them. He isn’t the first who sought to benefit from the promotion we provide.

This is a long appreciation post and there hasn’t even been a mention of Paul’s hotness…until now! We usually like to bring that up because we have been told by a couple of his swimmers that it grosses them out. (Just wait until the Bob Bowman Coach Appreciation Post ) We live for those awkward PVK-esque moments where we can make people feel as uncomfortable as possible, so y’all better get used to it!

Now we’re all a little obsessed with Paul, and not just me. He’s the shit, really. Y’all should be obsessed as well! The icing on the cake was a couple of people — who make us laugh — eavesdropping on our conversation; even though they had absolutely no reason to still even be up in the stands that long after the session ended. It’s ok, boys. We love you too. Hope you enjoyed our conversation!

So this wraps up our first Coach Appreciation Post. Stay tuned for the sequel!

We made another trip to the Aqua Zone at Nationals. Erika was determined to finish/win! (Especially after being turned down for a classic photo op by J-Hardy) Unfortunately for Erika, the outcome of her second attempt was identical to the first. But still great for a laugh! She was so close, but close only counts in horseshoes.

And no, it wasn’t Phelps either!

So our favorite late night talk show host is even cooler than we imagined. During his monologue, he acknowledged that the Beijing Games were 1 year away. Not only that, but he also gave a shout-out to a couple of swimmers. He shared how excited he was to see Ryan Lochte and Lenny Krayzelburg battle for the 200 Backstroke title.

We are impressed Conan (or his writers) even knew enough about the sport - and that particular event - to name 2 swimmers that aren’t Michael Phelps. So he gets keepin’ it real points for that. We also love the name drop-age the Lochtenator received, even if Conan did pronounce his last name “locked”. It’s all good; we forgive you, Conan!

First the “Today Show” aired a couple of preview segments featuring Mikey P. and Kate Z. earlier. Then, later today, NBC will come back during primetime this evening to air the Olympic Zone Preview at 7:30 PM. ETA: Olympic Zone Preview is airing in select markets, but not all. But don’t worry, kiwi’s putting it on DVD, so we’ll be able to share!

If that wasn’t enough, a new story is published detailing the 3600 hours of coverage NBC is set to provide for next year’s Beijing Games; 2,200 hours of which will be live broadband streaming.

For self-professed Olympic Whores like the Swim Aids, it feels like Christmas!

At the end of today’s 11 o’clock local news, the anchors gave Mr. Austin Staab a congratulatory shout-out for qualifying for next year’s Olympic Trials. We checked out some of Austin’s races last week and took some pictures as well. We’ll be sure to share those with y’all soon!

Again, many of you may not think this is a big deal, but I unfortunately live in “Buckeye Country” and all anyone can talk about in Columbus these days is OSU football. *gag* So for Austin to have taken away the attention from that is MAJOR!

And for good measure, Staab is on the cover of this month’s Swimming World Magazine as he was named the male high school swimmer of the year. We really did decide to drive the right bandwagon, didn’t we?

FYI, Austin’s Trials qualifying times from Nationals were in the 100 Fly (54.80) and 100 Free (51.57).

Audra from Speedo uploaded the following video to YouTube that gives a small glimpse behind-the-scenes of the 2008 Speedo Racing Catalog Shoot. Having seen the catalog, I would like to say that while it was great to see new faces like T-DUB!! and Kim V. in it (after we bitched a few months back), I am still extremely disappointed to not see 2 of the Team Speedo World Record Holders — Klete and Pete — included in the catalog. Shame on you, Speedo! Way to drop the ball!