BOCOG Ticketing Center: “Oops. Our bad!”

Demand for a ticket to see the Olympic Games from Beijing are so overwhelming that ticket sales had to be suspended temporarily while officials come up with a new scheme for the second round of sales.

Then again, 8 million hits in one hour will likely overwhelm the best of systems!

“Because of the overwhelming volume of page visits, the technical system was unable to perform the tasks well enough, and many applicants were unable to successfully submit their applications. The BOCOG Ticketing Center expressed regret for any inconvenience experienced by the applicants in the process of purchasing tickets.”

More?

So yea, we’re not fans of the Wasserman Media Group. And we don’t care if you tell them. They can suck it.

As many people are aware, if you posted any video from Nationals on popular videosharing site YouTube, then you probably are well aware that the “fine folks” at WMG have nothing better to do with their time then police YouTube and request that all content pertaining to the recent Nationals in Indy be removed for copyright violations.

I figured that the reason they wanted video taken down was so they could later package the event and then sell it. And that is, in fact, what they are doing. It’s all about the Benjamins, baby. I hope Diddy doesn’t come after me and threaten to sue me after quoting his song right there. Lawsuits seem to be the corporate activity du jour.

Anyway, USA Swimming and WMG aren’t even including all races in the 2-DVD set. All you get for your $15 fee is A Finals and “Fast Heats”. What exactly is “fast heats”? Is it just the last one? Is it all the circle seeded ones? Care to elaborate?

What about Johnny who got his cut and was competing at Senior Nationals for the first time? Say his teammate recorded his race and decided to put it online for Johnny, his family, friends, and teammates. I’m willing to bet that big, bad Wasserman Media Group would send another take-down notice to YouTube, even though they don’t offer any of Johnny’s races in the 2-DVD set.

I’m sure we’d see the same results for “Beth”, who is attending her 4th Senior National meet, but doesn’t make the Championship Final. She raced in the ‘B’ Final and won! But let Beth’s proud parents put a video of the race on YouTube, and see what happens!

This is all the more infuriating considering that USA Swimming’s Media department OK’ed the posting of prelim video from Nationals. Apparently WMG didn’t get that memo.

If you go to YouTube, and search for races from other DVD sets that USA Swimming offers for purchase, you see that they are all alive and well. This nazi activity seems to have come into play in the aftermath of the new partnership with Wasserman Media Group.

Viral video is where it’s at. It’s the future. How many times have we seen YouTube video used in news reports and television programs? People are plucked from abscurity and vaulted into celebrity with recording contracts? Activities become mainstream every day. All due to viral video sites. YouTube is one of the most visited websites IN THE WORLD. What better way to get a grassroots buzz going for the sport than to have a large collection of fan video on a website that commands such high traffic statistics? That’s some major exposure! USA Swimming, and more specifically WMG, need to get on board before they cripple the sport further.

Don’t care about my trip to the dentist? That’s too bad, because you’re going to read about it anyway!

First, let me start by saying that I think it’s a little ridiculous for an adult to think that I am still in high school. I got to my appointment a little before 3PM yesterday and my hygienist said “Did you just come from school?” Dude, seriously? It took all the self control I possessed not to say “Yea, 10 years ago.” Do I really look like I could be in high school? I mean, yea I’ve gotten carded at rated R movies before, but that was a while ago. I guess I should take it as a compliment?

Anyway, during my last visit (6 months ago, as is recommended) the last hygienist I had turned out to be a Masters swimmer that got her workouts in with the Westerville Masters club. I even recruited her to go to Big Tens that Ohio State hosted back in February.

So, imagine my surprise when my new hygienist was also a former swimmer! A cleaning that should have take about 15-20 minutes ended up being close to 45 because he wanted to talk swimming with me. I also made it a point to tell him about the Ohio State Grand Prix meet in early April. I do as much recruiting as I can!

It’s nice to be able to go about your day-to-day activities and run into people who also share a love for the sport of swimming. That’s hard to come by for someone, such as myself, who didn’t grow up swimming or have friends who did!

Note to other Swim Aids: When someone asks your real opinion on Phelps, try to avoid a pregnant pause before you give your opinion. People tend to jump to conclusions that are usually spot on… This effectively prevents you from giving the politically correct response we’ve all been spoon-fed.

I think now would be a good time to say “I told ya so”.

I told everyone to keep their eyes on the Michigan team this season. I believe I even went so far as to say that they were going to “tear shit up”. That wasn’t me being overconfident in their abilities. I’d like to think I know what I’m talking about when professional signings aren’t involved… Anyway, the boys did their thang in the pool and proved me right.

Michigan travelled all the way down to Lochteville Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators. Nice early season matchup between 2 great programs. The meet took place over 2 days and 3 sessions. Taking a look around the net, many were quick to predict a Gator victory. They don’t know what I know, though. I knew Blue would come out on top. Final tally: Michigan 326, Florida 272. [FULL RESULTS]

We saw the usual suspects stepping up and scoring points for UM. You know. Vanderkaay, Patton, Spann, Savulich, Brady, & co. But major props go out to Tyler Clary. Way to make a splash in your freshman season! (Pun intended)

Looks like the beginning of a very special season!

Sunday was the inter-squad meet at the HYPR Center. It was originally supposed to be last Friday at 4:00, but the water heater broke and it was post-poned until a later date, and that being said: WOW! Were my expectations NOT met!

First, I had to get out of my warm dorm room and walk across campus in 20 degree weather! Yeah, I was cold. Maybe it is a good thing that there are only three home meets!

I think the whole pool area (which had 6 lanes, one high dive, one broken low dive [and only ONE diver on the team]; and the warm-up pool was connected to the main pool) is a fourth of what the Canham Natatorium is. And I’m not even joking. It took everything in me to stay for the whole meet, which is really sad to admit.

But never fear, the look-on-the-bright-side part of me was still there. The bleachers were on deck. It was really cool sitting that close to the pool, as all the Swim Aids know how sucky my camera is. I got some great shots and I felt all VIP!

I got to see of the popular swimmers there, Hadleigh Tyler, who is from England. He was pretty good; he won all of his races. Then I saw a friend from orientation who placed third in the 200 free. I didn’t get to see her backstroke, which she is apparently really good at. And I got to see “my man” swim, but I didn’t get to identify him. Sad day, I know.

It’s kind of sad that we’re the biggest school in the state, now NCAA Division 1 ranked, but we have like, twenty swimmers (men AND women) swimming. And I only saw the coach on deck once - and I didn’t even know he was the coach! I guess I’m used to them jumping around or waving their hands in the air like they’re on fire.

Anyways, I would like to give a shout out to the fans that were sitting behind me. My friend that and I walked in with a bunch of people and they asked why I was here and I told them that I love swimming, blah blah, and about this site! Well, as I sat watching the meet I heard voices behind me:

She’s a Swim Aid?

Talk to her!

I bet she knows Amanda Beard!

To answer your questions, if you’ve checked the site recently, yes, I am a Swim Aid. Feel free to talk to me - I don’t bite! And no, I personally do not know Amanda Beard. Sorry.

Here are some pictures. Click the thumbnails for a more inspired view:

As someone who watches more than their fair share of ESPN programming (I can’t help it!), I have to say they put together great commercials.

That is why my interest was instantly peaked when I learned that Phelps just shot an “on-air advertising promo” this week for the network.

He wasn’t alone, either. ESPN also filmed spots featuring fitness guru Richard Simmons, author Stephen King, NBA stars Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, as well as Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins from the MLB.

This better be good, Phelps!

Yes, my friends, it is true. With all the talk of the Colorado Rockies and their late regular and post season streak, the SportsCenter gang gave a shout out to the Cheshire, CT girls high school swimming team for their 235th consecutive dual meet victory. That’s major! They haven’t lost since 1986!

This story was also shown on the local news, here in Columbus. Very refreshing because some of us don’t want to hear about OSU football 24/7…

Anyway, because I feel it is my job to share when swimming gets on TV, here is the short video snippet: