The “dead period” of the swimming world is coming to a close and around here, and we Swim Aids couldn’t be more thrilled! No seriously!

The college season is beginning and look for us to discuss it a LOT this year. Especially with our never-ending support for the boys up in Ann Arbor. They are gonna tear shit up this year. You just wait!

Kiwi’s gonna be all over the place where Stanford is concerned, starting with this weekend’s Alumni meet. Carrie’s going to show us how her school represents for the Summit League (formerly known as the Mid-Continent Conference). And I’m going to continue my love affair with OSU’s McCorkle Aquatic Pavillion. I don’t really care who is actually competing. I’ll cover it just because of that amazing facility. We’re going to think of other things for the rest of the Swim Aids to do. Three of them are in Texas, so we’re likely going to make them stalk the Longhorns whenever/wherever possible. You know how it is.

The Golden Goggle nominations are going to be coming out within the next week. No doubt we’ll have fun with those, as well as the event itself. Should get some of our random questions answered without having to ask ourselves. *cough*

The 2007-08 World Cup Circuit is about to kick into gear too. Although I missed it not being around last year, it’s not like any of us could have seen any of the meets. The US gave up its rights to host a stop after the 2006 competition in New York. Bummer.

Then a couple of us are looking forward (hopefully) to a trip to Hotlanta for the inaugural Short Course Nationals.

See? It’ll all be better soon! Of course, I don’t know if swimming will be able to successfully steal me back from this year’s football insanity. It’s got me in on lockdown!

So, we have our answer now; thanks to someone close to the situation

A year plus of scorching best times and breakout performances seems to not have been enough to keep the younger Peirsol sibling in the sport.

A year-round sport like swimming takes up so much of your time and energy. So in order to stay active in the international ranks, an athlete’s committment has to be rock solid. When that doesn’t happen, changes must be made. Guess this is what happened with Hayley.

She has decided to leave the sport and finish her degree at Auburn. We wish her all the best!

We’ve noticed that Hayley Peirsol has been quite M.I.A. in the swim world in recent months.

First, we noticed that she skipped Nationals. No biggie, right? But the only people who passed on Nationals were the ones competing at WUGs, the Paris Open, or a select few who competed at Pan Ams. Hayley wasn’t on any of those squads.

Then we noticed that her name/bio has now been removed from her primary sponsor’s (TYR) website.

Are we missing something? What’s the 411?

If you’re one of the people asking that, I’ll just take one second to calm your nerves.

First of all, the site is not going anywhere. Under a year from the Olympics and I’m going to shut down a site I’ve been pouring myself into for 3 years? Yea, not gonna happen.

Swim Stars has sustained a hacking attempt and some malicious phishing attempts ensued. My hosting co. and I thought it would be easiest to disable the site while we track down those files and remove them. When we’re done, Swim Stars will be back.

Have no fear. We shall return!

Olympic athletes have to work so hard to get the respect they more than deserve. So whenever an Olympic athlete falls from grace, it’s like a blow to the entire movement. We’ve seen it happen more times than it ought to in the past year.

Justin Gatlin. Floyd Landis. And now, add Marion Jones to the list. She has just admitted to using steroids before the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney; a move she had vehemently denied for years.

When something like this happens, I can’t help but think how I would feel if one of the swimmers I greatly admire and respect came out an admitting to taking Steroids. I won’t like. I would be crushed. Much like all those young fans of Marion Jones most likely are feeling right now. I’m thankful I haven’t had to experience such a letdown and hope I never have to.

All signs are pointing to Amanda Beard as the next celebrity to endorse domain registrar GoDaddy.com. A news conference is expected later this week where Go Daddy CEO and founder Bob Parsons will formally announce the new celebrity “Go Daddy Girl”.

He gives some hints on his personal blog, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out:

Hints, hints, hints.
Here are a few hints (all of which are why I like this new Go Daddy Girl): she rides a Ducati motorcycle and is a world class athlete. She’s definitely GoDaddyEsque (i.e. edgy, fun and slightly inappropriate) and has been on the cover of Playboy magazine. Finally she’s an accomplished businesswoman who looks red hot when she’s wet.

So, we here at the Swim Aids would like to congratulate Amanda on this great business move. Homegirl keeps on doing the damn thing, doesn’t she?

Since swimming news is kinda lacking and I am procrastinating from doing my homework….

Australia’s Dancing with the Stars aired this week, and Michael Klim was the first person eliminated from the competition. He did the Jive and Quickstep, which gave him a combined score of nineteen. The other competitors received scores well into the twenties.

Too bad you can’t dance, Klim! We were all rooting for you!