So I realized that I didn’t do one of these yesterday and now, unfortunately, the days are starting to blur together. So here goes on another edition of “Tales From The Deck”

After tonight’s session we felt extreme sadness. I’m talking like being on the verge of tears. Why, you ask? Because T-Dub!! finished 3rd in the men’s 200 Fly, thus not making the Olympic Team. I don’t know if there was anyone else in the meet we wanted on the team more than him, so when Gil Stovall swam the race of his life (props to him, that was badass!) we knew Davis‘ chances at punching a ticket for Beijing were reduced to zero. But he left it all in the pool. That was his best time. For our own selfish reasons, we want him to continue one more year — like a couple of his teammates — but we understand if he’s ready to move on. Seeing how upset his mom (whom we adore) was after the race, was almost too much to bear.

And the sadness didn’t end with T-Dub!! It also extended to Miss Kaitlin, a regular Swim Aid reader. She’s been fighting a string of health maladies and injuries in recent months, the after effects causing her to lose critical strength and stamina. But, she’s been dealing with it like a champ and with the smile we’ve all come to love. She’s going to be in the AquaZone Friday, so everyone go, say “hi”, and wish her well! And please know that she’s ok. She wants people to know she’s not on suicide watch or anything.

Other National Team veterans who look to be on the outside looking in include Tara Kirk, Rachel Komisarz, and Neil Walker. Both Tara and Neil were regular Team USA captains. So this is going to be an adjustment. Tara has another race in the 200 Breast, but with such a deep women’s field, you just never know! We wish her good luck in that race!

Today’s session really broke our hearts though. There were a lot of happy moments, but I think the sad outweighed the good from our point of view. We were elated at Allison Schmitt and Caroline Burckle making the team. I’ve called Allison to the team before, and as recently as last night. She’s such a great kid and we love how her personality calms others before races. She was classic in her press conference tonight. Classic. It didn’t even sink in that she was on the relay until that presser when a reporter asked her about it.

I’m going to put the rest of this post behind a cut because it is looooooong as hell. I’m not kidding! So get to clickin’ to read on.

Speaking of pressers. We are loving them! Mike and Bob’s tonight was one for the history books. Case in point, the following Bobism:

Tapers are like haircuts. You never know if they’re any good until it’s too late.”

Oh, Bob. You’re too much. Or how about Bob revealing that he’s known for months that Mike wasn’t going to swim the 200 Back during Trials. Mike chimed in that keeping everyone else in the dark made it more fun for them. The only event originally on the released psych, that shouldn’t have been there, was the 400 Free. Bob referred to that as an “administrative error”, his first one. Bringin’ the LOLZ, I tell ya. Bringin’ the LOLZ.

The Mike & Bob Comedy Hour wasn’t done, though. A clever reporter pointed out to Mike that The Hoff was swimming more meters this week than he was, and asked if that made him feel like a slacker. Cracking up, Mike quickly quipped that “She’s younger. I’ve got more years on her”. When Katie was doing her presser, the same reporter pointed that out to her and she thanked them for giving her a comeback for whenever Mike bugs her next. Those two; like brother and sister.

But back to the media session and the decision to not swim the 200 Back. Mike and Bob were asked why they made that decision and the simple answer was that Mike didn’t want to jeopardize his best events. He pointed out his performance in the 100 Fly last year and Worlds and gave the following gem:

“I got rocked in the 100 Fly”

There was a lot of laughter after that, as there was all throughout the presser. Their chemistry is something to witness, folks!

And let me tell you about the fangirly question during the session. And we label it as “fangirly” because we literally looked at each other and were like “WTF”. Someone asked “why do you climb up on the blocks from the side?” No, really. They did. His face pretty much said “WTF” too, by the way. His answer: force of habit.

We got a little quality time with Mama Romano and Mama Vanderkaay today as well. We’ve missed them so much. We haven’t seen Rhonda in 2 years and Robin in 1. Craziness, we tell ya! Rhonda took us to lunch and we got a full chat session. I’m tellin’ ya though. This woman knows EVERYONE. She will introduce herself to anyone and everyone and proceed to chat them up until they are damn near BFFs. She’s great and we just love her!

We went and visited RVK before prelims started. She was easy to spot as she was rockin’ the trademarked royal blue CW t-shirt. I called her the most popular CW/U-M swim mom and she tried to disagree, but it’s pretty much a given. She’s been the staple CW/Michigan mom for how many years now? And she’s going to remain one for at least 4 more years since Dane starts at Michigan this fall. She is, in essence, the poster mom of Michigan Swimming. We talked about a number of things, including her eldest son who continues to sip on hateraid. And, for the record, she’s on my side. She encouraged me to continue with the hater comments here because she thinks it’s good for him. Her wish is my command. I shall continue, and not only because she said I should. But also because I think it’s all hilarious!

And for the record, everyone should know that I don’t use anything I see/read on facebook on here. Never have and never will. Trust is a big deal to me and I wouldn’t invade anyone’s privacy like that. Jokes are one thing — and we make a lot of them around here — but private and sensitive conversation topics, photos, contact info etc. are waaaaay off limits. We don’t get down like that. The only facebook content you’ll see here is our own (e.g. The Hoff in my infamous ‘Black Girl’ t-shirt). No, I didn’t bring it to Omaha. The letters are totally falling off and it’s in a super fragile state. I need a replacement.

We ran into Katie again after tonight’s presser. She commented on my outfit as I was wearing my stereotypical black/white combo. Damn that girl knows me too well. We told her how proud we were that she is kicking so much ass. I feel like a proud parent watching her dominate this week. Katie and I have known each other since she was 15, and she’s blossoming right in front of me.

We watched finals Tuesday with our fave coach Paul. The previous night he told us about how he couldn’t find a good place to watch finals from, so we invited him to come sit with us in the media area. And so he did! It was fun, as usual. We made our predictions and shot the breeze in between races. And I might add that Paul is yet another person who thinks I’m younger than what I really am. No one has ever been right and I love that. It’s a fun game for me! P.S. Where are our mixed CDs, Paul! We Want!
QUICK HITS:

We don’t know why PVK wore a FS-PRO, instead of the LZR, during the 200 Free final, but we’ll find out.

Carrie met Amanda Beard in our hotel elevator and is still pretty psyched from it.

Klete is stalking us. Everywhere we eat, he eats too.

Mike G., we have that phatty picture of Grevers for you, but your email bounced! Holla at us, so we can get that to you. It’s dope!

Jason Marsteller is still awesome. Just thought I’d share, in case you forgot. After all, it’s been a day since we shared that revelation with y’all.

We’d like to shout out Grant Burtch. Sat near him at dinner tonight. No, we didn’t speak. But we saw you too, playa. We have pictures from your races too. Keep an eye on MGoSwim and we’ll hook you up.

Megan Romano is a rockstar. Competing at Trials with the after effects of mono? Bad. Ass.

We can’t stand how there is like nothing to do in downtown Omaha. Lack of development, stores, fast food etc.

We have a lot of inside jokes from this trip. And graphics will be made after the meet is finished. We will have a new set of “FAIL” pictures, but you won’t see most of them. Sorry.

Is this not the longest Tales From The Deck ever? Well it does cover 2 days, so that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Until next time…

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