So, as I was watching Sportscenter today while I was “babysitting” my cousin and they did a little segment with the PTI guys about Olympic Spirit. First of all, I disagree with them and their stance on how “after the second day of hearing 13-hour old news, no one will care.” People will care. Some may cheat and find out the results ahead of time, but people care. And second of all, Michael Phelps won 6 gold in ATHENS, not SYDNEY. I know, it’s a slip of the tongue, but still…

Ok, be honest. Who else is overflowing with excitement?! Remember when we thought the Olympic Trials were soooo far off? Remember?

I’ve been OD’ing on NBC’s Olympic Trials coverage this weekend. I can honestly say I feel like a little kid on Christmas Eve!

BTW, if you’re bored, why not check out the official websites of Kate Ziegler and Dara Torres. I designed them both recently and I’m all about the shameless plug action.

Y’all aint ready!

USA Swimming has sent out a press release pimping the AquaZone that will be available to all in Omaha for the Olympic Trials. Entry to the AZ is free with your paid admission to any session at the Qwest Center.

Typically, the AquaZone provides fans the opportunity to interact with swimming’s biggest stars - past, present, and future - as well as other fun activities and other swimming-related exhibits. The Omaha AquaZone boasts more of the same. And don’t forget to pick up your Speedo catalogues. The Swim Aids may or may not have made return trip to the AZ to get multiple copies…

On the guest list for the legends are Matt Biondi, Donna de Varona, Mary T. Meagher, Debbie Meyer, Pablo Morales, John Naber, Mark Spitz, Mel Stewart and Jenny Thompson. I don’t know about y’all, but the Swim Aids will be stalking Jenny Thompson. We love her! She retired just as we started getting into the sport. Figures, huh?

Here is a list of activities that USA Swimming is promising for Omaha:

• Measure up to your favorite athlete, challenge an Olympian to swimming on the Wii and play the trivia gameshow with USA Swimming.
• Be one of the first to compete and play Beijing 2008â„¢ - The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games before it hits store shelves in July.
• Meet and greet a legend of the sport during the Athlete Journey on the USA Swimming stage.
• Experience the wildlife of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Adventure Tour.
• Shop for Olympic Trials, Beijing and Speedo merchandise in the USA Swimming Store
• See how the pool was built inside the Qwest Center at the Myrtha Pools exhibit.
• Create your own commercial at the Toyota Moving Forward Studios.

Omaha is the center of the swimming universe for the week of the Trials, so learn how the athletes got here with the Omaha Sports Commission

• Learn about the ground-breaking technology behind the latest LZR swim suit from Speedo’s AquaLab.
• Test the latest mobile and digital technology from AT&T.
• Come relax and get your picture taken in the Hilton resort display.
• Create a cheer card for the Olympic Team with the USA Swimming Foundation.
• Watch live reports and broadcasts from Swimnetwork.com.
• Test your reflexes off the blocks with the American Swimming Coaches Association.

We are fond of the AquaZones, in general. We had a simply wonderful time last year. (Proof: Part 1 | Part 2) And even though we’ll be without one of our core members — she’s too fabulous to attend — we still look forward to exploring the scene and putting our stamp on it. Ya heard?

I’m sure you’ve all heard the news about the Arizona State Men’s Swim Program being cut. If not, click here.

Because I’m sure I’ll forget to make a post, save the following link:

This site isn’t up yet, but it will be very shortly and will provide you with all the info you need to help the Arizona State Men’s Swim Program stay alive.

ETA: ASU cut the men’s wrestling program as well. They have launched a website to save their program as well. You can visit them at www.saveasuwrestling.com.

Hi there, you swim fan you.

Glad to have you here. We’ve been around almost 2 years now having fun whenever and wherever we can all in the name of swimming.

If you’re one of the newer visitors, we feel we need to let you in on some info. Especially if you’re one of the visitors that has trouble reading…

This is not a news affiliate. We are not Swimming World Magazine; although we do subscribe ;). This is a goofy blog for a group of us swim fans who met through the sport. It’s a beautiful thing, really. This great sport we all love brought us all together and we have friendships for life.

If you’re looking for up-to-the-minute news and feature stories, you’re on the wrong website. Since 2004, I have worked my butt off on SwimStars.org covering a group of US swimmers in-depth and travelling to meets, on my own dime, to give them more promotion. Recognition that they deserve. I don’t make a cent off of that website and I’ve poured thousands into it. I don’t care. If given the choice to do it all again, I would. I do it for the love of the sport and respect and admiration of the athletes I cover. You can also try Swimming World Magazine for some good stuff on the entire sport. Some of their staff visits regularly, as do people from USA Swimming, SwimNetwork, and the swimmers we all know and love.

Found on this blog are random thoughts that we as swim fans have about the sport and its stars. We don’t do livejournal or xanga’s, so we post on our own blog. And if you don’t like something on here, we really don’t care. Keep it to yourself. We’re not breaking any rules or confidences. The relationship with the sport’s governing body, other media outlets, and most importantly the athletes, is something we cherish and we would never put that in jeopardy.

So if you’re here after drinking some hater-aid, you shouldn’t even waste your time. Just click that magical ‘x’ up in the right-hand corner. We run this and what we say goes. There is no freedom of speech here unless you’re a Swim Aid. Sorry. So, go ahead and treat yourself to a nice, tall glass of STFU and find something else to do.

HOLLA!

So here we go! Now, be forewarned that I didn’t end up doing much predicting this year. Mostly thinking/rambling out loud. You love it. I’m sure that’s why you come here anyway. What few predictions I did make stand a chance at being 95% wrong. But I don’t care. It’s fun for me!

SENIORS

#1. Lacey Nymeyer (Arizona)
This is a no brainer. I would be absolutely shocked if Lacey didn’t continue her swimming career. For the longest time I thought she was a senior last year with Whitney. Anyway, there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that she signs with Nike. Nike scooped up Whitney last year and pretty much sucks at scooping up major talent. They’re set up perfectly what with Zona being a Nike school. However, she could sign since the Swoosh is losing their 2 longest signed females Kaitlin and Maritza) after this summer. I’ll put it this way: I’d be surprised if she went Nike, but not shocked. As for agents, who knows. Octagon only seems to sign “superstars”, and while Lacey rocks, I don’t know if she fits the mold they have or whatever. I’d guess PMG, but so many are signing with agents I’ve never heard of that I should probably give up guessing agents.

#2. Caroline Burckle (Florida)
Ahh, the Lochtenator’s better half. I’d like to think including her here is more than wishful thinking. I’m dying to see how Caro does when she can focus exclusively on swimming as a professional. She was a member of the 2005 World Champs squad, so the talent is obviously there. The events she swims are deep, but I still think she can make some noise. Should she sign, I’m chalking one up for Speedo. Congrats to Caro for being awarded the Honda Award for Swimming.

There’s a host of other swimmers who, should they make the decision to continue, could have quite a long career. I mean, take a look at Randall Bal. His events (backstroke) are so loaded that he didn’t make last year’s World Champs or any Olympic team, but he still pushes the competition and does very well for himself. He won this season’s World Cup men’s title which came with a hefty $100,000 prize. If he swam for any other country, he’d be a super star! Same goes for those like Robert Margalis. So, I guess for many, it’s just a decision of how much they enjoy competing in the sport and if they wish to continue or move on to other things in life. I’m not familiar with enough of this year’s class to make that call well. Emily Silver, Emily Kukors, Andrea Hupman, Christine Magnuson, Kara Denby…they have all earned swimwear contracts with their work in the pool. It’s just a matter on if that’s what they want!
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I swear. We need to make it our mission to get The Hoff to a dance club. I know we’ve been joking about it for a while, but it needs to become one of our priorities; right up there with going drinking with Mama VDK.

Katie’s still taking hip-hop dance classes and has been known to be apprehensive on the dance floor. I guarantee that one night with us and she will never again hesitate to hit the floor. As a result of our tutelage, she may even become a club rat.

So maybe us taking her out may not be in the best interest of her swimming career.

The Ohio State Grand Prix would be the most convenient opportunity to take Miss Hoff out. It’s my hood and my brother works as a bouncer at a few downtown clubs. Perfect, no?

Paul, we will discuss this at length in a couple of weeks, ok? And if we can’t take Katie out, we’re taking you!