We were saddened to read about Kalyn Keller’s retirement from swimming today.

Kalyn was recently diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and its symptoms were making swimming difficult.

In the Detroit Free Press interview, she says the following:

“If I hadn’t gotten this, I’d still be swimming. But right now I need to go home and do what I have to do to get healthy.”

We’ve got nuthin’ but love for the Keller family and we wish her all the best as she focuses of her health. Take care of yourself, Kalyn!

We call this picture of Davis Tarwater from Michigan’s 2005 home dual meet vs. Georgia “Gangsta T-Dub!!”

Yes, we were there. We were hardcore that season.

That is all.

There has been quite a bit a traffic driven here by those searching for the psych sheet for this weekend’s Husky Invite, taking place in Seattle and hosted by the University of Washington Swimming & Diving program.

We’ve mentioned the meet before, in one of our Michigan posts, so that’s probably why the search engines are referring visitors here. Michigan is the highest ranked team (men or women) attending the meet. So we expect them to represent!

However, we regret to inform that we do not have the psych sheet, although we wish we did! Did a little looking around and there doesn’t seem to be one released; not yet anyway.

If we do happen to come across one, we’ll be sure to link it!

ETA: The UW S&D site posted the psych sheet today. Click here to check it out!

So, USA Swimming did right by us, earlier this summer, when they published a feature on Alex Vanderkaay. We liked the recognition for him because he had more than earned it.

But what we really wanted was a 20 Question Tuesday. In the back of our minds we thought AVK might be able to give T-DUB a run for his money in terms of 20QT entertainment. If you haven’t ready it, you are missing out. It truly is the Holy Grail of 20 Question Tuesday interviews.

Pssst, USA Swimming, you frequently repeat the swimmers you interview for 20QT. Time for a new one with Mr. Tarwater!

Anyway, today we were pleasantly surprised to see that today’s 20 Question Tuesday interviewee was none other than Alex! (link) And we were wrong in hoping that he’d unleash his sense of humor during the interview. He’s keeping it under wraps and y’all are missing out. We’re sorry. Around here, we know how funny AVK can really be. It’s just a fact. Perhaps next time. Yea, next time!

SO FRESH AND SO CLEAN
The University of Michigan gave its entire athletic website a facelift! Check it out! It was long overdue and looks wonderful!

“OH MICHIGAN”
Welp, Michigan…2 outta 3 aint bad. Glad we can count on the pool Wolverines to rack up those W’s. That was the most underwhelming OSU/UM game I can remember in my lifetime; and I’ve seen many!

GOLDEN GOGGLES
Anyway, moving on to the Golden Goggles. They’re tonight. I’m not expecting many surprises. I expect Phelps and Ziegler to clean up. Speaking of Phelps…

Look at the pic to your right. At first glance, doesn’t it look like someone got dressed without a key article of clothing? *shudders* I just ate and I was afraid my food might come back up. Thankfully, it was just horrible shadowing and I won’t be kept up at night with nightmares. The lord be praised! Feel free to click on the thumbnail for a larger picture.

And because I can, I’d like to introduce Mr. Phelps to what should be his new best friend:

To check out the other not-so-frightening portraits from the Golden Goggle photo session, click here. It’s always great to see the swimmers in street clothes.

PSYCH SHEET
Keep an eye out later this week for post concerning ticket packages for the Olympics in Beijing. I’ve literally been sitting on this post trying to find the words to express my utter shock and disgust for what’s happening to USA Swimming and the families of Olympic hopefuls. I hope to pull something together this week, but when I have to hold back and choose my words carefully, tasks become increasingly more difficult. You’ll see.

It’s been a couple of weeks. Time to get back to what we do best around here, right?

So with “The Game” set to jump off tomorrow in Ann Arbor, it reminded me that we haven’t written a Michigan-specific post in a couple of weeks. We know, we know. That’s unacceptable. We’ll be better! We promise!

OOPS, MY BAD!
I’m not sure where I was or what I was doing when the Michigan boys travelled to Bloomington, IN for meets against IU and Texas. I remember being jealous that I wasn’t going to be able to see those meets; especially because the Longhorns almost never venture this far north during the NCAA season. Anyway, long story short, Texas swept both IU and UM, but UM defeated IU. It didn’t hurt the boys though. They actually rose one spot in the CSCAA poll to #4. Represent! I know the boys are likely bummed this week seeing as how they’ll be away at Northwestern when “The Game” jumps off. But that’s what cell phones are for. I’m sure they’ll be routinely updated as to what’s going on. I know it’s not the same as being there, but what can ya do? I expect 3 (yes, 3) Michigan wins this weekend. 2 from the swim team and 1 from the football team.

“THE GAME”
If you grew up in Ohio or Michigan, then you know what a big deal the Ohio State/Michigan rivalry is. Many will argue, but they don’t know. It is THE biggest rivalry in college sports. I grew up (and still live) in Columbus, so I’ve had all things OSU crammed down my throat for as long as I can remember. I didn’t go to school there, or anything. I’m not a fan. But don’t tell anyone around here that. I don’t want to get jumped. But what people fail to realize is that Columbus is not your average “college town”. It is actually the 15th largest city in the country. And there is a lot more going on here than just Ohio State. So I’d be willing to wager there are a whole lot more people like me than you’ve been led to believe.

Last year, when he asked me if I had any extra tickets for him to the big game in C-Bus, PVK told me that I “better be cheering for Michigan”. I was, but a lot of good that did them. Maybe I should be rooting against them this year? Hmmmm. All I know is that I want Mike Hart to get a win against OSU before he graduates. I also want a UM win so I can see the next hilarious thing he says to the media. Swimming needs a “Mike Hart”. For serious.

THE HUSKY INVITE?
Seriously? Why is the Michigan swimming team going to the Husky Invite in 2 weeks? There are some major invitationals and championship meets going down that weekend, such as the Texas Invitational (that Michigan used to go to) and the Short Course Nationals in ATL. So why is Bob dragging the boys out to Seattle for the Husky Invite? Did someone lose a bet? Is the team being punished for something? Who else is competing at the Husky Invite? Anyone? Bueller?

CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER
We’re afraid he’ll turn “hater” like his oldest brother, but we’re willing to take a chance. On behalf of all of the Swim Aids, we’d like to congratulate a Vanderkaay named Dane on being totally predictable and committing to the University of Michigan. We know you had to keep a little suspense going since everyone has had you as a UM lock for years. (Kind of like we know you’re reading this right now ) But let’s be real. I don’t think anyone would be able to stomach seeing a member of the Vanderkaay clan rockin’ anything other the Maize & Blue (during the NCAA season) and a CW (in the summer). It is simply not done. So Michigan completes the VDK Sweep. Hopefully we’ll see another sweep, in a few years, when Dane is voted a team captain; just like all 3 of his older brothers.

SWIM OFFS
++ I am well aware that this a long post. But it was necessary. You love it.++

++ Wasn’t commenter Messler supposed to hit up the Northwestern/Wisky/UM meets this weekend? If you see this and go, we’d love the 411!++

++ I thought everyone should know that Miss Hunninghake saw our shout-out post, emailed me personally, and sends her thanks for being so sweet. See why we love her?++

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!