After the B.S. with that triflin’ Philly Country Club kicking out those young minority campers a couple of weeks ago, Tyler Perry has come to the rescue with a gesture that truly makes me smile.

Tyler Perry is paying for 65 children from a Philadelphia day camp to go to Walt Disney World after reading about allegations that a suburban swim club had shunned them because of racism.

The black and Hispanic children who attend the day camp run by Creative Steps Inc. cheered Monday when they learned about the actor’s gift.

Creative Steps director Alethea Wright says she’s thrilled about the offer, especially because Perry “comes from humble beginnings” like the children in her camp.

I don’t give a damn what the Valley Club says the reason is for their actions and contradictory statements. First, it was “There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club” and later — after public outrage — it became “a safety issue”. They tried to get the campers to come back, but they respectfully declined. The situation just makes me SMH. Karma is a mofo, so what goes around, comes around.

The 70s called.

They want their porn stache back. So, if you could go ahead and get that to them, that would be grrrrreat. Thanks.

<< This has been another Swim Aids Public Service Announcement >>

P.S. Bonus keepin’ it real points to whomever can name the movie I referenced in this post!

Yes, I titled this “Bong Gate”. Big whoop, wanna fight about it? I also want to reiterate that we won’t be talking about it that much around here. We tend to keep things positive and light, but when the face of swimming worldwide puts the sport in the news for the wrong reasons, we just aren’t going to sit back and pretend it didn’t happen.

So, consider this post an “acknowledgment”. We don’t aim to pile on. Nothing productive will come of that.

I figured watching my usual ESPN shows today would be a little different. I was right.

First Take was the first thing I saw, upon my first visit of the day to ESPN.com.

My other usual TV viewing included Jim Rome Is Burning, Around The Horn, PTI, and celebrity entertainment shows like Extra and Access Hollywood. My brother even told me that Jay Leno made the topic part of his opening monologue.

It was interesting to see how different media outlets saw the situation and what they thought would happen. I got the impression that the celeb news magazines/shows didn’t think the situation was a big deal. The ESPN personalities and shows, which cover sports 24/7, thought it was a much bigger deal that should have far-reaching consequences. It’ll probably be somewhere in the middle, but I guess we’ll see.

Speedo and Omega will continue to support MP. Wonder who else will or won’t. Is ‘Sponsor Watch 2009′ on? Don’t ask me how I come up with these titles. And yes, I realize that I watch too much TV.

However this situation comes out, don’t expect us to put much emphasis on it on Swim Aids. We’re a goofy lot, and this was a major buzzkill to the Swim Aid mojo; which we’ve been trying to revive lately.

P.S. 10 Cool points to whomever can point out the Family Guy reference I used in this post.

I know, I know. I suck. That’s already been established many a time ’round here. Ask anyone.

Here’s the Jason Lezak video from his interview on the Ellen Degeneres Show back in September. I just know I capped it, but I can’t find it for the life of me! But, in my defense, I have over 300 GB of captured video from my TV card, so things sometimes get lost. It just sucks that it was Jason’s interview because he almost never gets tv airtime.

I’d apologize for the quality, but #1, it’s not my video (I found it on YouTube) and #2, any video is better than none, right? So enjoy!

I’ll have you all know that I do still have the Tara “What Not To Wear” video, and I know where it is! It’ll just take a little more effort to cut out the commercials because I have the attention span of a flea.

Now what was I saying again?

Remember, way back when, when Miss Tara Kirk was on TLC’s “What Not To Wear”? Remember?

Do you also remember that I promised a video? I just remembered myself!

So, I’m scouring my hard drive looking for it. I capped it with my trusty Win TV PVR (Basically, it’s TIVO for a computer), so it’s around here somewhere. I think I owe y’all a video of Lezak on Ellen’s show as well. Right?

I’ll get on that ASAP! Not like I’m doing anything lately except figuring out how to run outdoors without ever being cold.

BTW, I really hope no one’s been emailing us via the contact form. You’d be better served making a comment on a post or something. I suck at life and have not even logged in there since BEFORE Trials. So yea. Any lack of a reply isn’t me being a douchebag, just really really really really lazy. My bad!

We know you think you’re always right, but you’re not.

You know good and well that our Olympic Trials should be in March or April and not July. In fact, all of the team trials for internation competitions should be months in advance, not weeks. Think about the selection meets for the 2007 World Champs, Pan Ams, and WUGs. Those were done properly.

You really ought to work on this. Do the right thing and tell NBC to kiss your ass while you’re at it.

Keepin’ it real in the swimming blogosphere,

The Swim Aids

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…