We just love it when any swimmer gets to shine a little in a national magazine! Miss Kara Lynn Joyce is the latest swimmer to receive a little love.

ESPN Magazine ran a feature in the June 18, 2007 issue where they spotlighted photos taken by some of the country’s top athletes. Other athletes contributing their shots to the magazine included Laila Ali, James Blake, Gretchen Bleiler, Randy Couture, and Matt Hasselback. There are some additional galleries on the ESPN Page 2 website, including more from KLJ like getting a blood test and chillin at the recent Speedo shoot. See all the galleries here!

Click the picture to your left for the full scan. Thanks to our dear friend lala for the head’s up and the scan! Go check her site out, while you’re at it. She may even attend more meets than us! Plus her site houses a fantabulous gallery that she’s dying to share with you!

Most of you know about Ryan’s recent (or not so recent) grill revealing. If not, wow, you suck at life. Here’s the link, so you can try to not suck so much (although if you didn’t know by now, I really don’t think we can help you).

We’ve also created a Facebook group that the Lochtenator himself was in, until of course he deleted, reactivated, and deleted his account (not that we’re keeping track…). And in case you haven’t seen our FB group, there’s the link to that too. (But just so you know, you OFFICIALLY suck at life now.)

Now Ryan isn’t the ONLY ghetto swimmer out there. Our (or at least my) recent favorite is the one and only, Megan Romano. She’s only 16, but already coming up almost daily in Swim Aids conversations. I can’t wait to meet her soon, so we can talk about how ‘gangsta’ we are. Y’all don’t know.

When I signed onto AOL, I saw a familiar face in the first news headline:

So, being the good Swim Aid that I am, I took the quiz!  Of course, I only got two of the twenty questions they asked right (but hey, I was just taking it to get to Amanda’s question.  Yeah, that’s the story I’m going with…).

So way to go, Miss Beard!  You have turned yet another head! 

Dara Torres is kicking ass and taking names. So far, this summer season, she is THE standout US female sprinter in a very competitive field.

Here are her times from the Trofeo Sette Colli meet in Rome:
100 Free - 54.61
50 Free - 24.93

Not only are the times she’s posting very encouraging a year out from the Olympic Trials, but they are also faster than all of the other swim chick sprinters in the US arsenal! Faster than Natalie. Fasting than Amanda. Faster than KLJ…

Is there anything this woman can’t do?! At this point I’d be willing to wager that she could leap tall buildings in a single bound!

It pays to be an ESPN whore, doesn’t it? Here’s the video from Amanda’s appearance on “Jim Rome Is Burning” earlier today.

When it rains it pours! Fresh off her Letterman appearance Tuesday night, Amanda posed for an Associated Press photoshoot in her very own backyard. Pics below by Kevork Djansezian:

Also stumbled upon some news that y’all probably won’t like. So, it’s been publicized that Amanda’s issue of Playboy was due out on newsstands today. That may not be entirely accurate after reading an article from the Orange County Register that says:

Beard, 25, has splashed onto the cover and into the pages of the July issue of Playboy, which has been mailed to subscribers and will be available on news stands Tuesday.

So which day is it out? Today (Friday) or Tuesday? I am far too lazy to drive my ass to the bookstore for nothing.

If anyone knows for certain, let us know!

Extra, one of the many celebrity entertainment shows, did a small bit on Amanda’s Playboy covershoot. There were a few pictures shown. No nudity, of course, because the show airs in the evening on network TV. So, here’s a little taste of what we’ll see on Friday: