It’s been a very long stretch since I last covered an event. And while I wouldn’t call what I was doing this weekend “covering”, it was still nice to experience.

Everyone knows of my love affair with the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion on the Ohio State University Campus. It’s literally one of the nicest facilities I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been to quite a few in the past 4.5 years. I went to the Ohio State vs. Kenyon meet, back in October, but that didn’t do a whole lot for me. In my heart, I knew it wouldn’t be right unless the men of the Maize and Blue were in the house.

This weekend they were and I couldn’t have been happier! Not just because I rep for Club Wolverine, but because it meant I got to gossip with one of my fave sets of swim parentals: the Vanderkaays. If you don’t know, you betta ask somebody! Anyway, OSU hosted a big quad-meet that brough Northwestern, Penn State, and Michigan to town. In addition, the Penn State women made the trip to duel the OSU women. For those reasons, the meet pretty much had to be broken up into 2 days.

I’m not going to go into details of my QT with mama VDK because that’s just for us two. Plus it would take 50762096720957 years to share all of that and I’ve got a hot date with my bed. He hates when I make him wait.

1. Michigan swimmers look really, really, really happy and relaxed under Coach Bottom. You come to your own conclusions.

2. Northwestern’s parental section wasn’t very big, but they were a lively bunch who kept me laughing.

3. For the first time, I actually saw Michigan swimmers interaction with the parents and doing *gasp* group and crowd cheers! I thought I was in some sort of alternate universe.

4. PVK and AVK are the only CW pros left

5. I miss T-Dub!!

6. If you would combine the Michigan and Northwestern rosters, they still wouldn’t be as big as the OSU men’s team’s list…WOW

7. The meet announcer seemed confused and couldn’t figure out that when you add an ‘e’ to the end of Dan, it becomes DANE and does not remain DAN.

8. On that note, Mark Patton does not exist. You meant Matt Patton. Or, as we like to call him around these parts: Matty P.

9. It was quite warm in McCorkle. I’d rather be hot, during the winter, than cold.

10. I loved seeing the overall improvement in sprinting out of the Michigan boys. Very nice.

11. Also nice to see The Asian in his role as statisticians/videographer. I don’t know what it is about me — or maybe it’s everyone — but the boy seems incredibly uncomfortable around me. I went to say hello after the meet and “awkward” was the best way I could describe our lightening fast exchange! I can’t prove it, but I’m pretty sure, when he sees me, he sees this. No lie. Anyway, I kept it short, since he looked so terrified (lol), wished him well, congratulated him on his engagement, and then hit the road! I didn’t know I was so intimidating… I mean, if Peter Vanderkaay can hold his own with me, without looking like he wants to sprint in the opposite direction, I figured the Asian could too. WRONG! Perhaps I should start to use that to my advantage…I kid, I kid. I don’t bite!

12. It’s nice to be able to use an Ohio State parking pass to avoid long lines in the parking garage.

13. Brutus the Buckeye showed up to kick off today’s session, but he didn’t stick around. (Sorry, Erika, no pictures). I’m sure he had other things to do… you know, like shovel sidewalks.

14. I met the Pattons and they were very nice. I honestly have yet to meet a swim parental who wasn’t nice. Seriously.

15. Men’s Big Ten’s at Ohio State next year? Sa-weeeeet!

16. OSU has a token darkie on their sqaud. Represent!

17. This meet had the potential to be really awkward down on deck. The new Ohio State women’s coach coached both the men and women’s squads at Penn State last year. I wasn’t watching enough to see how all that went down.

18. When you haven’t seen someone in ages, you know how it is. You talk so much that you miss out on everything going on around you. I did not take a single picture yesterday! I took some today, though. I’ll sift through them eventually. I had to bring Bertha and Bessie to make sure I didn’t forget how to shoot pictures at swim meets. July was a long time ago, yo.

19. I finally found out why Pete was wearing a FS-PRO for his 200 Free final at Trials. Chalk it up to another LZR suit zipper malfunction. This one was mere minutes before the final, so a quick change was necessary! PVK didn’t even need that LZR to make the team. Take that!

20. Speaking of zipper issues, it amused me to know end how all of the Michigan guys needed assistance zipping theirs up. Sometimes it took 2+ extra sets of hands.

21. I got a free Ohio State shirt! Well, let me stop lying. Mama VDK got one, and then gave it to me. Free shirts were handed out to the first 200 people through the doors. And since I roll on CP time, and obviously wasn’t there early enough, I didn’t get one. I’ve noticed that I rarely get to meets on time anymore, with the exception of Trials. Since I don’t have to jockey for the best seats (Thanks, USA Swimming!), the need to show up early has decreased. I think we all internalized that and now we’re always late haha!

22. I still miss Kaitlin.

23. It’s weird seeing Dan Madwed without Paul Yetter nearby, running up and down the deck.

23b. I miss Paul.

24. Mama VDK told me the most hilarious story about her dinner last night. Some people take the OSU/Michigan rivaly entirely too far! And it’s really sad when those taking it too far are ADULTS, who are very far removed from being students at the University (if they even attended to begin with). If you’re middle aged and giving a person shit because they have on a Michigan shirt on campus, you’ve clearly failed at life and should kill yourself. Just kidding. Kind of.

And not that I really needed to share this, but Michigan totally dominated the meet. They’ve got so much depth it’s almost unfair. Great showing by the team! I have a video of the final event; the 200 Free Relay. I shot it with my iPhone. Yes, my iPhone. I jailbroke that sucker earlier this week and life has been even more grand than before. Didn’t think that was possible!

Anyway, it’s glad to see a Michigan team beat Ohio State at something, since their headliners can’t seem to get it done…OH SNAP! Yea, I went there! Sorry boys. When it comes to football, I’m on the other side of the fence. All Buckeye! 5 in a row, baby!

This wasn’t what I’d call a juicy meet. First of all, I wasn’t even on deck. And second, my posse of Swim Aids were not present. You’ll get better stories when it’s a group outing.

Having said all that, I know y’all aren’t complaining. I wrote a lengthy post on here for the first time in ages. You’re all smiling right now, aren’t you? Yup. Thought so.

Anyway, now that Jason has ruined our fun, I have to move on to other memorable moments from the final day of the 2008 US Olympic Team Trials. I would also like to state that being able to type this on my own computer, as opposed to my Sidekick phone, is a relief. Maybe it won’t take me 52095720 years to write this!

Sleeping in yesterday was glorious. Since I operate on “vampire time”, it was like being at home! We were out pretty late (at Farrell’s, of couse) but when we came back to our hotel, we stayed up a loooooong time! I’ll come back to some Farrell’s talk later because there are some things that we must vent about.

So the pool action. It was brief, no? But very exciting! Dara Torres’ agent, Evan, emailed me before the session and predicted a win and the American Record. He nailed that one! And how about Miss Jessica Hardy?! She amazes me! How many people are able to be world class breaststrokers and sprint freestylers? Recently, I can only think of one; Jessica! We got to meet her father earlier in the week, which was great because after you trade emails with people enough, you want to actually meet them face-to-face.

And I know I’ve already talked about this, but PVK tore shit up in that 1500 Free! I was like “Dayum! Where did that come from?!” I am so proud of him. Like seriously! He went from the label of “relay swimmer” back in 2004, to a bonafide stud in multiple individual events! He could come home from Beijing with 4 medals! And while I was ecstatic for Pete, I couldn’t help but be sad for Erik. I don’t know what happened with him. His prelim time would have put him on the team for this event! We watched that race with his parents and the Vanderkaay and we all saw how Bob was trying to get him to slow down, but he didn’t. Did he maybe expend too much energy? I don’t know. All I know is that I kept waiting for him to make his move, like he usually does, but he never did. Thank goodness he grabbed that last spot for the 800 Free Relay!

So that was all the pool excitement. On to the grandstanding. And you know I mean those Chinese acrobats. I thought that was very cool…for about 5 minutes. I really just don’t have the attention span for their 15-20 minute act. At that point, I really just wanted to see the Olympic Team parade around the pool! I know I wasn’t alone. There was a lot of sympathy in the media section.

It was really cool see the majority of the team, staff, and coaches unveiled at the end of the session. I have video of it, but because of the super strict media posting rules, I’m not sure if I’m allowed to share it. It’s not race footage or anything, but I’d rather not post something I’m not supposed to and end up getting bitch-slapped by NBC and the USCO, ya heard?

Fast forward to the night. Naturally, we ended up a Farrell’s again, but it wasn’t like previous nights. Y’all need to know that there it damn near nothing else to do in Omaha, that’s why we kept hitting up the same watering holes. Anyway, we get to Farrell’s and it was extremely quiet and low key. And for the 1st time all week, they were actually carding. Not an issue for me, but for others, it was a not-so-pleasant surprise. You could just have made the Olympic Team, but if you weren’t 21, well then, “GTFO”!!

We heard that the reason Farrell’s was on lock down last night was because a certain group of swimmers, including the poster child, got ridiculously out of control the night before. We were told by Farrell’s staff that meat ended up being thrown out of windows from upstairs. Honestly. Who does that? Some people need to watch a little less PCU and act like they have some damn sense.

But the fact that the night was relatively tame didn’t dampen the mood too terribly much. At Farrell’s I got to chat with my favorite Michigan Man and congratulate him on his bad-ass 1500 race. He looked so relieved and relaxed. I haven’t seen him that calm, cool, and collected in a long time. It was nice to be able to wish him luck before the Beijing Games. I just know he’s going to tear shit up! Note to Self: I need to start toting around a step stool for when I run into swimmers. It would make these hugs a lot easier!

So, because my flight was at 5 AM, there was no point in going to sleep. So, I came back to the hotel, packed, and just hung out. I didn’t let kiwi or Carrie sleep until I left. Mean, huh? They loved it!

My saving grace this morning were the Chlorination boys. They were on my flight and had an even longer layover in Minneapolis than I did. So I was greatly entertained although I hadn’t slept and was borderline sleepwalking. You learn a lot about people by spending 3+ hours with them. Sometimes people think they see swimmer lookalikes all the time. Some want to go get food, but are too lazy to move, so instead they share “riveting” stories. And others are very similar to annoying little lap dogs. JK! Love you guys! I hope I don’t have to go too long before I see you again!

I came home and passed out. After all, I hadn’t slept since Saturday night.

And now, I am on the computer, sharing my experiences with all of you! I’ve had about 3 Mt. Dews today, so I think I need to stop.

I’m not done with the Olympic Trials posts. There will be one more post, where I talk about Omaha, in general. I’m sure most of you can predict how that post will play out!

I still can’t get over the question he asked Natalie. I mean, seriously. WTF?

Imagine our surprise tonight when the head of media for USA Swimming, Jamie Fabos Olsen, was the one conducting those interviews.

She handled them with much class that was lacking before. Thank you, Jamie!

And how funny was PVK not really hearing her question about him and his brothers all competing together here? He stumbled all over that one! It’s ok, Pete. We still love you!!

I sent him a “good luck” text earlier today, so I’d like to think that’s what pushed him to win tonight. I do have that kind of power, ya know.

Ok, enough of this. I got some partying to do! Last night in Omaha, baby!

So what went on today?

YAY for Margaret Hoelzer breaking the 200 Back World record. She’s had quite the 15 month period, hasn’t she? She went from being the standout US 200 female backstroker, to the American record holder (at Worlds last year), to World Record holder tonight. Awesome! Great for her! She’s really come along!

I absolutely could not predict the 50 Free. Like many others, I changed my predictions every few hours. So, when it came time for that final, I just decided that I’d let it play out and not try to predict anything. It was easier since Paul wasn’t with us to demand our guesses on who made the team. And I’m not going to lie, we missed his company during finals. We’ve gotten used to watching most of them with him. Today, he was on deck and NBC was filming him during Katie’s 800 Free final.

Speaking of The Hoff, she totally tried to get us kicked out of the Qwest Center this afternoon. And we’re going to remember that! She’s also a horrible girlfriend. But don’t worry about her. I gave her some expert relationship advice and she should be ok in the future. She may get her “free pass” at the Swim Aids revoked if she continues this nonsense! We’re watching you, Hoff! We’re also still laughing at how the security guy didn’t even know who she was. I’m thinking “um, that’s Katie Hoff dude. Remember her name. You’re going to hear it A LOT” But he’ll realize the error of his ways soon enough.

We watched the final 2 men’s 1500 Free prelim heats with Mama Vanderkaay. We thought it was time to hang out with her again, so after we came back to the pool, after our nap, she went at sat with her, Papa VK and the Vendts. I know I sound like a broken record, but talking with her is a pleasure for us. we jump at the opp to socialize with her!

And I’m sorry. After the 50 Free, I was so not about to sit for 2+ hours watching 1500 Free heats of people I don’t cover on Swim Stars. I came back just in time for PVK’s race like a good girl. And how great was Erik Vendt’s time? Wow! Coach Bob kept trying to tell him to slow down and after the race Erik said he didn’t really want to go that fast, he just felt good. Can’t hate on that, can you?

And about Lia Neal breaking the 13-14 NAG record in the 50 Free prelims? Pretty cool. It’s nice to see minorities excelling in the pool. Maybe Cullen won’t have to hold that banner along for much longer!

Dara Torres amazes me. And so does Jessica Hardy. I mean, how often do you see a breaststroker that’s extremely successful in the sprint freestyles? Not very often, but Jess is doin tha damn thing. What doesn’t make me happy is all the talk about Dara with regards to doping. People are so cynical. I don’t even want to talk about it. So I won’t.

What about after finals?

Well, we went to “Swimmer Central” again. And, by Swimmer Central, I mean Farrell’s. Everyone and their mama was there again. Well, not exactly. We feel like there were more people there last night and we definitely didn’t hear any “GTFO” orders. We also didn’t see the “drunk girl” that entertained us with her lack of balance and common sense. We’re hoping to go out on a good note tomorrow. I invited some of my young’un friends to join me at Farrell’s and they came through. I’m not going to call them out because I don’t want them to be accused of anything by judgemental and overbearing people. But, they know who they are, and I thank them for coming out tonight!

Sir Phelps even made a late appearance before last call. He showed up alone. It was weird for him.

We’re beyond ecstatic that we get to sleep in tomorrow. Sleeping in is one of my favorite activities. If sleeping were an Olympic event, I would be the World Record Holder. Don’t even think you can challenge me, because you can’t. I would pwn you.

Later all!

Did y’all notice the way the meet announcer says Ben Wildman-Tobriner’s name? It goes a little something like this (hit it):

BEN “WILD MAN” TOBRINER!!

I was not aware that Ben’s swim nickname was “Wild Man”, did y’all? I guess it’s true that one does learn a new thing every day!

BTW, we’d like to take an additional second to shout out the Chlorination boys. We love those guys to death!!

ETA: We just got back from BWT’s presser and a reporter asked if he had any nicknames. He said he had “many”, but that most popular was obviously “Wild Man”. What a coincidence, right Paul?

I’d like to officially start this entry with a quote:

GET THE FUCK OUT!!

For those of you who went to Farrell’s, you know what that quote is in reference to. And for those of that didn’t, WTF is wrong with you! Farrell’s is where the party is yo! We better see you tomorrow. And by tomorrow, I mean tonight since it’s technically already Saturday. There are no prelims Sunday, so I expect Farrell’s to be jumpin’ again!

DRINK IT UP, DRINK IT UP, DRINK IT UP!

Onto the action at the Qwest Center. Tonight was super exciting as we passed the Aussie Trials with 8 World Records being set. Represent, baby!

We’re still not fully recovered from the shock of Brendan getting shut out of his pet event and I don’t think we ever will be. But watching those 2 new WRs certainly helped!

Last year’s “upset” in the 200 Back when the Lochtenator beat Peirsol and set the World Record was great. Too bad we had no idea that that’d be the 1st — and last — time we’d see something like that for a while. We seriously need to see Lochte take down Phelps. We know it’d cost us like a gazillion more cases of Heineken, but I’ll be damned if it wouldn’t be worth it!

I don’t care what anyone says, I am so freakin’ glad Amanda and Dara made the Olympic Team! Amanda was the last Swim Star that I needed to meet and that happened today at the hotel, before finals. She had emailed me before and we’d traded some facebook messages as well. But not only had I not met her, but I also hadn’t seen her race either. So, finally glad to have met her. She’s such a sweetheart, and always has been.

Paul continues to keep us company during finals. We love his company because quality time with Paul pretty much makes our life. He always asks us who we think is going to win each final. I gotta tell ya that I’m doing surprisingly well considering the volatility of a meet like this!

John Naber gets on my last damn nerves. The questions he’s been asking after the awards ceremonies have really been grinding my gears. I seriously want to order him a tall glass of STFU because he’s so inappropriate. I love how the crowd called him on his poorly chosen question to Natalie about how she felt about “losing to a 41 yr old”. Tacky, Naber. Just tacky.

And how hot did Jenny Thompson look? Ah-Mazing!

And how cute was Dara’s little Tessa? I remember taking photos of them on the awards stand at Nationals last summer. Cute then and cute now.

Love that Cullen broke the 50 Free American Record. Hope it gets lowered again tomorrow. GHJ’s old one lasted entirely too long for my liking!

Can’t wait to see The Hoff vs. The Ziegster. Holy fast race, Batman!

There were rapid-fire press conferences today. Dara revealed that she was only thinking she’d get 3rd thru 6th in the 100 free for a shot on the relay. Her 1st place finish totally surprised her. She’s not sure if she’ll be doing that individual event in Beijing. The 50 Free is more her event.

Amanda was ready to go on a long trip up the Pacific coast had she not made the team. She, her boyfriend, and their dogs were going to jump in an RV and get away. Obviously that’s going to be pushed back now.

We, and Michael Phelps, are tired of reporters continuing to ask about the LZR. Several variations of the same question have been asked a million times and he gives the sam answer. The suit only does so much people!

We’re also quite pissed that the Lochtenator hasn’t done a presser yet. WTF! Are they keeping him away because of his excessive usage of the words “uh” and “um”. And how funny was it that he had to come out 3 times tonight for awards ceremonies?

We finally got to catch up with PVK. He was doing an interview before finals and we waited until he was done to holla at him. I love that guy. He’s always been super sweet over the years. Love him, and love his family, with the exception of his hater of a older brother

This is a really long post. I wonder if Jason Marsteller would approve…

We probably will go back to Farrell’s tomorrow and we aim to sneak out some of our young’un swim chicks with us. We’re also going to strongly suggest tha Lochte go too. We owe him a crapload of beer. Time to get started redeeming it!

Ok, time for bed! I’ll probably sleep through most of those 1500 heats though. I’m not going to lie!

Keep it real!

Anyway, there is only one emotion that can sum up tonight’s action at the pool:

*GASP*

That about does it, doesn’t it? I’m pretty much at a loss for words after tonight’s men’s 200 Breast final. We went from hangin’ out at Farrell’s and looking forward to an awesome B-Han showing to picking our jaws up from the floor. It took me a good 5 minutes after the race to get my shit together and write up the update for Swim Stars Live. I was literally just standing there with my mouth open. The Olympic Trials are so bittersweet. And while Bren won’t be swimming his “baby” in Beijing, he is already on the team. So all is not lost.

We also felt sad for Mary Descenza. I could have sworn she’d take 1st or 2nd. In hindsight, I guess it’s a good thing that I’m not a better gal, or else I’d be out some serious dough at this meet!

Yay for Cullen Jones. Yay for Jason Lezak. Yay for Kathleen Hersey. Wow for Scott Spann.

And how about Amanda Beard? I definitely was not expecting her to go as fast as she is, but you can’t ever count out a former World Record holder and 3-time Olympian. That women’s 200 Breast final is gonna be bananas tomorrow and I can’t wait!

I think that sums things up from the pool.

Now on to the fun stuff!

You guys, we totally met a celebrity today! I know you’re dying to know who, right? Well, you’ll never guess, so I’ll just tell you. WE MET DAVID DUCHOVNY!! I bet you guys didn’t know he was a big swim fan, huh? Well, he is! However, there was something weird about meeting him. He kind of likes people to call him “Chris”. Isn’t that weird?

We also finally got to hang out with Miss Felicia Lee. She spotted us wandering around the AquaZone so we chilled for a little bit. Love that girl! She’s a riot. I think we may need to add her to our “protected” list, because she has a completely different idea of what “creepy” is in the swimming fandom than we do. We’ve seen some things and they aint pretty! We’ve been known to be very overprotective of some of our fave swimmers, so we’ll take her under our wing and guide her along. She aint seen nothin’ yet!

We also got to congratulate Matt Grevers on making his 1st Olympic Team. Being that I haven’t seen him in a year, due to his move out to AZ, I forgot about how circus freak tall he is. I mean, I’ve always known, and it’s not like this is the first time I’ve been face-to-face face-to-stomach with him, but damn. I had to go on tip toe just to give the boy a damn hug! We’re very proud of him. When I first saw him swim, back in 2005, I just knew he’d be a special one. The day after that meet I bought MattGrevers.com and went through the process of adding him to SwimStars.org. Good call, right?

Have you all been to Farrell’s AKA the official TYR hangout? That place is pretty dope, especially that humongous Grevers billboard on the side of the building. I gotta admit that’s pretty bad ass. He thinks it’s all a little ridiculous, but I beg to differ. That’s ballin’, baby. Simply ballin’.

I’ve been informed that we are now official members of NBAC. Apparently when Coach Paul, whom we love, makes you a mixed CD you’re considered “in”. Well, we got ours today. It’s the “Swim Stars Mix” too; specially made for us. Bet you wish you were “in” like that. We’re now going to wait for our official NBAC gear to wear to meets. *cough*

I’m looking forward to celebrating the 4th tomorrow, er today. If there are parties jumpin’ off, we want to know about it. Actually, I take that back. Party aint a party unless we roll through, so if you want yours to be a good one, you should probably let us know. Just keepin’ it real.

Ok, so I’m not dozing off during prelims, I’m gonna shut this down and go to bed. Peace out!

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…

We had lunch with the BHOers. A lot of fun! We hadn’t seen a lot of them in a year, so reunions are always great! We went to the Omaha Farmer’s Market and ate at Spaghetti Works (?). It was delicious! Good food and good people! We had storytelling time – which included a couple of fabulous impressions – and it was classic. But that’s for us to know and you to be envious of.

We were much more rested yesterday after staying up entirely too late the night we got into town. We couldn’t help it! We hadn’t seen each other in a long time. The Swim Aids usually only go a couple of months in between meet-ups, but we’ve been in a drought as of late.

We’ve been trying to avoid talking about this, because our hearts are breaking, but we feel we have to. We are soooo sad for the Asian. His 200 Free semi did not go as planned and he’s now on the outside looking in. We called him to the Olympic Team, last year, as a member of the 800 Free Relay. Doesn’t look like it’s going to happen as he’s the 1st alternate for tonight’s final. We have a hard time looking at the pictures of his race.

We are also in shock over Rachel Komisarz not qualifying for the 100 Fly. Didn’t see that one coming! I’m not sure she intended to go out that fast and then not hold on, but that’s what sometimes happens at the Olympics Trials. You just never know! Dreams are both made and crushed.

The security measures are a bit much. I get that this is a HUGE meet, but man! When we go into the media entrance, a drug sniffing dog takes a whiff of our bags. I don’t know, but I feel like if you’ve approved someone for media credentials after that in-depth application process, that you feel comfortable with them being around the athletes. Guess not! We don’t have anything to hide, so the dogs can sniff to their hearts content. I was just amused at it. Peter Bick informed us that the dogs need to do a sniff before you are granted access to the catwalk or some of kind of foolishness. Word on the street is that a lot of the bigger named photogs aren’t happy.

Brendan Hansen’s press conference last night was a treat! He’s great with the media and his personality shines. There were lots of laughs from what we saw and heard, and we weren’t even there the entire time. Props to B-Han.

How about that big-ass Matt Grevers TYR poster of awesomeness? We approve. We approve.

I can’t remember anything else I should share, so I’ll just stop! Here’s to some more World Records!

Night 1 was off the chain!! We could hardly believe it!

The 400 IM, men’s and women’s, featured 2 World Records! It was soooo loud up in the Qwest Center; like you wouldn’t believe!

Phelps out touched the Lochtenator, but both hit under the old WR mark. We’re not sure if that means we owe Ryan another case of Heineken or not. Like he needs anymore from us. We owe him like a milli! We wonder if he brought his grillz. We also wonder if he’s ever going to remember to wear them during a domestic awards ceremony. Not that that mattered tonight because only the top finisher was paraded around the pool.

Speaking of parades, we LOVE that water affect behind the podium. It’s tight!

The strictness of this meet means we’re not going to be roaming freely around like we’re accustomed to. Yea, we know you’re bummed for us too. Thanks!

So, we’ll try to bring you what we can from our little home in the media seating.

We got to say hello to Debs after prelims. For those of you not in know, Debs = Mrs. Phelps. I can’t speak for all of the Swim Aids, but I hadn’t gotten to speak to her since last summer and she was just as wonderful as ever! As if you didn’t know, but she is beyond elated that both Bob and Mike are returning to Baltimore. She also does not like being as close to the pool as she was today. Hopefully she can remedy that and be more comfortable during the sessions! She was a ball of nerves before the 400IM final!

Fast forward to after finals. We stuck around for some press conferences from the top place finishers.
Mike and Bob were first, followed by Larjo, and then Katie and Paul.

The Mike & Bob Show was pretty typical. Bob brought the lolz when he talked about his hair falling out due to the stress of coaching Mike. He (Bob) looked very sunburned, btw.

Larjo’s presser gets a standing O from us. That young man is beyond articulate. Every answer he gave was well delivered and smooth. No uh’s or um’s; we’re talking to you Lochte!! He’s thrilled with his 400 Free when and thinks it sets him up well for the 1500 later in the week. He kept referencing the mile and no mention of the 200 free, so not sure if he’s going to contest it still.

While we were fully expecting a PVK win, we simply can’t imagine him having to do that victory walk. That would have been the most awkward and uncomfortable thing for him. If you know him, you feel me on this. No one wants to lose, but the goal is making the team and PVK did that. He is no longer a “relay swimmer” and we couldn’t be more proud!

And how cool is it that all the boys are competing together here? We’re big VK family supporters, so we’re happy for them. And because we know they’ll see this, yes, we got pictures today. Check your email, facebook, or talk to your mom. We’ll hook y’all up. Just don’t be haters. You’ll regret it later on

Katie & Paul were great and theirpress conference. They both walked in and waved at us. The rest of the room was probably wondering why we got the shout-out, but they aint got it like us. Katie and Paul are our peoples and have been since 2005 yo. Paul’s calm alter-ego made an appearance at their presser. In direct contrast to the Paul we’re used to seeing bouncing all over the deck.

We got to catch up with both of them after the presser, so we were able to properly congratulate Katie on her World Record. She really wasn’t expecting one, but we were. We were running our mouths all day about how we just KNEW Katie was going to do the damn thing. We shared this with her and she appreciated our swagger on her behalf. We’re gonna order her some, so she can strut too.

Oh, and Paul, come sit with us for real! We’ll save you a seat!

We’ll have more stories as the week continues. We have to kidnap Felicia Lee and Megan Romano, plus we have to catch up with other swim moms and swimmers as lord only knows when we’ll see them again after this week!

And thus I close the longest Swim Aids post ever? Actually it may not be the longest. It just feels that way because I did it all on my Sidekick again. Yes, all of this. I’m hardcore.

If you want to keep up with the action from the Qwest Center, visit Swim Stars Live. I update after every event is completed!