We knew Olympic trials were headed back to Omaha, but now it’s official, as the deal has been signed.

The Swim Aids are not fans of the city of Omaha. I’m not sure we should even truly refer to it as a “city” because it is far from what I consider one.

I can see why, from the athlete’s POV, Omaha would be a great place for a major team selection competition. There’s absolutely nothing to do! Very little distractions = focused swimmers. I get that. But for the rest of us, zzzzzzzzzzzzz. What a snoozefest! I was expecting Omaha to be like Indy in terms of a downtown. There are a million things to do and restaurants that don’t close at 5PM. You don’t need a car in downtown Indy, you do in Omaha. Well, if you want to occupy your time doing anything anyway.

I mean, why is there no downtown mall? That’s just unacceptable! There are no fast food restaurants either. Quizno’s — which was the closest we found to “fast” — closed at 5PM, no joke. We ate from some pizza place and Jimmy John’s damn near every night. Ugh.

We found out the hard way that transportation was much-needed when we wanted to have lunch at McDonald’s. I don’t remember how many miles we had to walk to get there, but it was ridiculous for a “major city”. Where is the public transportation? We saw a bus like once or twice every day! No roaming cabs? WTF!

I know it seems like I’m hating on Omaha, and I am. I’m no fan. I wanted 2008′s Trials to be in San Antonio, TX and 2012′s to be anywhere but Omaha.

But let me take a moment to talk about some of the good things in Omaha. This won’t take too long. The airport is very close and airfare costs weren’t bad. I bought last minute and got a decent price. The “city” is clean. I guess when there aren’t people around you don’t have to worry about trash, grafitti, crime, and a lot of the problems real cities deal with. If I was out late, which I was often, I had no issues walking around.

I enjoyed the Qwest Center Omaha. It was a nice venue for a big swimming competition. And the media shuttle was a godsend with my heavy-ass backpack.

And last, but not least we pay Homage to Farrells. Oh what a place. We had a lot of fun there and coaxed some others to join us — who probably shouldn’t have gone — there with us. Good times.

Since what’s done is done, we’ll start looking for ways to enjoy 2012′s Olympic Team Trials. Since there is an overlap with the College World Series, maybe the lingering college baseball fans will keep us entertained. We heard they party hard in Omaha during the CWS every year. I mean, what else is there to do? Depending on how long the Finals series goes, the overlap could be up to 2 days.

Trials officially begin Monday, June 25. So our advice is to go ahead and reserve yourself a room as early as you possibly can. We booked a year in advance and were very glad we did. Next time around, however, we will be renting a car because the setup they have there is beyond ridiculous.

My advice to Omaha? Please work on your downtown. Some more businesses and restaurants would be nice. And why not increase the frequency with which your buses run? And don’t close everything at 5PM during the work week. Make improvements in these areas and you will have some happy Swim Aids!

Note: I don’t really care if people, especially from Omaha, disagree with me. When you live there, you become accustomed to things and a little protective. It’s cool. I’m sure outsiders aren’t crazy about my city either. But mine is a real city with people, frequent public transportation, malls, parks, historic landmarks, eat places to eat… Ok, let me stop hatin’. I’m in a foul mood because the King of Pop died today. How about this. If you’re from Omaha or simply have been and/or know the area well, recommend some activities for us. We’re open and always looking for some adventures! That’s the best way to put a positive spin on something we deem as negative!

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

Following in the footsteps of Miss Amanda Beard, American tennis player Ashley Harkleroad has revealed that she has posed for Playboy Magazine’s August 2008 issue. She is the first tennis player to appear in the mag.

Harkleroad is ranked #61 in the world and was beaten today by fellow American Serena Williams (whom I love) in the 1st round of the French Open.

There has been a lot of attention paid fo the sexualization of female sports lately. This is in light of the sudden retirement of tennis’ Justine Henin (World #1) and the announcement that golfer Annika Sorenstam will call it quits at the end of the 2008 season. These two women, who excelled in respective sports, did not rely on their sexuality to market themselves.

I know y’all are probably wondering why I’m making a post about this considering Ashley Harkleroad not a swimmer.

Well, I’m interested in the response to her decision to pose. I am wondering if the media, fans, parents etc. will react similarly to when news (and photos) broke about Amanda posing. I know Ashley isn’t as high profile a female athlete as Amanda, but the sport of tennis is much more visible than swimming here in America. I guess we shall see!

What does everyone think?

But a couple of wire reports promoting the upcoming competition have included the following line:

Swimmers from Australia, Japan and South Africa who already made their Olympic teams also are expected to race

Not gonna lie, this excites me greatly. Getting to watch Leisel and Tara race at last year’s meet was definitely a treat! Love those Aussies!

I’m not going to get ahead of myself, though. It’s not set in stone that I’m even going to make it to Santa Clara. Yea, I know it’s only a week away. It’s complicated, ok?! But kiwi should be there, provided she doesn’t catch the lazies like she did for the Stanford Grand Prix.

Anyway, we anxiously await the psych sheet, which should hit the internets early next week.

It’s putting athletes who possess contracts with other swimwear companies (e.g. Nike, TYR, Arena) in a unenviable position heading into the Beijing Games and the selection meets.

Do they risk fines and other penalities and wear the LZR suit? Or do they remain loyal and possibly (I said possibly) miss out on a faster time that could be achieved in the Speedo suit. That is pure speculation based on what I’ve been reading/hearing on the internet.

U.S. National Team head coach, Mark Schubert, has gone on record with the Associated Press that “he will tell every swimmer on his team to wear Speedo at the U.S. trials.”

He will tell them to wear Speedo? Does that mean he will demand/order they wear the suit or strongly suggest it? Can USA Swimming really force a swimmer to wear Speedo; especially if it directly conflicts with their swimwear contract?

Upon doing a little more research, his words were clarified:

“I would strongly advise them to wear the suit at trials, or they may end up at home watching on NBC. Do you go for the money or for the gold? These athletes have been dreaming about winning an Olympic medal since they were eight or 10 years old and nobody can afford to give up two per cent.”

The AP article called out the US Nike contingent of Brendan Hansen, Aaron Peirsol, Jason Lezak and Kaitlin Sandeno.

All the other major players in the swimsuit sweepstakes are developing their own version of the LZR, but it seems the higher-ups of the governing bodies don’t think it will compare with the technology of the Speedo suit.

We already noticed that Erik Vendt, Larsen Jensen, and Mark Gangloff left TYR and are now wearing Speedo suits. It’ll be interesting to see who else defects and from which company.

Things are fixin’ to get mighty interesting coming down the stretch!

I have to give it up for Ohio State.

I know, I know. This never happens. Maybe I’m turning the corner? Maybe you guys should question my Michigan fanhood?

Nah, I wouldn’t go that far. Although I am starting to turn when it comes to football. Don’t tell anyone else, though! What can I say? I miss Mike Hart, Jake Long, Chad Henne, Mario Manningham, Lloyd Carr….the list goes on and on. There isn’t anyone else on their roster that I feel connected to. As a result, my cousin is starting to turn me into a Buckeye football fan. Yes, hell has frozen over. That’s not the point of this post, though.

The point is that Ohio State finished in 15th place (yes, 15th) at the NCAA Championships hosted in their home pool. What was most impressive is that they did it solely with diving points. I can’t recall if I’ve ever seen the OSU women crack the top 25 of the CSCAA dual meet rankings and rightly so. So for them to rock it with a Top 15 finish, without any swimming points, is extremely impressive!

My hat goes off to coach Vince Panzano, and I’m not the only one who is tipping their hat. Coach Panzano was named the NCAA Diving coach of the Year during tonight’s session. Not to be outdone, OSU diver Chelsea Davis was named NCAA Diver of the Year; an honor she shares with Miami’s Brittany Viola and Hawaii’s Emma Friesen.

Another tidbit is that none of OSU’s divers are seniors (1 junior and 2 freshmen), so provided they don’t regress, OSU will be able to count on all of those points at next year’s meet. Wonder if any of the swimmers will help the divers out next time around. Only time will tell!

JOE DOYLE RULES

NOTE: I needed to add that shout-out in this post, since I saw him tonight. It was nice to see him come out and show his support.

Well we’ve been commenting on this quite a bit these days on MGoSwim, but since it deals with the Lochtenator, we thought we’d bring it over here too.

We’ve noticed that it’s like Mike and Ryan have switched media personalities.

Ryan’s standard media interviews were littered with a string of “um’s” “uh’s” and general stuttering. But he’s dramatically cleaned up his speaking. As evidence, we present his latest interview with Orlando NBC affiliate WESH. I only counted one “um”! Groundbreaking!

Now, countering with Phelps’ recent interviews, it’s easy to see he’s regressed!

We may or may not have created a drinking game that went along with Ryan’s interview slip-ups. So obviously we never thought this day would come. RyRy may have earned yet another case of Heineken. We’ve lost count. Really.

BTW, it’s nice to see Ryan ‘white boy fro’ coming back. As long as it doesn’t get out of hand, we’re cool with it.

I read over it. Sounds good. So what do I want to discuss? I thought you’d never ask!

This is the line that got me thinking:

The standings will integrate male and female participants, and will recognize the swimmer with the highest cumulative point total.

What exacty does “recognize” mean? Does the overall points winner get a pat on the back? A handshake? Perhaps their very own write-up in Splash Magazine?

I think the prize money pool that drives the Mare Nostrum and World Cup tours is a really good thing. Especially in a sport like swimming. So is there a monetary incentive for participants? I know there are going to be swimmers who technically cannot accept prize money. So maybe scholarship money or a training stipend? Something?

Don’t get me wrong, I think the points system is a good idea! Seeing more swimmers — especially the National teamers — compete in Grand Prix meets is something I’m glad USA Swimming is focusing on; especially if they all decide to go to the Ohio State stop…*cough*.

I’m just looking for a little more clarification on how this points system is going to lead to more grand prix participation. Inquiring minds would like to know.

First, we noticed that she skipped Nationals. No biggie, right? But the only people who passed on Nationals were the ones competing at WUGs, the Paris Open, or a select few who competed at Pan Ams. Hayley wasn’t on any of those squads.

Then we noticed that her name/bio has now been removed from her primary sponsor’s (TYR) website.

Are we missing something? What’s the 411?

As I looked through entirely too many sports mags, I realized that there really aren’t any swimming publications available on newsstands. Of course you see the mainstream sports receiving the lion’s share of coverage, but what about the others? I saw surfing, cycling, running, skiing, golf, and even a couple of triathlete-specific magazines. And yes, I am fully aware that triathletes are required to swim.

So I began to wonder why there aren’t any newsstand swimming options available. You always hear about how much participation age group swimming garners. One would think that those swimmers – and their parents – would be all over that. Maybe not?

I haven’t spent as long following swimming as most people have. Have their been any swimming specific magazines available for purchase at newsstands and bookstores? And is that past failure the reason there aren’t any now? Would anyone even be willing to buy one?

Just thinking out loud. Feel free to chime in with any responses. I’m extremely curious!