I posted this on MGoSwim last night. Sports Illustrated’s Olympic Preview issue is out on newsstands as of yesterday. Mine came in the mail today. A subscription to SI is a must during the summer of an Olympic year!

If you don’t subscribe, I highly recommend you pick up this issue. It’s chuck full of Team USA goodness, including a bunch of great shots, articles, and Q&A’s. If you’re an Olympics Whore, like the Swim Aids, you will love it!

And be sure to check out their medal predictions section, towards the end of the issue. I disagreed with many of their picks, but it was still a nice read. And no, I will not be putting my predictions out there. I’m far too lazy for all that.

The Got Milk? ad on Pg. 30 & 31 was nice! Loved seeing the Lochtenator and Maritza in there reppin’ for swimming. I think I might have a new desktop!

Also, if you’re looking for a Swim Aid response re: Jessica Hardy, you aren’t going to get one. I consider Jess a friend and I work with her agents almost daily. In short, we have nothing to say.

This is another Tales From The Deck entry written on my sidekick. There may be lots of errors and things of that nature due to the fact that I am typing on a phone, plus I went out tonight and “had a good time” with friends.

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!

Day 1 of the 2008 US Olympic Team Trials - Swimming are in the books and all we can say is DAYUMMMMMM!

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!

It’s been in the back of our minds for a while. Don’t front, it’s been in the back of yours as well. What am I talking about?

I’m talking about who is and isn’t going to retire after Beijing.

The Swim Aids are on pins and needles about this topic. It’s a good thing we aren’t the betting type. Judging from our signing sweepstakes predictions, we’d probably end up devastatingly broke at summer’s end.

There are some we know are 100% done after Beijing. Our dear Kaitlin is amongst this group. Every time we see her, we try to put on the “brave face”. But in reality, we’re holding back tears.

There is another group we are unsure of, but our hunches are leaning towards the pessimistic. We’re in denial. PVK, we’re talking to you, buddy!

Then, finally, there are the ones we know are nowhere near finished. The Lochtenator, The Hoff, J. Hardy, our fave young’uns etc. They keep us going through this time of uncertainty.

We kind of expected Natalie to hang up the suit after Beijing. But she has recently gone on record that she will continue until the London Games in 2012!

And I’m not talking about the “white boy fro”.

AP Photo/Paul Thomas

We have yet to see the Lochtenator rock his grill during a domestic meet. Every time we meet up with him we ask him if he brought his grill. His reply is always “of course!” Yet when the awards ceremonies roll around, he never has them in! So our mission for Santa Clara is to capture the Lochte grill for ourselves!

Stay tuned!

BTW, based on his performance across the pond, we owe Ryan 4 more cases of Heineken. We’re glad to pay up. Really.

Time to order up another case of Heineken for the Lochtenator.

According to the rules we set in place back in 2006, we owe Ryan yet another case of beer. He obliterated the 200 IM (SCM) World Record at the 2008 FINA Short Course Worlds Champs. PWNAGE!

We’re so proud of our guy. He never disappoints. We look forward to seeing his bright shining grill out in Santa Clara next month.

Cheers!

If you were with us last year as we covered the 2007 FINA World Champs in Melbourne, then you you are probably familiar with the friendly deal we have with the Lochtenator. If you have no idea what I’m talking about click here.

Our deal was that for every World Record Ryan swims, we will buy him a case of beer; Heineken, because it is his favorite. It started as a joke, but has snowballed into quite the incentive plan. We know what we’re doing, really we do…

So, he swam the lead leg in Team USA’s world record-setting 400 Free Relay at the Short Course Worlds in Manchester. We aren’t sure what size of Heineken pack to add to the neverending tally. It doesn’t really matter at this point because the number is ridiculously high. Basically whenever we’re all in the same location — and Ryan wants some beer — all he has to do is ask. We owe him.

We can only hope that the next hotel party doesn’t get broken up by the hotel staff before he gets the chance to drink it! It really is too bad his coach won’t let him take any on the plane with him. Work with us, people!