I know Suz has it posted on MgoSwim, but I want to post it here. Why? I find posting videos fun! And I like contributing! Yay!

Seriously, how cute is Debbie Phelps? The Swim Aids have “LOL” for her!

And I found this interview very well done and it held my attention throughout! Then again, anything Tom Brokaw does holds my attention! I love the wide range of questions!

p.s. Can someone please count how many times Phelps shrugs his shoulders?

Everyone knows that I’m a regular Access Hollywood watcher. Year round, no matter what, I tune in to the show every day. It’s been that way for a long time.

So when the Olympics roll around I get even more giddy because I know there’s going to be some comedy gold with our swimmers thanks to Billy Bush. He’s so good that I wish he covered the sport all the time, not just during the Olympics. And yes, I recall he was set to host the Golden Goggles a couple of years ago. Being that Access Hollywood is a celebrity-driven entertainment show, I wasn’t surprised that he was sent overseas to cover the TomKat wedding. Duty calls, yo. Hopefully he’ll be asked to host the GG’s again. Not that I’d get to see it since there aint no way I’m forking over the $$ to attend.

If you haven’t been watching Access Hollywood this week, you’re missing out. On yesterday’s show, Billy talked to Amanda about her PETA ad and let us know that she’d be turning correspondent — when she’s not competing or training — and even asked Phelps about his pornstache. Today he talked to the Lochtenator about his white-boy fro. I’m in the camp that it needs to go, but it is what it is.

We get such technical coverage of swimming throughout the quaddrenium that I welcome Billy Bush and his ridiculous fluff pieces and interviews. He helps reveal the swimmers’ personalities to the rest of the world. Personalities that we absolutely adore and wish we saw more of. Check out accesshollywood.com for video. They’ve been really good at posting video of the pieces that have aired.

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…

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.

I’m not sure how long this will be up since I have no clue if this falls under the ‘restricted content’ umbrella from Trials. The way to know if this is ‘bad’ will be if this post disappears in the near future. Watch the vid while you can!

Here is the parade of Team USA qualifiers for Beijing as they paraded past the media section. There were a few absentees, but I’d say it was the majority of the squad!

Oh, and here is the obligatory NBC Olympics link.

Also, no you’re not seeing things. There are ads on Swim Aids now. Gotta pay the bills, yo!

Ok, so I totally can’t believe that this thing is over tomorrow! I remember last Sunday when I was like “this is going to be a long week”. Not the case at all! When spending time with friends and covering fast swimming, time always flies by!

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!

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!