He’s a swimmer. He’s a student (well, sometimes). He’s an uncle. He’s a Pistons fan. But did you know that Michael Phelps is also Santa Claus? Ok, so maybe not. But he certainly has the Christmas spirit! In addition to the card I received earlier this month, I was pleasantly surprised when the UPS truck drove up and delivered a package of delicious chocolates from Mr. Phelps himself. (see picture above) Merry Christmas to me and thanks, Mike! If this is your way of asking me to lay off the jokes just know that I cannot be bought. Well, not with chocolate. You might have to step it up a little more if you really want that immunity that Miss Katie Hoff has. Feel free to ask her for tips

What is going on?! The Lochtenator is the one who will be running for office in ‘08; not MP. We’ve been working on his campaign and custom “Team Lochte” shirts for months now. (Please see our facebook group for confirmation).

And while we’re at it, these shirts? Seems just a tad similar to a creation we designed for the fans right after the Olympics.

Ok, now everyone take a guess as to which idea of ours will next end up for sale on the SWTS website, haha

Now we all know how crazy long Mike’s arms are, correct? And we have all seen him get riled up when participating in a relay, right? Well, put those 2 scenarios together and you have a recipe for disaster, as one meet official discovered at the US Open last weekend!

Club Wolverine’s 400 Medley Relay was neck-and-neck with Michigan’s ‘A’ squad as you read in the previous post. What you don’t see in our video is Mike’s dangerously flamboyant arm gesture which struck a meet official in the chest and nearly knocked her over! The picture (above) was taken a split second before she was hit. Someone should stick a “Caution” sign somewhere on his 6′ long back, because it is just not safe to be near him on the pool deck. I thank god that I did not go down to the deck to shoot this race. I might have been hit myself!

Mike was extremely apologetic after the fact. See, he is a good kid after all! The next night, after the awards ceremony, he gave his flower to the wounded official and posed for pictures with her. You could hear a wave of awww’s all throughout the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. They just thought Mike was being nice to a meet official. Most of the spectators had no idea that he tried to decapitate her the night before.

Good times, good times. This is why more of you need to attend swim meets. You never know what you’re going to witness!

Here is another memorable moment from the US Open. T-DUB!! (AKA Davis Tarwater for those of you who aren’t in the know) was just a tad excited that Club Wolverine squeaked out a win over the Michigan A relay in the 400 Medley Relay. UM was actually ahead at the last turn, leaving most of the crowd to blurt out an assortment of WTF comments. But Big Daddy Keller brought the heat in the last 50 and sealed the win for CW. I haven’t seen this much emotion out of the boys since…oh wait, it hasn’t been that long since Nationals, has it? Nevermind.

There was another memorable moment during that relay thanks to Mr. Phelps. If you’re that curious, I suggest you come back tomorrow to see what went down. You will laugh just like we still are.

BTW, shout out to Kaitlin and Katie

I don’t know if y’all have seen it, but it seems that a certain South African swimmer has been sippin’ on some hater-ade. He needs to put it down and replace it with a tall glass of STFUâ„¢.

Rising U.S. star Cullen Jones won the men’s 50 freestyle in 21.84 seconds, a Pan Pac record.

Roland Schoeman of South Africa took silver in 22.12. Canada’s Brent Hayden earned bronze, his fourth medal.

Jones was part of the Phelps-led U.S. team that broke South Africa’s 2-year-old world record in the 400 freestyle relay Saturday night.

“Cullen who?” Schoeman said dismissively after the 50 preliminaries.

Oh, Puh-leeze, Roland! He best familiarize himself with the name Cullen Jones. It will be appearing ahead of his, in the final standings, for years to come!

So Davis was nice enough to stop by after all the awards and exchange a few words with us. We were awesome enough to take this fabulous picture. Let us all take a moment to admire the greatness!

We met this cute little girl and her funny father. The little girl’s name is Sami. Sami is a future swimmer so watch out for her! Kaitlin came by too! She looks fabulous as well!

Mike came by as well. Sami was extremely excited to see Mike. It was really cute to see!

If anyone wants to see pictures of us..you’ll just have to wait until next time.

We are equal opportunity supporters of swimmers. So we’re showing some love, on a regular basis, to some swimmers we feel need to be pimped. You know how it is!

Erik Vendt was our inaugural Special Guest for a long while. And now he is set to join the Swim Stars Network with his own site, located at ErikVendt.com. Then we pimped out Cullen Jones. No Swim Stars site for him because Suz is going to be designing his official site in the coming months.

So, now we turn our attention elsewhere; and to a team, and not an individual. We already pimp these boys out far more than they deserve, but we can’t help ourselves. They’re like our crack. We can’t quit them. Ok, enough bad jokes.

Give it up for the University of Michigan & Club Wolverine swimming programs. Yea, we’re predictable. Get over it!

By the way, you can get to this page simply by visiting MGoSwim.com. Clever? Yea, we thought so too. Shout out to our fave U-M blog, MGoBlog!

Michigan Wolverines

According to the newly released CSCAA rankings, the Michigan men are holding steady in the #4 spot. Around here, we reckon they’ll move up before taking a drop. It’s just how things are going to work. As us about it sometime. We’ll drop some sick knowledge on you. (Dec. 5, 2007)

Since everyone else in the Big Ten’s weekend performances paled in comparison, Mr. Matt Patton was rewarded with the “Swimmer of the Week” honor from the conference. It was Mattie P.’s 1st time receiving this award, but we’re certain it won’t be his last! (Dec. 4, 2007)

So, the boys in blue won the Husky Invite out in Seattle over the weekend. Not surprised. We pretty much expect them to do the damn thing, whenever they hit the blocks. The best part? The 2nd place team wasn’t even close to their point total.

Total domination, folks.

Michigan: 1,621.5
Cal: 1,142.5

Here are all the results, in case you want see the pwnage for yourself: Day 1 Finals | Day 2 Finals | Day 3 Finals (Dec. 3, 2007)

Club Wolverine

The Asian has been named to the Team USA roster for the 2008 FINA Short Course World Championships in Manchester, England from April 9-13. He’s been selected to swim the 200 Free & the 200 Back at the international competiton. This makes up for not swimming at the Japan International Grand Prix. Good move, CDJ! (Dec. 12, 2007)

PVK & T-DUB!! are going to be doing a clinic together on Dec. 27 in Potomac Valley, VA with the Machine Aquatics Swim Team. Oh, to be a fly on the wall of that. We’re sure we would shed a tear with Davis‘ comedy. But will PVK still look like a dear in headlights? We wonder, we wonder. [LINK] (Dec. 11, 2007)

While the NCAA team was in Seattle getting rained on, the post-grads of Club Wolverine were in Hotlanta competing at the USA Swimming Short Course National Championships. While, Swim Aid favorite Ryan Lochte made the biggest splash, the CWers were no slouches!

Phelps was Phelps. Although he is coming off a wrist injury (from being a tool), he still turned in respectable performances, including a hard fought win in the 200y Free over his teammates PVK (2nd), The Asian (3rd), Vendt (7th), & T-Dub (8th). Yea, they’re nicknames. Get over it!

PVK won the 500y Free; an event he holds the American Record in. Erik won the 1650y Free. Davis won the 200y Fly. And the CW 800y Free Relay team set a new American & US Open Record together. Man, if there’s something those Michigan boys do well, it’s the middle distance freestyles!

Club Wolverine won both team titles at Nationals. Represent!

P.S. We’d like to make my prediction for who makes the US Olympic Team for the 800 Free Relay. In order of how much we like them: Vanderkaay, Lochte, Keller, DeJong, Ritter, Phelps. Mark it down, folks! (Dec. 3, 2007)

Links

Recent News Articles

Beijing Contender: Peter Vanderkaay (WCSN)
DeJong’s national relay record makes waves (Grand Rapids Press)
U-M Announces Early Signees (MGoBlue)
DeJong believes he belongs in elite company (Holland Sentinel)

Pictures

We’re working on it! We’ve got a TON!