So what if I feel like bitching about this every week! Deal with it!

Speedo has a large stable of elite athletes; all amazing in their own right. However, within that team of swimmers, they only have so many WORLD RECORD HOLDERS. The way they continue to omit 2 of them infuriates me. And many probably don’t think it’s a big deal, but around here, we do. Speedo continuing to overlook Pete and Klete in Speedo promotional photoshoots and catalog inclusions is inexcusable. In a sense, it seems to devalue their work and accomplishments in the pool. I liken it to a slap in the face.

So at first, I just thought it was an oversight. Then I moved on to thinking about how awkward and uncomfortable Pete looks in staged/posed pictures, and assumed he declined their invitation to the photoshoot. But after my brief convo with PVK yesterday, I really am at a loss for words!

When I asked him why he isn’t in the catalog he said:

I don’t know…

I also offered to write a strongly-worded letter on his behalf, but the ever-modest PVK didn’t think that was necessary. I, however, do!

Seriously, I don’t know what’s going on over at the Speedo USA Headquarters, but they need to get it together! This is unacceptable. Pete just became the 4th fastest 200m Free performer in history at Nationals! I think he is more than deserving of a spot in that catalog. This isn’t about vanity, or the fact that PVK is my dawg. It’s about respect.

We’ve mentioned it before, but it’s time to say it again: We Love Paul Yetter!

Now, I’ve essentially had him to myself for the past 2 years. He’s the one who got me in touch with The Hoff way back when. He also helped me police the Swim Stars message boards and showered me with praise at the work I was doing on the site. So after countless stories, it was time to share him with the Swim Aids.

They ate him up!

Kiwi got her first “experience” in Mizzou. We have great stories from that trip! Then she and I continued the Paul lovefest in A2 where he fully embraced all of our jokes and referred to PVK by the nickname he instructed me to call him last year. (Sorry, it’s an inside joke and y’all are currently on the outside!)

So after rubbing it in for many months, the rest of the Swim Aids became anxious and demanded they meet Paul as well. We hooked them up last week in Indy. We caught him at the end of the first night of competition and had a long chit-chat session. We were hoping The Hoff would join us, but she peaced out while we were on our way down to the deck to get Paul. (It’s ok, she more than made up for it by posing specifically for my camera while on the awards podium.)

So, we had a lengthy convo with Paul, learned some new things, and the girls even tested his memory by making him recall their names after rearranging their seats. He “passed” by remembering 3 out of 4 names. Not bad for a pop quiz!

During the convo, Paul wrote down his website address. He’s way into photography and recently upgraded his camera! The Swim Aids are all pretty much camera-whores ourselves, so this pleased us. If you’d like to check out Paul’s photos then click here. It’s ok. He wanted us to publicize them. He isn’t the first who sought to benefit from the promotion we provide.

This is a long appreciation post and there hasn’t even been a mention of Paul’s hotness…until now! We usually like to bring that up because we have been told by a couple of his swimmers that it grosses them out. (Just wait until the Bob Bowman Coach Appreciation Post ) We live for those awkward PVK-esque moments where we can make people feel as uncomfortable as possible, so y’all better get used to it!

Now we’re all a little obsessed with Paul, and not just me. He’s the shit, really. Y’all should be obsessed as well! The icing on the cake was a couple of people — who make us laugh — eavesdropping on our conversation; even though they had absolutely no reason to still even be up in the stands that long after the session ended. It’s ok, boys. We love you too. Hope you enjoyed our conversation!

So this wraps up our first Coach Appreciation Post. Stay tuned for the sequel!

So we’re sure you’re all well aware that we like pointing when other mess up. It makes us feel better about our own shortcomings. So now it’s time to point out another goof:

After all the blazing times being posted at the Pan Ams, I wandered over to the FINA site to see how some of those swims stacked up against the current world rankings. Then I happened upon the men’s 400 Free rankings. FINA thinks that Alex Vanderkaay competed at Worlds and then Pete took over at Duel in the Pool. While we would have enjoyed seeing AVK compete at Worlds, it did not happen. So the 6th and 7th fastest times in the world this year both belong to PVK. Oh FINA!

P.S. There’ll be no more CVK posts around here. We just found out that he’s a hater. Can you believe that? Who knew?! We’re watching you, CVK! Be afraid. Be very afraid!

A Vanderkaay named Peter has many nicknames. We’ve heard PVK, Big P, and Vander in addition to the ones we’ve given him such as Jesus and Cracker (loonnnng story that we’re not going to share). But Vandy is a new one to us.

After PVK wrecked shop in Canet, WCSN put up a link to his meet record-setting performance in the 400 Free under the heading “Vandy Breaks Record”. The link also appeared on the live video window. I’ll be honest, after watching a good portion of the 2nd day of action (and staring at the links on the side), it finally dawned on me that Vandy = Vanderkaay. Then I rolled my eyes.

Is it that WCSN feels so comfortable with Pete in all his Vanderness to give him a nickname? Or has he finally crossed over into the big leagues where the masses need a new & fun name to refer to him as? My vote is for neither of these scenarios. Someone just thought they were being cute. Yea, that’s our job!

It wouldn’t have taken that much more space in the layout for them to spell out Vanderkaay. And I’m certain I wasn’t alone when I exclaimed:

Vandy? Who the hell is Vandy?

I’m sure many of you have been wondering why the Hoffster has a “free pass” here on Swim Aids. It’s really because she is head and shoulders above all the swimmers that we are friendly with. She goes above and beyond the call of duty, and let me share with you the latest reason why.

If you know who I am and have seen me around at random meets over the past 2 years, then you have probably seen my infamous ‘Black Girl’ t-shirt. If you haven’t, then you are blind because I am pretty much the token darkie at the meets I go to.

Back in ‘05, when Katie and I first started to get acquainted, I told her about that shirt. She’s been obsessed with it ever since! I even wore it on the final day of CP Summer Nationals last year in Irvine, at her request. As she walked out with the other 100 Free finalists, it caught her eye and laughs were shared all around.

So, when I met up with Katie at the recent Eric Namesnik Memorial Grand Prix, I had a different idea in mind. Instead of me wearing the shirt, SHE was going to! She’s still not sure how I talked her into it. My powers of persuasion should never be underestimated. So, not only did she put the shirt on, she let us take a picture of it. If you are my “friend” on facebook, then you’ve already seen it. If you’re not part of the cool crowd on facebook who gets to call me a “friend” — what’s wrong with you?! — now’s your chance!

And this, Swim Aid followers, is why Katie Hoff is awesomer than you.

I am well aware that awesomer is not a word, but damnit, it fits!

P.S. It should also be noted that “The Hoff” is not the only one to wear a shirt at my request. I have a picture of PVK in a “classic” shirt I had made for him last fall. Taking a picture of himself in it and then sending it to me earned him a ton of keepin’ it real points! It’s kind of an inside joke and he’d likely kill me if I posted it on the internet. No, seriously. He could crush me with little effort and I’m much too young to die!

Now we don’t want to toot our own horns, but maybe we aren’t so horrible at predicting signings!

We admit we were waaaay off with Hayley P. signing with TYR. (Still trying to get our heads around that one). But we were right about Jessica Hardy and Whitney Myers! I had a feeling that Jess would go Speedo and she, in fact, did. I also really wanted NIKE to step up and sign another female athlete. And I wanted that new Team Nike member to be Whitney. Welp looks like it is!

That should be pretty interesting, though. Because Whitney is the only Octagon-repped swimmer who isn’t signed to Speedo. I wonder if that poses any problems with the whole Swim With The Stars program. Guess we’ll have to wait and see!

We are awaiting more signing news. I’m pretty sure at least one of the graduating seniors is holding out on me, and I will deal with him accordingly; like I did PVK last year.

NOTE TO SWIMMERS PROMOTED ON SWIMSTARS.ORG: Don’t keep major career news, like signing a swimwear/sponsor contract, from Suz. She doesn’t like it. You’re making her job (which is helping YOU out) harder. Fill a sista in, mmk?

Looks like swimming’s most photogenic male swimmer, Chris DeJong, wasn’t enjoying life in the retirement home.

Just a short (or long, depending on who you ask) year ago, Chris competed in the Day 1 prelims of the Eric Namesnik grand prix. Shortly after that session, he withdrew from the meet and disappeared from the sport. As the summer of ‘06 wore on, we began to fear that we’d seen the last of The Asian. We asked PVK what was going on (because we were too pussy to ask for ourselves) and he told us that CDJ was “unofficially retired”.

This revelation lead to many tear-filled Swim Aid nights, because can’t nobody strike a pose on the pool deck like The Asian!

At Nationals, the name ‘Chris DeJong‘ turned up on the psych sheet. But we knew better. A quick text to PVK confirmed our prediction that he was indeed not competiting. Luckily we didn’t get our hopes up too much!

In the fall, The Asian started turning up on the pool deck, but not in a competition Speedo. He was keeping stats for the UM team. Better than nothing, but still not like old times.

So imagine our surprise when his name popped up on the Eric Namesnik Memorial grand prix psych sheet. Is our celebration premature? We hope not!

We’ll see for ourselves this weekend!

P.S. Don’t ask us to explain why we call Chris DeJong “The Asian”. If you don’t know, you betta ask somebody…ELSE

ETA: MGoBlue is adding more fuel to the fire! I hope, for their sake that they are not yanking our chains, ladies! Check out the latest release:

Current Wolverines who will participate in the event include 2007 NCAA 400-meter individual medley national champion Alex Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich./Adams HS) and 10-time All-American Lindsey Smith (Dexter, Mich./Dexter). Vanderkaay will be joined by his brother, 2004 Olympic gold medalist and five-time NCAA champion Peter Vanderkaay (2003-06), and other former U-M stars, including three-time NCAA champion Davis Tarwater (2003-06) and five-time All-American Chris DeJong (2003-06). Club Wolverine members Erik Vendt, Kaitlin Sandeno, Hayley Peirsol and Kalyn Keller will also be competing at the event.