Happy Halloween!

Yarrrrrg! So what're you gonna be this year matey?



A super fun game to waste the hours until you can go trick-or-treating.
Or you can color.

Happy Birthday to Allison and Molly Mormon!

IOC Votes for Morning Finals in Beijing

And the only people who seem to be happy about it are NBC and USA Swimming...Super spicy article below.

IOC Opts For Dollar Over Decency

Swimming and most of the gymnastics finals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics will take place in the morning, the International Olympic Committee said in the Chinese capital today - confirming the news that SwimNews broke to the world in June: money is more powerful than the Olympic spirit and the tradition of sport.

"After a thorough consultation process, the IOC Executive Board has approved a final version of the competition schedule which sees a spread of events throughout the day, with some finals in the morning, some in the evening," IOC member Hein Verbruggen, of the Netherlands, told a press conference in China.

Thorough consultation? Come off it! Through the excellent office of Markus Rogan, of Austria and based at Stanford in the US, this is what was sent to "all members of the IOC":

"We, the Olympic swimmers, concerned about the commercial influence to our sport, aiming at fair competion and great competition results, want to swim finals at night in Beijing! We believe, based on competition experience, that we can swim faster at night.

"We understand that there are certain commercial advantages to the American market when the finals of the swimming events are held in the morning. But we appeal to the integrity of our sport and the integrity of the Olympic spirit, to hold the Games as is in the best interest of the athletes.

"For the Integrity of the Olympic Games! For World Records! For Finals at Night!"

That was signed by a fair number of Olympic champions and many others leading world swimmers, including: Ian Thorpe; Grant Hackett Roland Schoeman; Otylia Jedreyzak; Arkady Vijatchanin; Kosuke Kitajima; Laure Manaudou; Pieter van den Hoogenband; and Markus Rogan.

Good for them. But what of the IOC's consultation? Consultation presumably meaning the process by which you take all opinions and then ignore the ones that are most troublesome to the ear and wallet, no matter how large and important a community that message may come from. No matter that it comes from the very people who will be most affected, the very people that make the Olympic Games the spectacular show it is (and did so long before the dawn of the television age).

Programming for swimming finals was among the most controversial scheduling issues at the Beijing Olympics, with US rights holder NBC pushing for early finals to coincide with peak evening viewing hours in the United States. NBC did not get its way in athletics, finals for which will be staged in the late evening.

Despite opposition from Australia and several top European swimming nations, finals were scheduled for the morning after taking into account a number of factors, IOC officials said. Nothing, then, to do with the fact that NBC has paid $3.55 billion for rights to a series of Olympic summer and winter Games culminating in Beijing 2008, accounting for more than half of all Games revenues. A request from such a paymaster is hardly going to be ignored.

However, the Dutchman, who used to run the cycling world (a community with its fair share of doping scandals, one might say), denied the IOC caved in to pressure from NBC over the finals schedule.

"There can never be a perfect 'one size fits all' solution which suits each and every stakeholder equally, but the IOC decision has endeavoured to find the best balance for the Olympic movement as a whole," said Verbruggen, following a three-day meeting of an IOC commission that inspected Beijing Games preparations.

The best balance? Don't be ridiculous Mr Verbruggen. Balance for whom? Balance for Pieter van den Hoogenband, for Ian Thorpe, for Grant Hackett, for Laure Manaudou, for Lazslo Cseh, balance for just about every world leading swimmer who has aired an opinion of late and made it clear that they and their coaches want evening finals. Balance for FINA, the international body that made its position clear? Best balance?

Oh! I see, there's a word missing - you mean "best bank balance". Well, fair enough - but please do have the decency, yon guardians of the Olympic spirit, to own up to the true spirit behind your decision.

much more ranting here

Other (much less spicy) articles:
Wake-up call for morning finals
Swimmers incensed by IOC's rude awakening
Beijing Olympic Swimming Finals Will Take Place in the Morning; Doping Tests to Increase

There are obviously two sides to every issue. While it hardly seems fair to athletes worldwide to switch their competition schedules around to suit commercial interests, it won't necessarily mean poor results and there IS a benefit for North American swimmers in that a bigger audience in the States and Canada means more name recognition for them and the potential for more sponsor dollars. New fans mean the potential for more network (hell, I'd take cable) swimming coverage post Beijing. How much different is this situation than having Worlds in March to accommodate the Aussie season? North American swimmers would presumably be disadvantaged by this as they usually peak much later in the year (AUGUST!) - but they have enough notice to adjust their training schedules so that they can peak at the appropriate time. The athletes have 2 years to figure out how best to prepare themselves for morning finals. No, it's not ideal, but it's not necessarily the end of the world either. I don't think this gives any one team an advantage in the pool, which is what matters in the end.

Update: The Austin Statesman has an article with comments from Eddie, Brendan and Aaron...

Texas ex and world-record holder Brendan Hansen said the new arrangement might put European swimmers at a disadvantage.

"I'd sit around in the (Olympic) village and try to kill time until the finals," Hansen said. "I think it's going to hurt the European teams. We're forced to swim fast in the morning to make nationals. Europeans take it real easy in the morning (at their championships). It can look like they're not even trying."

Hansen said the new starting times might be better for him and Texas ex Ian Crocker, who holds the world record in the 100-meter butterfly.

"We tend to over-think our races. I think Ian could just explode. Just wake up, eat and go do it," Hansen said.

Reese said that, for swimmers, trying to sleep the night before the morning final might be tough, as could getting up at 6 a.m. for an early-morning warm-up swim before the finals. However, "most of the really good guys know how to crank it up," he said.

Hansen added, "Eddie will make sure we're prepared. Whether it's 2 in the morning or 10 o'clock at night, we'll be ready."

ETA: Reader Feedback: Decision to Move Olympic Swimming Finals to the Morning is a Mistake

Just a few fun links..

Brendan Hansen Quotes! - You can even add one of your own favorites.

WCSN and Akimbo Team to Deliver Network's Programming on Demand Via the Internet

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- World Championship Sports Network (WCSN), the country's premier multi-platform world championship sports destination, today announced that Akimbo(TM) Systems, creator of the first Internet video-on-demand service for television, will make World Championship Sports, WCSN's most popular weekly series, available for download through the Akimbo Service.

Televised in more than 47 million cable TV homes, World Championship Sports, currently in its 26-episode second season, captures the very best of WCSN championship events in all its dramatic, life-changing and glorious sports moments. Hosted by renowned sports broadcaster Craig Elsten, each one-hour episode is dedicated to a single sport. The series features a wide range of sports including cycling, gymnastics, skiing, volleyball and much, much more. The series has also captured recent emotional and timeless moments like Brendan Hansen's two new world records in the 100m and 200m breaststroke at the USA swimming national championships, and Asafa Powell matching his own 100m world record of 9.77 seconds for the third time at the IAAF Golden League Zurich in August.

Wheeeee! - Photos from the Swim Clinic Brendan did in Virginia earlier this month. Thanks to Hokiefan for finding those. We'll be adding the photos to BHO's gallery asap thanks to permission from Michael Downs at Virginia Swim.

Swim With Inspiration and Motivation

Swim With Inspiration and Motivation ("SWIM") is a 501(c)(3) organization formed in 2006 designed to help teach the sport of swimming to low socio-economic kids in Austin, Texas. The vision of this program is to work with local non-profits to identify eligible kids and hope that the program will serve as a bridge between learn-to-swim programs teaching water safety and the full-fledged USA Swimming clubs here in Austin, Texas.

SWIM was inspired by previous clinics done in Austin, and was formed by three former University of Texas swimmers, Bryan Jones, a 1998 and 2001 USA Swimming World Championship Team member, Tommy Hannan, a 2000 USA Swimming Olympic gold medallist, and Paul Wallace, who has the most inspirational story of us all, having come from inner-city San Antonio to a become a University of Texas graduate, largely through his involvement in swimming. Many of the local legends in swimming have shown support for this program, including Brendan Hansen, Ian Crocker, Eddie Reese, Jill Sterkel, Nate Dusing, Kris Kubik, and many others have volunteered their time to help us with this inaugural six week session, as well as myself Scott Goldblatt.

snip

We hope to have several six week sessions each year. For more information or to help with this effort/program, please visit our website at www.swimaustin.org.

Read more at Timed Finals.

And speaking of Scott Goldblatt, Don't miss Deck Pass..

...the world's first internet radio broadcast dedicated to the sport of swimming. Every Saturday at noon PST (3pm in New York and 5am in Sydney, Australia) the Deck Pass will bring listeners the latest in swimming news and excitement. Interviewing the world's top athletes and other minds involved with the sport, the Deck Pass will get answers to the questions fans are asking!

This week Scott talked injuries with Nick Brunelli, last week the topic was Golden Goggles. Who knows what's next (I say we petition for a Brendan interview)...

Thanks lala for finding these links!

And one last thing..Our favorite sportswriter John Lohn has a new premium article up on Swimming World's site and I love this bit...

**At the Golden Goggle Awards next month in California, the Perseverance Award will go to Erik Vendt, Hayley Peirsol or Megan Jendrick. Each of the aforementioned athletes is deserving, but the award could have featured a fourth candidate, a man who has been a longtime staple on the United States National Team roster: Neil Walker.

Among the elite sprint freestylers in the world for nearly a decade, Walker has remained dedicated to the sport and his training regimen while a number of young guns have tested the waters. Although Walker didn't contest an individual event at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, he forged ahead and has regained individual-event duty for the U.S. in the 100 free, which he will race at next year's World Championships.

Woo Hoo! Go John! And Neil!

Le Swoooon!

I'd like to take a moment to thank the Hansen/Savini families for such an incredible gene pool. And thank you Terrie for scanning the image for me from the new Aardvark Catalog .

Also, Nike finally has a page for their swimwear. Brendan is on the front page and there are athlete profiles for each of the Nike sponsored swimmers as well. Here are a couple of screenshots for those of you who don't want to take the time to click the link.

And just as predicted...

Marsh Accepts Position With USOC, Will Leave Auburn After Season; Richard Quick to Serve as Advisor

AUBURN head coach David Marsh will resign at the end of the 2006-07 season to accept a position with the Mecklenburg Aquatic Club. The club will establish the United States Olympic Committee Center of Excellence, in Charlotte, N.C., as SwimmingWorldMagazine.com foretold in an earlier report.

In his new role, Marsh will serve as the Head Elite Coach and CEO of the program, directing the development of future United States' Olympic swimmers.

"This is a unique, first-ever position that was created by the United States Olympic Committee, USA Swimming and the Mecklenburg Aquatic Club and is a outstanding opportunity for me to assist in the development of future American Olympians," Marsh said. "I am an Auburn man and it will be extremely difficult to leave the department, university and community, however, I feel this decision was made at this time in the best interest of my family as well as my career. Jay Jacobs has the department headed in the right direction and is committed to maintaining the level of excellence of the swimming and diving program. I will cherish this season as we compete for two more National Championships in 2007."

If you haven't been following the debate below over the new Super Club this announcement isn't a big surprise - Timed Finals let the cat out of the bag a few days ago. The issue is, what will it mean for our National Team swimmers? And why Marsh? While he's had great success with NCAA Championships, as lala mentioned below, a great deal of that success can be credited to good recruiting and a great diving team. Eric Shanteau and Hayley Peirsol had their breakout performances after leaving Auburn to train with Texas and Michigan for the summer. Can Marsh develop swimmers or is he just good at recruiting talent? Will National Team members be required to train at this new facility under the direction of Marsh in the future? I guess I still just don't understand exactly what USA Swimming is attempting to do with this new club structure.

ETA: USOC and USA Swimming Weigh In on Marsh Hire

"The USOC has recognized a fantastic opportunity to help change the business model for club swimming in America," said Steve Roush, chief of sport performance at the USOC. "We know that building 'centers of excellence,' around the country, which provide the opportunity for elite post-graduate athletes to come together and train, is an extremely productive model. With such a successful coach at the helm, Mecklenburg Aquatic Club can provide that environment for America's swimmers and we are confident that Team USA will reap the rewards at the 2008 Olympics and beyond."

With the addition of Marsh to the Mecklenburg coaching staff, the club expects an influx of post-graduate talent, which has become increasingly visible on National Team rosters in recent years. At the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships, Team USA finished first in the medal count on the backs of 19 individual medalists who were post-graduate or professional athletes. In addition, all but four athletes on the roster of the U.S. Men's National Team headed to the 2007 FINA World Championships are post-graduate or professional swimmers.

"The hiring of David Marsh by a USA Swimming member club represents the changing nature of competitive swimming," said Mark Schubert, National Team head coach and general manager for USA Swimming. "More and more swimmers are continuing to compete after their collegiate careers, and many are giving up their eligibility in order to swim professionally. These swimmers need an elite program with which to train. These factors, along with more financial resources coming into the sport, have made the club level more important than ever to our future Olympic success."

It's good to be "connected"...

to BHO.

Not only did I talk Peter into checking my bio lab report this week (thanks Peter!), I got the Clinique hook-up from Aims and John sent me this super-duper, unedited version of his Brendan feature article....Enjoy!

By John Lohn

The date was August 13, 2000, a Sunday night in Indianapolis. Standing on the deck of the Indiana University Natatorium, a renowned facility that has fulfilled numerous dreams, Brendan Hansen was 10 minutes removed from the end of his first dip into the pressure-cooker that is the United States Olympic Trials.

He had just placed third in the 200-meter breaststroke, an agonizing 15 hundredths of a second from earning a trip to the Sydney Games. It was his second third-place showing of the week, complementing his finish in the 100 breast. Really, there isn't a worse position at the Olympic Trials. There's first and second, and last. Such is the cruel nature of an event that can define a career.

Indeed, that competition was a career-defining moment for Hansen, at the time an 18-year-old just two months removed from collecting his high school diploma. Sure, there was pain, the sting of a near miss in the chase to reach the biggest stage in sports. But, adopting an approach that defied his teenage years, Hansen looked ahead. He knew, without a doubt, that his time would come.

"I'm only going to keep working harder and get better," he said in Indy. "My best days are ahead of me."

Six years later, Hansen stands alone in his domain of the swimming world, the finest breaststroker on the planet and the most dominating man to ever contest his specialty discipline. His portfolio is jammed with international accolades, including a trifecta of Olympic medals from Athens and 11 world-championship medals, nine of the golden variety.

If Hansen walked away from the sport tomorrow, the Southeastern Pennsylvania native could do so without regret. Yet, Hansen continues to gaze ahead. Continues to get faster. Continues to take the breaststroke to never-before-seen heights, as illustrated by his performances at the United States National Championships and Pan Pacific Championships.

With the Beijing Games less than two years away, a question has emerged: How low can Hansen take the one-man limbo contest that is the breaststroke?

THE SHOW

When Hansen arrived at the William Woollett Aquatic Center for the start of Nationals, a little more than two years had passed since he exorcised the demons from Indianapolis. It was in July of 2004 when Hansen burned up the pool in Long Beach, California by popping world-record swims in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events in his second dabble with the Olympic Trials.

Four years of grind-it-out training under Eddie Reese at the University of Texas had prepared Hansen for his reversal of fortune. Not that he required any luck. His motivation got the job done. Consequently, Hansen expressed disappointment a month later when he secured silver in the 100 breast and bronze in the 200 breast at the Olympics. He wanted double-gold, nothing less.

Not surprisingly, then, Hansen went back to work. As was the case leaving Indy, Hansen embarked on a mission. He would establish himself as the undisputed ruler of the breaststroke, to the point where there was no room for debate. He would make the breaststroke his kingdom. Challengers to his throne would be demoralized, certain they could not compete with Hansen.

That day has arrived.

While the buzz at Nationals surrounded the potential for a handful of global standards, Hansen exited the meet as the only world-record setter. After dropping his 100 breast mark from 59.30 to 59.13 on the opening night of action, Hansen – fittingly – highlighted the last night of competition with a history-making swim in the 200 breast. Under record pace at every wall, Hansen shredded his former standard of 2:09.04 with a hard-to-fathom effort of 2:08.74.

Since Athens, Hansen has been untouchable. He left last summer's World Championships in Montreal a perfect three-for-three, including a decision of Japan's Kosuke Kitajima in the 100 breast. It was Kitajima who denied Hansen gold in Athens, although controversy surrounded their final in the 100 distance. En route to victory, Kitajima clearly benefited from the use of a dolphin kick, then an outlawed maneuver in the event, and narrowly beat Hansen to the wall.

Still, Hansen didn't sulk. He did what he does best and refocused. These days, Kitajima is in the rear-view mirror, a fact he learned in an up-close-and-personal way two weeks after Nationals ended. Racing next to Kitajima at the Pan Pacific Championships, Hansen won the 100 and 200 breast events, his triumph in the 200 arriving in 2:08.50, good for another world record and a two-plus second rout of Kitajima.

"The beauty of the stroke is that you can hear the crowd," Hansen said. "You can hear their encouragement and that's something that boosts me up. I feed off that. This whole summer has been real special for me so far. It was just a matter of me putting all the little things together. But I think there's more out there. I can get faster."

A LEVEL ALL HIS OWN

What Hansen has done to his specialty on the male side resembles what Australian Leisel Jones has done to the female version of the stroke. Both athletes have distanced themselves so far from the competition that no legitimate rivals exist. While Kitajima was a worthy foe through Athens, Hansen has taken the upper hand in the rivalry.

As he raised his career title total to six at Nationals, Hansen raced alone. In the 100 breast, he prevailed by 1.94 seconds over Scott Usher. In the 200 breast, his margin of victory was 2.64 seconds over Eric Shanteau, a training partner for the summer. The video footage was equally impressive, as Hansen's command was so gripping that he was the only athlete visible heading into the wall.

After the Pan Pacific Champs, Hansen owned the four-fastest times in history in the 100 breast and eight of the 12-fastest efforts. As for the 200 breast, he possessed the top three slots and seven of the 13-quickest marks ever produced. More, Hansen has been known on the global stage since 1999, when he made his international debut at the World Short Course Championships. Rarely is a swimmer, particularly a breaststroker, able to reign for what is closing in on a decade.

Nonetheless, don't expect Hansen to rest. Always a self-motivator, Hansen has embraced the clock as his fiercest rival. And, he's on the lookout for someone – anyone – who might be able to provide a serious challenge in the days leading to Beijing. In the meantime, he'll push himself in practice, as he trains alongside a top-flight group with Longhorn Aquatics that features Aaron Peirsol and Ian Crocker, fellow world-record holders.

"One of things that's most important is that I've surrounded myself with positive people," Hansen said. "If I ever want to take it easy, I have guys who are going to make me get back it. We motivate each other. There's a target on my back, and I'm aware of that. I'm going to keep working toward 2008. I just want to keep raising the bar."

Or, as far as times are concerned, take the limbo stick a little lower.

And in case they didn't see it in the comments - Happy Belated B'day Sila and Enyo!

Looking at Club Structure and Technology

Yesterday, Swimming World Magazine posted an article, talking about a possible restructure of the swim clubs in the USA swimming family. They feel the need to accomodate the fact that there are now more professionals in swimming. There is a buzz to create a "Super Club".

Club waters have become murky with the emergence of a new elite class of competitive swimmers. Professional swimmers such as Katie Hoff and Michael Phelps have elected to not compete within the NCAA college boundaries. Others, such as Brendan Hansen and Aaron Peirsol continue to train after college graduation. This is a class of swimmers that is in need of a stable, elite training environment.

snip

Mecklenburg Aquatic Club (MAC) in Charlotte, North Carolina is being mentioned as a possible new model for USA Swimming. MAC is a 650 member club with a $1.9 million budget. It has thirteen full time coaches and 4 part timers that serve four locations. It is surrounded by business and educational institutions that can provide opportunities. Money could be available from the USOC who has established some precedents by partnering with clubs in other sports that establish elite Centers for Excellence.

I don't know why they want to fix something that doesn't seem to be broken. The trio and Neil and the rest are in Texas with Eddie. Bob and John's boys and Kaitlin are in Michigan. Sounds like it is prety much covered already.

On the other side of the world...

A new state of the art swim facility has opened in Canberra, Australia.

It is 10 lanes wide and the regulation 50 metres in length. But that is where similarities end with other Olympic-size pools in Australia.

There are 24 cameras above and below the surface. The starting blocks and the touch pads on the walls at both ends have added sensors placed to give much more information than just the time.

They will give the force, acceleration, angle a swimmer leaves or pushes off.

Then magnetic strips can be raised from the pool floor at key distances to measure the split times of swimmers.

A three-dimensional computerised modelling system creates an accurate skeletal frame model of a swimmer in full flight to give a full analysis of stroke, body position, kick.

Sounds really cool. It might be fun to look at that when in Australia. I know that the Aussies have been really fighting to get their men to the top on the same level with their fierce women. They are hoping that this will bring them the sucess they need to be the worlds fastest. I personally think it will take more than technology to beat B. Hansen and the rest of the sick relay!

Thanks to DanaCara for the link to the club article.

Golden Goggle Nominees Announced

USA Swimming has named their nominees for the Golden Goggles Awards to be held in Beverly Hills this year on Sunday, November 19th.

For Male Athlete of the Year, Phelps will face stiff competition from Olympians Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa. / Longhorn) and Aaron Peirsol (Irvine, Calif. / Longhorn). All three athletes set world records this summer at the 2006 Mutual of Omaha Pan Pacific Championships.

Male Performance of the Year:
Aaron Peirsol for the 200m Backstroke at Pan Pacifics
Brendan Hansen for the 200m Breaststroke at Pan Pacifics
Michael Phelps for the 200m Butterfly at Pan Pacifics
Michael Phelps for the 200m IM at Pan Pacifics

Male Athlete of the Year:
Brendan Hansen
Aaron Peirsol
Michael Phelps

I really like the category of Perseverance Award this year. I know why each for them were chosen. And I am thrilled for all of the nominees this year.

Perseverance Award:
Megan Jendrick
Hayley Peirsol
Erik Vendt

And Guess what else? YOU GET TO VOTE!
And there is a list of the presenters Here. The great Shirley Babashoff is on the list! That is exciting. Thanks to Terrie and Aims for some of these links.

Maybe some of us will get to go watch the red carpet parade? Any takers?

Summer Nationals Podcasts

There wear quite a few podcasts made this summer and I know we have mentioned them before, but now that the excitement of the summer was gone, I thought it might be fun to revisit the podcasts of summer. I had already subscribed to the podcasts that Scott Goldblatt did for Speedo and Timed Finals and really enjoyed them, so I decided to search for more. While I was searching through the iTunes Store I found the podcasts that USA Swimming did from the warm up pool at Nationals in Irvine.

To get them, open the iTunes Store in iTunes and search for USA swimming. You will find a listing for USA Swimming Nationals. Download for free and enjoy. They are pretty silly, but it is sort of fun to find out what the swimmers do to entertain themselves during meets. They have quick answers from Brendan, Neil Walker and Aaron Peirsol to name a few.

It also looks like Brendan was scheduled to do an Ultimate Swim Clinic in Richmond, Virginia yesterday. Were any of you there? If so, let's hear about it!

Brendan heavily featured in (and on) October's Swimming World Magazine

Not only is there a great feature article written by John Lohn, but he's mentioned in two additional articles and there's a great section on Breaststroke turns by Glenn Mills featuring the best turner in the business (yes, of course I'm talking about Brendan and you can find them in the gallery - 1, 2, 3, 4).



And how cute is this picture of little high school Brendan before he was all ripped?



And lastly, Nike FINALLY has an ad featuring Brendan right smack in the middle of his article. I hate to complain but seriously, why did they feel the need to photoshop the goggle straps out? And why that particular photo when they have some really hot ones that they used on his autograph card? Why didn't Nike ask me for MY opinion??!!? Er, I mean US... Why didn't Nike ask us for OUR opinion???!!?



So, what do you guys think? Do you like the ad? Does it make you want to go buy some Nike gear? (Blair always wants to buy Nike gear so she is disqualified from voting).

USA Swimming Profile

There is a really great profile at USA Swimming tonight on Brendan. It is a nice article well worth the read.

"Even though I had a great year with best times, I am still striving for that 'perfect race,'" said Hansen, who was recently named the 2006 USA Swimming Athlete of the Year for his efforts this year. "I always look back on a season of races and see where I can improve, and I have yet to find nothing.

"In reality, I think the perfect race is a myth that every swimmer believes can happen or else they wouldn't train as hard as they do for as long as they do."


Hansen cites his world-record-setting 200m breaststroke at Pan Pacs this summer as an example of the "almost-perfect" race. Being the consummate perfectionist, however, even his approach to establishing the fastest time in history still wasn't up to his own expectations.


"The second time I broke the 200 breaststroke world record, I swam the race completely different (than the first time at Nationals)," Hansen said. "So after the meet, I was thinking that if I took a little from the race at Nationals and the one at Pan Pacs, it might be the perfect race. But I know I didn't swim the perfect race yet. That's a fact."

Maybe some of you who saw this race at Pan-Pacs can attest to that statement. But it seemed pretty perfect to me. I had to watch it on Omegea Timing. What I found so exciting about that race was he did it completely differently than I have seen him race it before. (Laying back for the first 150m, then becoming Rocket-Man in the last 50m.) It just shows that he was playing with his technique and not at all worried about that guy in the other lane.. ol' what's his name. Thanks Brendan, for keeping it exciting for those of us who like to watch.


I have to apologize for not checking in on Birthdays, I completely missed Atrophy's last week. So I want to say a belated Happy Birthday to Atrophy, and on-time Happy Birthday to our Circleboy Alxcar, and an early Happy Birthday to Kimberly. Hope you all have or had great ones!