Swimming is cool...and so are caves

A swimmer just brought America to its knees...er...well, to its butts in front of our televisions anyway...and it was AWESOME! Michael Phelps was amazing. Go read this article. It is a bit long and requires you to invest 2-3 minutes of your time, but it is worth it.

(my favorite part is imagining sports bars and arenas tuning in every night...reminds me of the WORLD CUP/soccer)

but, I think swimming is odd. It is really cool and really weird all at the same time...here are a smattering of thoughts:

-I know this might not be the deal everywhere in the world, but in America (to the average person) why is swimming only cool at the olympics?

-Why does Andrea Kraemer insists on asking the dumbest/oddest questions she can think of?

-I hate it how we sometimes think silver or bronze or setting a new country record isn't good enough...the women's 4X100 medley team swam a GREAT race and set a new american record but got beat by the insanely fast Aussies (who might as well be all americans) and Andrea Kraemer was asking the team questions like they had lost and they sucked...ARE YOU KIDDING ME, they just swam incredibly fast and did what they wanted to do...someone beat them. that happens. celebrate how great they swam. (this happens alot in swimming...and especially when Andrea Kraemer has a microphone)

-how did Phelps win the 100fly?

-how did Lezak catch frenchie in the 4x100 relay?

-Janet Evans' record going down was pretty amazing too, that girl from britain SMASHED it...that Japanese breastroker was insanely good as well.

-Very cool how all the celebs were in the "cube" watching MP (lebron, kobe, president bush)

-I'm glad I don't have to listen to any more Dora Torres stories...

-Why does Jon hate Rowdy Gaines so much?

-Phelps' mom was super cute...I LOVED her reaction after at the 100fly, and that guy sitting in front of her that race was classic as well..

-I HATE how we compare athletes across sports..."michael phelps did something greater than winning the tour-de- france, more difficult than an ironman, more mentally tough than tiger woods, lebron james, blah blah blah..."...celebrate what athletes do in their own context. I think we would appreciate them more if we could do that...

-swimmers have shorter legs and really really long arms....that is sort of funny. (no offense Neal!?) :-)

-Shan wants to know what happens to women's boobs...are those suits really THAT TIGHT that they just get smashed in? and is that painful in any way?

-my soccer boys trying to impersonate Phelps' stretching routine was pretty funny...

Again, it was a fun ride watching mr phelps...my favorite image is the one of him celebrating after the 4x100 medley...that was pure passion in human muscle flexing form...the other image I want to take is his face/response after Ms Kraemer asked him another dumb question (yet again). I think the question had something to do with getting 8 golds (this was back when he only had 2 or 3) but his response was something like this, "...lady, I am happy. I am swimming really fast. and that is all that matters right now...I am a swimmer. and I'm doing what I love to do...if I get 8 golds great. but right now I just swam really fast. I am tired. and I am happy" (my paraphrase)...I love that because I think the craziest part about Phelps' journey must have been the mental part of it all. Staying "in the present" to focus on what he had to do for each race must have been tough. I can't imagine the "mental fortitude" (to mimick JCarlos)...and that is why I appreciate MP so much.

If there are any swimmers who might read this blog, please feel free to write your own olympic swimming posts (if you want)...I hope I didn't steal anyone's thunder....I really wanted to write this as sort of a "tribute" to you guys...swimmers rarely get any recognition, but you are stud athletes and mentally tough competitors (no doubt a little loopy too!)...and as boring as swim meets are, there are moments of brilliance and intensity and excitement that are special to the sport.

I wish I could have watched the races with you all...that would have been fun...