New Gary Hall commerical

As interesting as this discussion has been, let us recall the original thread 11 screens ago. What do we think of Gray Hall and his new endorsement by, oh gosh, what the heck deal did he cut...oh yeah! Barbasol, "the worst shaving creme ever invented." (Aquageek, I laughed uncontrollably when I read that one.) All the various slams of Gary Hall, and his behavior, miss what I think is his unappreciated genius. Just like Reggie Jackson in the 70s, he is the straw that stirs the drink. Dead fish has it exactly backwards. World class swimming is NOT going to gain in popularity by all our stars washing behind the ears, repeating pious media cliches that no one believes, and trying to be as uncontroversial as possible. What caused figure skating to take off and become a big time event outside of the Olympic Games? Here's a hint, it involved a device not normally seen on a skating rink, and happened outside of the arena, and not in it. Please note, I agree that everyone making nice and not saying anything controversial is a MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE approach to winning meets and raising balanced human beings, and the fact that this is not the road to popularity says a lot more about our twisted popular culture than it says about swimming. But, back to Gary Hall... When Gary formed the Race Club, he realized that swimming is an undercovered sport that was losing potential stars athletes to other sports, losing top flight college programs to other budgetary priorities, and that world class athletes could not stay in the sport long enough to reach their peak potential because there just wasn't enough money and support to keep more than a few involved. His solution was to harness his sometimes outrageous personality and the fame/notoriety he already gained. He created the team to give formerly retired athletes like Sabir Muhamed, and athletes that have been squeezed out of their National programs, like the UK sprinter, a place to swim. Gary puts himself and his team out as much as he can, and draws as much attention as possible. He then shows up at someone else's meet, like USMS Nationals or a regional USS meet, and shines the spot light on them. He and his world class compadres stay in swimming longer and achieve remarkable results. Local meets grow and get free publicity. Everyone in swimming wins. And, here's another aspect of the genius part, by being controversial, he has all of us typing our little fingers off and thinking about swimming, sprinting, performance enhancing substances vs. medicially indicated treatments for life threatening diseases, etc. etc. So...some of us may not like his style or his attitude, and we are entitled to our opinions same as he is entitled to live his life as he choses within the bounds of the law and FINA regulations. But, every time we slam him for this pratfall or that publicity stunt, we ought to keep in mind some of this is coldly calculated to benefit our sport. Gary Hall, world class swimmer of historic significance, publicity impressario, I'll keep watching his act. He's the anchovies in the greek salad. Matt

As interesting as this discussion has been, let us recall the original thread 11 screens ago. What do we think of Gray Hall and his new endorsement by, oh gosh, what the heck deal did he cut...oh yeah! Barbasol, "the worst shaving creme ever invented." (Aquageek, I laughed uncontrollably when I read that one.) All the various slams of Gary Hall, and his behavior, miss what I think is his unappreciated genius. Just like Reggie Jackson in the 70s, he is the straw that stirs the drink. Dead fish has it exactly backwards. World class swimming is NOT going to gain in popularity by all our stars washing behind the ears, repeating pious media cliches that no one believes, and trying to be as uncontroversial as possible. What caused figure skating to take off and become a big time event outside of the Olympic Games? Here's a hint, it involved a device not normally seen on a skating rink, and happened outside of the arena, and not in it. Please note, I agree that everyone making nice and not saying anything controversial is a MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE approach to winning meets and raising balanced human beings, and the fact that this is not the road to popularity says a lot more about our twisted popular culture than it says about swimming. But, back to Gary Hall... When Gary formed the Race Club, he realized that swimming is an undercovered sport that was losing potential stars athletes to other sports, losing top flight college programs to other budgetary priorities, and that world class athletes could not stay in the sport long enough to reach their peak potential because there just wasn't enough money and support to keep more than a few involved. His solution was to harness his sometimes outrageous personality and the fame/notoriety he already gained. He created the team to give formerly retired athletes like Sabir Muhamed, and athletes that have been squeezed out of their National programs, like the UK sprinter, a place to swim. Gary puts himself and his team out as much as he can, and draws as much attention as possible. He then shows up at someone else's meet, like USMS Nationals or a regional USS meet, and shines the spot light on them. He and his world class compadres stay in swimming longer and achieve remarkable results. Local meets grow and get free publicity. Everyone in swimming wins. And, here's another aspect of the genius part, by being controversial, he has all of us typing our little fingers off and thinking about swimming, sprinting, performance enhancing substances vs. medicially indicated treatments for life threatening diseases, etc. etc. So...some of us may not like his style or his attitude, and we are entitled to our opinions same as he is entitled to live his life as he choses within the bounds of the law and FINA regulations. But, every time we slam him for this pratfall or that publicity stunt, we ought to keep in mind some of this is coldly calculated to benefit our sport. Gary Hall, world class swimmer of historic significance, publicity impressario, I'll keep watching his act. He's the anchovies in the greek salad. Matt