New Gary Hall commerical

Michelle Smith was a NO ONE swimmer in Houston....then became the Gold Medal winner at the Olympics....Heck, from the looks of her pictures shortly before the Olympic Games they should have changed its name to Michael Smith.....and the fraud should give the medal back....IT WAS A CHEATER TO THE MAX THERE....

Originally posted by TheGoodSmith Geochuck...... wake up and smell the coffee dude. I suppose you think Flo Jo died of natural causes and Michelle Smith's urine was spiked by someone out to get her and cycling is a EPO clean. John Smith Thanks the Tim Hortins Coffee is great, Thats right Flo Jo is not around, and just like Michelle Smith's explanation was the same as Ben Johnson, his drink was spiked. However testing for drugs etc in USA is very lax and if you use in the USA you will never be caught.

Originally posted by Matt S He's the anchovies in the greek salad. Yeah, see that settles it. I don't like anchovies either.

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

oh brother........... John Smith

Originally posted by newmastersswimmer And inhaling all that smoke has GOT to really help your endurance.... posted by fatboy I didn't say that smoking pot is advantageous in every way.....just "maybe" in some ways.....thats all I'm saying....You can find pros and cons associated to almost anything.....For example....Steroids may enhance atheletic performance in some ways...but then again steroids may cause you to drop dead of a heart attack.....You won't be performing too well atheletically after you're dead from a heart attack.......Smoking pot may enhance some aspects of some kinds of athletic endeavors in some ways....I was just pointed out some extra details on exactly how smokin pot can be advantageous in one particular kind of atheletic endeavor......Are you disagreeing with my assessment? Newmastersswimmer I was just pointing out a rather obvious disadvantage. You may be right about it providing some advantage in the specific area you pointed out

I don't know why it took me so long to notice it....but newmastersswimmer....has a rather unusual....writing style..... :D

Originally posted by newmastersswimmer but please knelson....perhaps you can elaborate a tad on that.....Your statement seems to almost suggest something in particular? Just commenting that you don't like to write in complete sentences. Instead it's sort of a stream of consciousness separated by ellipses. Not that there's anything wrong with it....just a little unusual :)

I don't know why it took me so long to notice it....but newmastersswimmer....has a rather unusual....writing style..... posted by Knelson Mr. Nelson, There's a LOT of things I could say are a bit "unusual" about me in fact (putting it lightly so to speak)....or at least people (like my wife for example) have said so........but please knelson....perhaps you can elaborate a tad on that.....Your statement seems to almost suggest something in particular? Newmastersswimmer p.s.....all these culinary metaphors floating around here are starting to make me hungry!

Now we know why swimmers are fatter than runners! (See other discussion thread.) We all love to eat! Think about it. We look at why runners are so thin, and try to figure out why running appears to be more effective at reducing weight. Shirley's hypothesis: swimming is MORE effective at keeping weight off because people who love to eat chose it to avoid looking like Dom Deluise. If you want to be a runner, man you better not be too hefty when you start because you will break you ankle and tear up your knee. But if you love to eat and hate to sweat (Let's see a show of hands from those of us who fit that profile. Thought so.), swimming is your sport. AND, all that agility and body awareness that natural athletes have built up playing land based sports...GONE. If anything their slender &/or muscular builds make it HARDER for them to float easily, and we all know what happens when a novice swimmer tries to elevate his pie-hole far out of the water. Let's see another show of hands of people who stayed in swimming, or even better water polo, because it was FINALLY a chance to kick sand (so to speak) in the faces of all the people that made us look like idiots in gym class all those years. (Once again, thought so.) Matt