So, I had the pleasure to hang out with him for quite a while today. I was asked to take a few publicity photos of him, for his dad, Gary Hall Sr. and Rowdy Gaines.
I was very pleasantly surprised, Jr. is a very nice and very personable guy. I thought perhaps he'd have a hot shot attitude... Not even close.
As I was asking him to make couple poses for the camera, for the publicity, he and he did... and we chuckled about them, he made a comment something to the effect of, about I dunno why people take some of that so negatively, and think I'm a total jerk :(
He seemed pretty genuinely bummed out.
I was thinking how he is always being asked to pose and do publicity things, and do some showing off or what not, then it turns around and ends up giving him a bad rep.
Later on introduced him to a massage therapist friend of mine who works on a lot of pro athletes, to work on him and they can compare notes, and Gary's first response was, oh, that would be so nice but, aren't there people here that need it a lot more then I do, they'll say, what does he need *that for*.... he was all embarrassed, and rather humble about it.
He's the kind of a guy that wouldn't squish a bug! I mean literally.
As we were sitting and chatting, a June bug landed, he reached for it, and I reacted, oh, no, don't hurt it!
Before he had a chance to respond, I realized that he proceeded to check it out and started petting it with one finger, saying hi little guy...
Mark, you're a tease! Now I have to go downstairs and get the meet program- geez...
Congratulations on your IM. That's awesome. You know why you beat Mark don't you? He was commentating his own race as he was swimming!!!! :) LOL
It was nice to see you again :)
Originally posted by mattson
I'll give you a hint: UCLA Bruin Masters.
The IM was a best time by 3 seconds. Even better, in my heat I beat the Mouth of Sauron... err, the Voice of USMS. :D
(Now back to your regularly scheduled Hall Jr. thread...)
Wow, as a fan of that particular soap opera, I knew he swam, but he's actually pretty FAST! And he sure did swim a bunch of stuff. I'm impressed!
Congrats on your IM - 3 seconds faster is awesome. :)
I was the guy in lane 7 during that heat.
They started the heat late because the board read the wrong heat. Gary asked me if this was the right heat because the board was wrong and that is when I realized that he had been seeded into my heat I had a little fun with it. I thought he took it great and seems like a very down to earth guy with a good sense of humor. He seemed very cool during the race "festivities" and shook my hand afterwards.
He did only touch me out by a mere 5 seconds. Had I not faded on the last 50 of the race I would have been closer....
However, the delay was to fix the timing board not because of me.
Wow, thanks for the great photos!! This was my favorite race to watch. To me, the photos represent both sides of these Master's swim meets: serious effort and lots of fun.
Those pictures are great. Can you send them to me personally. my e-mail is (edited out)....
All you spammers lay off...
All I can say is Gary was lucky I was 8 months pregnant at the time or he would have gone DOWN!
Just so everyone knows I was sticking that out, and that is not my belly's natural position. Nothing like having a fat picture of you on the internet, but at least....well...at least...hmmm...?... nevermind.
Like I said he was great about it at the end and it was great to see an olympic gold medal winner's feet before I surfaced to even start my race. I have never had my place in the competitive swimming world described so clearly.
Ahh Good times, good times...
Dan Peck
Thanks, That is a classic series of pictures. I want to post them on my website www.swimsmarter.com so my team is proud of their coach.
I don't think anyone else captured the belly moment as well.
"This is what is going to beat you. Your gonna feel bad when I win and this is what you lost to..."
- My comments as I stuck my belly out to Gary Hall
I know someone who has been recently diagnosed with adult onset diabetes. As a former athlete (soccer player) and continually active person, he was very discouraged about his condition. He doesn't feel the same, work out the same, etc.
He's seen Gary Jr. swim and was floored when he learned that Gary has diabetes and is able to train and compete at the level that he does. He was even more impressed by Gary's open dialogue about the disease. It has really encouraged him to view his disease differently; it's given him hope.
The IM was a best time by 3 seconds. Even better, in my heat I beat the Mouth of Sauron... err, the Voice of USMS.
originally posted by Mattson....AKA The Mad Scientist!
Nice Middle Earth reference there Mattson.....BTW....this may sound dumb....but who exactly is the voice of USMS now?
