Respect for competitive swimmers.

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:33:44 GMT

Look, the lack of money has nothing to do with the ability for swimming to go mainstream, in terms of public interest. It all comes down to marketing and brand recognition, and some ways are more cost effective than others. It has only been relatively recently that the rules have changed for amatuer sports, and that means this really can become a huge business opportunity. In australia ive seen thorpe on billboards more than any other athlete. so it does have the potential to go big time. particularly in coastal communities.

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:22:36 GMT

Many swimmers were professional wrestlers. To name a couple George Larson swam for Canada in the Olympics and British Empire Games he wrestled as the Masked Marvel in Hamilton and Tom Collins in the major circuit slam.canoe.ca/.../677993.html.. Tom Park my brother a great marathon swimmer for sure He wrestled the Lt heavy weight circuit on the west Coast.

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:14:08 GMT

same with out wrestlers. they do it in the diving well though, we all get in the lanes next to hem and do the worst form we can do and try to beat them by just an inch then the last 5 yards sprint it and kinda crush their pride. It's all in good fun we all know each other. Our captain snuck into there group and just did 1 arm free pull all out and lapped all of them multiple times. So next year they will pick 3 of our worst swimmers, and well put in our fastest as the 4th against there 4 fastest in a relay for fun. Um, angering Wrestlers is not the best idea. Yeah, I'd agree... I think a Speedo atomic wedgie will look as bad as it will hurt...

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

pwolf66 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 12:08:22 GMT

same with out wrestlers. they do it in the diving well though, we all get in the lanes next to hem and do the worst form we can do and try to beat them by just an inch then the last 5 yards sprint it and kinda crush their pride. It's all in good fun we all know each other. Our captain snuck into there group and just did 1 arm free pull all out and lapped all of them multiple times. So next year they will pick 3 of our worst swimmers, and well put in our fastest as the 4th against there 4 fastest in a relay for fun. Um, angering Wrestlers is not the best idea. As someone who wrestled in high school, I find that it's a toss between what hurts worse a swim practice or a wrestling practice. Nothing like doing 100 neck bridges with a 200 pound guy on your chest to really focus the meaning of pain.

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

mattson — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 07:45:34 GMT

Just make a reality show about the making of the 1984 sculptures in front of the LA Collesium. :eek: Back in grad school, I was part of an intramural water polo match against one of the football fraternities. (This was in the old "dungeon" Carnegie Mellon pool, not the nice one with glass walls.) Took the first warm up shot, ball clanged off the top of the cast iron goal crossbar and rebounded off the (low) ceiling and the deck several times. Not good accuracy, but in hindsight the sound/visual made the game a lot easier. Fun seeing football-sized players trying to swim away from their goal during the game (including their goalie).

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Allen Stark — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 07:09:23 GMT

In my high school we had a water polo match between the wrestlers and the swimmers.This was standard gym class water polo rules i.e. none.The wrestlers defended the shallow end and the swimmers the deep end.No wrestler ever crossed past the middle of the pool(though no swimmers spent much time in the shallow end.)The relative stalemate was broken at about half way through the contest.The wrestling team was rather large and since this was early in the season not all the wrestlers knew each other,so when a swimmer volunteered to be the goalie for the wrestlers they let him.He was a REALLY bad goalie:rofl:

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:34:04 GMT

What a great post! I grew up in California where it wasn't so "lame" to be a swimmer but I now live in Texas where football is GOD. I think most swimmers know just how much work it takes to be good and are pretty confident in their athleticism. I used to coach a USS age-group team at a Jr. college in Oklahoma. My assistant and I would always giggle when the football players would saunter in all cocky and then proceed to swim below the level of our pre-competitive swimmers...:drown: same with out wrestlers. they do it in the diving well though, we all get in the lanes next to hem and do the worst form we can do and try to beat them by just an inch then the last 5 yards sprint it and kinda crush their pride. It's all in good fun we all know each other. Our captain snuck into there group and just did 1 arm free pull all out and lapped all of them multiple times. So next year they will pick 3 of our worst swimmers, and well put in our fastest as the 4th against there 4 fastest in a relay for fun.

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:26:31 GMT

I believe NBC has the exclusive rights and provides the feed for the non-US networks. But you're right that it's not clear whether 62 million is US only or worldwide. (It seems high to be U.S. only, but low to be worldwide.) If that's right then the actual number could be much higher... Hmmm.... That makes for a good business opportunity...

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:36:17 GMT

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:33:28 GMT

I wonder what the actual number of people is around the world watching the Olympics. Anyone have a guess? I've heard the number one billion thrown around, but that may just be hype by the IOC and NBC. :dunno:

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 14:26:44 GMT

Well, the Olympics lasts 17 nights. 62 million times 17 nights comes out to 1.054 billion, which I suppose is where the billion figure came from. But presumably most viewers watched more than one night, so that means it was viewed a billion times, not by a billion people. However, the previous message said Originally Posted by LindsayNB forums.usms.org/.../viewpost.gif A quick google says 62 million viewers per night watched NBC coverage of Athens, you can extrapolate from there. That's only NBC. What about the dozens of other countries' own Networks or Channels' coverage(s) or was NBC the only authorized Network? I know I was watching both the US (NBC?) and Canadian (CBC) airings?

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 08:33:45 GMT

A quick google says 62 million viewers per night watched NBC coverage of Athens, you can extrapolate from there. Well, the Olympics lasts 17 nights. 62 million times 17 nights comes out to 1.054 billion, which I suppose is where the billion figure came from. But presumably most viewers watched more than one night, so that means it was viewed a billion times, not by a billion people.

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 07:54:06 GMT

It hits the billion range when they broadcast womens beach volleyball. :cheerleader:

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 07:42:52 GMT

A quick google says 62 million viewers per night watched NBC coverage of Athens, you can extrapolate from there.

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:37:29 GMT

Fans gathered in little towns of 3,000 to 10,000 residents 300 miles from larger communities to watch marathon swims. Latuque Quebec population 10,000 had 50,000 oeople come to see the race. Robervale Que population 4000 had 70,000 watch the race. In Argentina 700,000 people watched a marathon race. In Toronto 150,000 watched a race. That's incredible...

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:48:27 GMT

I wonder what the actual number of people is around the world watching the Olympics. Anyone have a guess?

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:06:30 GMT

Picking the right swimmers for the reality show is key. Put Gary Hall Jr in front of a camera 24-7 and I bet you'd get some interesting film. Agreed. I'd like to see Amy Van Dyken, Inky, and Gary Hall Jr together.

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:30:38 GMT

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:19:22 GMT

I predict that any sport other than something like skiing (with the beautiful vistas and hot groupies factor), that has a reality show attached to it, will kill the sport. The reason is, let's face it, 99% of what a top athlete does is train, eat, sleep, train. Almost anything looks boring in that light. From the listing for the swimming reality show, "Swim, You B@st@rd, Swim": "In this week's installment, 16 year old Sally Smith does 12,000 yards and treats her recurrent athlete's foot problem - a problem that doctors say, if left untreated for a month or so, could make her socks smell BAD. She winds up in tears at the dryness of her hair and we see her pleading to her parents for them to spring for regular hot oil treatments. She goes to bed at 9 PM and dreams of kissing a lifeguard." 3 weeks of that and swimming would fold-up like a cheap set of 100 count Wal-Mart bedsheets. -LBJ

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:45:06 GMT

Picking the right swimmers for the reality show is key. Put Gary Hall Jr in front of a camera 24-7 and I bet you'd get some interesting film. I'd bet on that too. Or, purchase shares of the company, if it wants to go public.

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

That Guy — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:24:55 GMT

Picking the right swimmers for the reality show is key. Put Gary Hall Jr in front of a camera 24-7 and I bet you'd get some interesting film.

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:32:33 GMT

(Confession: I actually really did enjoy watching curling during the last winter Olympics.)So did I. The curling talk forums probably have an on-going thread about no respect. :)

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:45:42 GMT

static.atlanticmasters.org/ms....php Hmmmm! Jonathan, but you asked. Wouldn't it be better if the name was dynamic.atlanticmasters.............. ??? Hi Ahmed! We E-meet again... Funny... I'm not talking about the semantics of the link, I'm talking about the content it provides. ~The idea of using an Olympian to promote full market value for the sport by investing in networking capabilites.~ Money is not about what we take, it's about what we create.

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:29:24 GMT

I don't think people watch a sport because of how hard the people train, training hard gets you respect, not an audience. The problem with swimming is that it is pretty simple, much like a running race, who gets to the finish line first? Most popular sports are team sports with games/matches that last an hour or more, not 21 seconds or 1:43. Personality is icing on the cake, not the main course. Horse racing is very popular. Also, personality is what built the entertainment industry.

RE: Respect for competitive swimmers.

Former Member — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:52:44 GMT