At the Trials!

Hey Mel, Thanks for the running commentary. I appreciate your insights into the races. Best wishes for the Fourth! Philipp

Wow. Last night was pretty amazing. I was STUNNED by the men's 200 *** final. John Naber noted before the race that Hansen had said that he thought he should have broken the WR in the semis. But then to finish 4th? It looked to me like he was WAY overconfident, judging from his comments and the smug look on his face all through the meet. Spann really got trashed by the media on this one. Interviewing Hansen but not Spann after the finals was a real poke in the eye. We are sitting among some parents of Trials swimmers and they were furious about this. One of them even yelled at the cameraman right beside us over the incident. Oh well, whatever sells newspapers. Even John Naber brought up the fact that Spann hasn't done particularly well in the past. His answer was that all he needed to do well in was the one that counted! I note also that Spann wore a full-body suit for the swim. Amanda Beard's swim was also surprising to watch. Nice to see her swim so well. However, it looks to me as though she should be DQ'd on every swim because you can clearly see her elbows out of the water on the recovery. Great 100 free finals but, again, John Naber kept telling the crowd that Cullen Jones is the first African-American to have a chance at an Olympic gold swim medal. What happened to Anthony Ervin? Technical point of the day: No official raises a hand for an infraction. Instead they get the eye of the meet referee and report the infraction. One of the officials told me that this was a FINA rule and that the Trials are trying to follow their protocol whenever possible.

Oh yeah, significant jump/flinch movement. He was in lane 8, so really noticeable. Didn't hear the outcome of the protest. Didn't see any camera flashes or beeping sounds. There are many flashes at the start even though the announcer has requested over and over not to do that. I just don't see why he can't get this problem under control. I would be very nervous about having him on a relay again if I were his team mates.

I just don't see why he can't get this problem under control. I would be very nervous about having him on a relay again if I were his team mates. Michael can fix this by beating him in the 100. BTW - Great commentary. They are missing a story on Spann. He has done very well swimming for Bowman (and now for Eddie). He finished 2nd at NCAAs in the 200. Those of us in Austin who have seen him swim for years know how good he is.

We're greatly enjoying the trials also; I've attached a copy of the posts I've made to our Oregon discussion site. I can't agree that Brendan Hansen seems "smug," or otherwise deserves anything but compliments on his personal demeanor. See his July 3 interview, and those with Scott Span and Eric Shanteau, under the "videos" tab at flowswimming.com.

Smith fact of the day: I was always suspicious that Paul Smith fabricated stories about his college swimming. However, I have seen a number of Gaucho swimmers at the meet and have to concede, at least, that there is a swim program at UCSB. If you want a good laugh grab Wils (Coach Gregg Wilson) and ask him how hard he tried to talk Laura out of marrying me!

At UCSB, Eric Fehr is coaching there. We grew up together at Suburban which is where Hansen spent his high school years at. Eric was an amazing swimmer. Good IMer and everything. I haven't seen him since the 90s.

Ho hum, more world records. What a great night last night. Best for me, of course, was seeing an old person win the women's 100 free. Grace and I are looking around for someone swimming to adopt us as surrogate parents and both Dara Torres and Susan von der Lippe are about the right age. We had breakfast with Susan yesterday morning but forgot to ask. Also interesting to hear John Naber interview Jessica Hardy after the 100 free and her possible selection for the 4 X 100 relay. Naber: we don't think of you as a freestyler. Hardy: I don't either but, hey... I was also glad to see Amanda slip into the 200 BR, showing that other parts of her life have not been so much of a distraction as some of might have guessed (and my previous thoughts about always swimming with her elbows out of the water on the recovery). Also hadn't noticed before that Rebecca Soni has the shortest arm stroke of any breaststroker I've ever watched in person. Her pull is not a scull, as far as I can tell, but just a quick downward pull of the forearms and then, boom, recovery. She also stays pretty low in the water. Some of the new (to me) faces and names are remarkable. I'm thinking Elizabeth Beisel is a real superstar. Man can that girl swim. It also looks like Bobby Bollier may do quite a bit of damage in the future. We liked to see hometown 14-year-old Bonnie Brandon from Aurora Colorado (seeded 47th) make it into the semis in the 200 backstroke. Rich Abrahams told me that she has dropped about 5 seconds in the last month. Don't know if viewers at home can tell but the ones getting the biggest applause last night were Dara Torres, Michael Phelps, Aaron Peirsol, Ryan Lochte, Cullen Jones, Gary Hall and Amanda Beard. The crowd really likes the more seasoned veterans. Smith fact of the day: I was always suspicious that Paul Smith fabricated stories about his college swimming. However, I have seen a number of Gaucho swimmers at the meet and have to concede, at least, that there is a swim program at UCSB. Finally, one of the cameramen gave me a copy of the USA Swimming media guides. What a wealth of information! This is what serious swim fans need to have access to at the meet.

I forgot that Mel had started this thread. I'm repeating my post from the other thread.... July 4th: Random notes from Trials... ---Dara did it! The crowd went wild. She's been getting big cheers here. ---John Naber interviews each athlete after they receive their medals. His first question to Natalie Coughlin was, "So, how does it feel to get beat by a 41-year-old?" There were gasps from the crowd. ---Ryan Lochte walked into our restaurant tonight after finals. The entire place erupted in applause. ---Bob Costas was in the restaurant, too. He's almost as short as I am... ---Speaking of short, the blond woman who is doing the swimmer interviews on NBC has to stand on a box when she's interviewing the swimmers. ---The event has been extremely well-organized. I heard comments to the effect of, "They should just make this the permanent home of the Trials." ---Dara carried her daughter to the stand for the awards ceremony. She put her medal around her daughter's neck. Her daughter promptly took it off and gave it back to her mom! ---They've had former Olympians on hand to present medals. Today we saw Jenny Thompson, David Berkhoff, Donna DeVarona, and Mark Spitz. July 5th: Uh-oh, it's cloudy and gray out there. We're in trouble if it rains. We've been too cheap to pay for parking at the Qwest Center - we've been parking several blocks away on the street. That could backfire if it rains...

And if you do find him, Mel....tell him I'm STILL kicking myself for not listening to him! Trust me, Coaches know best!!!! And, for the record....yes. UCSB does have a swim program. And yes. Most of what Paul reflects upon his college career IS fabricated.