What a week so far, eh? I have another linkfest here for you.
First FINA decided to choose NONE in the “all or none” solution to the suit dilemma. Then, Ryan Lochte calls for banana hammocks and makes everyone pause to reconsider where it is all leading before they throw up just a little in their mouths. Of course, amongst all the wacky-ness, Ricky Berens decided to protest by mooning everyone in Rome. Then, Michael Cavic took his gracious loss back by claiming that the touch pads failed him in his 100m fly loss in Beijing. Then, I ended up feeling like I am teaming up with Dr. Doom when Craig Lord gives a rant that cuts Speedo no slack in their role in starting the era of the fancy pants.
And all that is before I even get started on a crazy record destroying World Championships. France can’t get the job done again on the 400 FR. Peirsol gets knocked out of the 100m back final. Phelps gets eaten alive on the last 50 of a 200m free, which was, in my eyes his most amazing record. Thorpey is erased from the books… the list goes on.
Now, FINA is already backtracking within days of their decision by letting boys go back to wearing girls suits, and Bob Bowman has threatened to take Phelps out of International competition until FINA makes up their minds and hits their enforcement date.
I have a great idea. Let’s host a meet on the last weekend that non-permeable suits are allowed. We can call it the “Bull Run Rumble” and invite everyone to come and duke it out to see who gets to hold the (possibly asterisked) world record for the next 30 years. One last hoorah before the records are set for eternity. That might be fun, eh? I mean, really… the record book is gonna be a mess no matter what we do. I wouldn’t mind giving Phelps another chance to get that 200 free record back. His old record will be gone when the asterisks start flying. It could be the greatest meet in history. It might bring Ian Crocker out of retirement to log that 48 second 100 fly we all know he could do in the Jaked. Give it some thought. Maybe we can talk the Chesapeake Swim Club in OKC into hosting their Pro-Am in long course and tech-friendly this year to attract he best of the best for one last crack at it.
The Viking predicts that FINA will change their minds three more times before the World meet is over, and Craig Lord will follow Ricky’s lead and moon everyone in Rome, and Michael Phelps will finally get mad and go green... he will HULK out and hit a sub 1:50 200 fly in the nude.
My RSS feeder is going crazy. Stay tuned for more, and don’t forget to go to Swim Pulse for your exclusive coverage from Rome.
Excelsior!
And you know the funniest thing? In a couple of years or so, we will all forget FINA and the suit time warp ever happened for there's sure gonna be something else.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI must say, what an exciting time to be a swim blogger! I wish I had monetized my blog or something, I think some non-swimmers ("normies") visited my site today lol
ReplyDeletei swim for chesapeake. that would be awesome. hey buddy.
ReplyDelete"Craig Lord will follow Ricky’s lead and moon everyone in Rome"
ReplyDeleteEpic.
So FINA has changed their mind once already...still 2 days left!
ReplyDeleteThere is going to be a lot of people that lose their jobs. Pro swimmer wages will lower too since companies will make a smaller profit if they stay in business at all.
ReplyDeleteJaked and RocketScience have a speedsuit business model - My suggestion is that they find 5-other products to sell like clothes, goggles, fins, bags, shoes, etc. They need to diversify.
Since FINA does not recognize SCY records, Masters should have it's own speedsuit rules and adopt them.
FINA needs a competition. A pro league would make them compromise or face losing people like Phelps and Bernard if they could make $100,000 per event.