I have actually been able to watch some of the Olympics this time around!

My wife has even been watching it with me!

It has been an awesome ride so far.  It has been weird watching bits live and more bits delayed.  For a little while I tried to avoid all the spoilers out there in social media, but after NBC decided to intro a clip with "will Missy Franklin win her first gold medal?"  and then 30 seconds later show a picture of her with said backstroke gold, I figured what the hell... no one can avoid the results with them running the show.  Even after knowing that Allison Schmitt was gonna win the 200, when I saw it I was so excited that I wanted to tweet about it, but then realized that everyone else probably tweeted about it seven hours ago.  I didn't want to be that guy...


I actually watched the Men's 400 Free Relay live on my iPad on deck at Arkansas champs.  Me and several coaches were behind the blocks during warm-up and not paying any attention to our swimmers at all.  We were yelling and having a good time which led to a high pitched peak at the touch and then several slumped, defeated shoulders when we realized Yannick Agnel had pulled it off.  I guess it might have just looked like we were really excited about warm-up.  Some of the officials came over to see what in the heck was going on. We immediately split apart and did the "what... we weren't doing anything over here" whistle.  Haha.

After the men's 100 breast final I remember telling one of my friends that Cameron van der Burgh's breaststroke as close to butterfly as I have ever seen.  He was fluid and his timing was incredible.  So of course, there has to be a dolphin kick controversy.  I think I am sick of it all.  FINA just needs to hire this guy:

If this official was on the job, we might actually see cheaters get spanked.

And then of course, there is Michael Phelps...  it has been strange to watch him be so hot and cold at the biggest meet ever.  As a swimmer, even though I pick on him sometimes in the blog, I still see him as the greatest.  Seeing how the meet has been so far really says something about how incredible the 8 golds was.  As I browse reddit lately to see how the internet feels, I have found that many non-swimmers aren't willing to give the guy a break.  They are quick to forget how much he has done in his career... but alas, there is one small group out there who are forever loyal to Michael.

No, Debbie... don't get too excited about it.  It's the potheads.

Michael has become a hero to these guys and they like to use him as proof that weed is good for you.  It is weird for me to get into comment arguments and have them be the ones who have my back.  I just can't imagine watching the Olympics with them. The cheering is probably not that enthusiastic.  Oh well...  he can't take that incident back and I am glad he has been able to move on.

If I have to pick favorite moments, two come to mind:  Dana Vollmer's 100 fly and Brendan Hansen's 100 Breast.  Vollmer for the fact that she missed out last time and has been close to that record for a while.  It was very satisfying to see her finally get it, and in the Olympic final no less.  And Hansen?  Just because it has been awesome to see him not only loving swimming again, but on his game.  What an incredible comeback.  Bravo.

Keep it up guys and gals... it has been worth the wait.