Lewis and Clark's Michael Miller

Collegeswimming.com recently posted an article about an amazing coach that I did not know was even still at it.  When I was an age grouper, Mike Miller was the head coach for the Glacier Swim Club in Juneau, Alaska, which is about a nine hour ferry ride north of my home town of Petersburg.  Please read the heartfelt nod for him as an honorable mention for Assistant Coach of the Year by his head coach and one of his swimmers from Lewis and Clark at the college swimming site if you haven't already.


Even as a 10 and under, I could see that Mike was an inspirational guy.  He is one of those people who has carried the Olympic torch and deserved to do so.  His athletes were very loyal to him, and he was seen as a pretty intense coach by my generation in SE-AK.  When Mike was stricken with cancer, I think I was a freshman in high school and still young enough that I didn’t really understand what he was going through.  Later in my life, as my own father fought cancer, I thought of Mike often.  Mike put up a fight and won, and through that fight he touched the lives of his athletes, and the SE Alaska community, even more. 

You have to remember, I was pretty young when I was on deck with him, but my memories of a few incidents still stand out to me to this day.  Maybe it is because I am now a coach and I have collected these things subconsciously to help make me better.  I am not sure; all I know is that he made an impression on me.

On swim trips in Alaska we did not stay at hotels.  We were billeted, or housed with families for two or more nights every time we traveled to a meet.  We built some unique friendships that way, but the system was not problem-free.  When I was ten years old, the host I was supposed to stay with did not show up to get me at the ferry terminal.  Mike took me to his home rather than trying to talk someone else into taking me.  His boys were a little younger than me, but I had fun.  He has a beautiful family and their compassion and hospitality were not lost on me even at that age.  He didn’t cut me any slack though, when at another meet the next year he caught me running on the deck at the Juneau pool and made me do push ups in front of all my friends.  How embarrassing.  It’s okay, Mike.  I deserved it.  I do the same thing to kids all the time now.

Mike could definitely inspire.  I remember once sitting in on a talk where Mike told us the story of swimming his first 200 fly.  He was teaching us to take on our fears in a way that helped us to embrace the unknown and to rise to the challenge.  I walked away understanding that we don’t really know what we are capable of until we just get up and give it our best shot, and that if we go into it with the wrong attitude we are not allowing ourselves to excel.  So you can imagine how disappointed I was in myself when a season later at a meet I whined to my coach Chris about having to swim the 400 IM, 500 and 1650 all in one two hour session…  I knew that my coach wasn‘t going to let me out of it, but it was worth a try.  The problem is, I didn’t realize he was sitting next to Mike Miller when those stupid complaints came out of my mouth.  Mike lectured me about not appreciating the gift I had been given by having the opportunity to swim all three.  He told me that my coach would not have put me in them if he didn’t believe I could do them and do them well.  I shut up and swam.  I cut ten off the IM, twelve off the 500 and almost thirty off of my mile.  It probably had to do with the fact that I knew Mike was going to be paying attention and I didn’t want to have to face him again.  He was right.  I was wrong.  It was as simple as that, even if he was lecturing another coach's swimmer right in front of him.  Swimming is a gift as is life, and we have to appreciate that even when, and especially when, it is really hard. 

I am truly thrilled to see that Michael Miller is still coaching and is still touching the lives of so many people.  The world of swimming is infinitely better with guys like him on deck.  Keep up the good work, Mike, and congrats on the nomination for Assistant Coach of the Year.  You deserve the recognition--  you reached me, and you weren’t even my coach!


.

Gutter Talk: NCAA Potential Relay Rule Changes

The NCAA is considering several rule changes for swimming, including inviting 16 relays to the D1 championship, allowing aggregate relay entries, tying relay entries to times rather than names, and eliminating last chance meets; all of which might severely lessen the number of individual qualifiers.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

“We really need to move to a system that makes more sense.  I think it’s time we get the BCS involved.”  Chuck W.- Sports Management Consultant

“Let’s see.  There are 5 men’s relay events.  16 relays invited with 4 swimmers each, and relay entrants would not be limited to who actually swam it.  (5x 4) x 16= 320 swimmers.  Sure that makes sense considering the cap is set at 235.  Potentially there could be negative 85 individual males invited.”  T.S. Viking- Delusional Blogger 

  

“As long as we keep the mid-majors out I can live with any rule changes they throw at us.”  Braden K- theswimmerscircle.com

"Who cares?  It's swimming.  As long as the price doesn’t go up, let them do whatever the heck they want.”   Mark E.- CEO

Guest Blogger: Phelps Phan, Ritchie MP Cummins

"That's me taking a break between rounds of Push the Limit on my XBOX 360."

I have to admit, I had never watched a swim meet before until I saw the 2008 Olympics where Michael Phelps had his magical moment of winning eight gold medals. Since then, I have wanted to be just like Mike. I know that I won’t ever date like, supermodels or anything, but I can still be Phelpsian and live my life to the fullest every day just like my hero, Michael Phelps.


Michael has inspired me to be a better person. I used to be a slacker, but now I try really hard in all my classes at school. I am learning Chinese by using Rosetta Stone. I enter online poker tournaments almost every night. I have lost a lot of weight because I only eat at Subway. I bathe and practice my technique in a Michael Phelps Signature Swim Spa. I even tried marijuana once, but then I gave it up because Michael did too. I also spend a lot more time with my mom now because her wisdom can help to guide me to greatness just like Michael‘s mom Debbie, who I follow on Twitter, hoping for some juicy nuggets of inspiration to help me be more awesome too.

At first I was a little bit scared of the swim spa, but I signed up for swim lessons at the Y and that has really helped to ease my fear. Luckily, my instructor says I can wear my Speedo LZR in my lessons, even though the FINA swim people made it illegal. I call my instructor Bob, or sometimes Mr. Bowman, even though she is a girl. It drives her crazy! I know will never be as good of a swimmer as Michael, but I am not gonna quit my swim lessons until I can at least do one of those flip turn thingies without plugging my nose. Also, I am really good at the Xbox Kinect Michael Phelps game and maybe that will help me with my laps in the pool. You should see me when I dolphin kick. I got the hips!

The thing I like about Michael Phelps is that even when he looks like he is gonna lose, he still wins! He wins all the time, even when his goggles fill with water! Even when there is photographic evidence that indisputably shows that he lost! Eat your heart out Charlie Sheen. Michael Phelps is duh, winning! He never loses! If you tried the drug called Michael Phelps you would probably die because it would be more awesome than you could handle. Ha ha!
   
…uh, wait. What? He loses sometimes? Well yeah, but if you know anything about swimming you know that even Michael has his best events, and then he has some that he doesn’t really focus on. Michael always jokes about how bad his breaststroke is, but breaststroke is the slowest stroke so of course he doesn't care about it. His events from Beijing are the ones that he never loses. Duh.

…uh, what? He was 6th in the 200 free at the Charlotte Ultraswim? Umm… yeah but if you know anything about swimming you know that the best swimmers always swim slower when they are practicing really hard. Nobody practices harder than Michael Phelps. Plus, he hasn’t lost his best event, the 200 butterfly, in like nine years!

…uh, what? Peng Wu who? A Chinese guy beat him twice in the last four weeks? In the 200 fly? Ummm… what suit was he wearing?

Well. Uh… The Olympics are still a long way away. Maybe this will make Michael really motivated and he will win nine gold medals in London. I think that is his plan. I heard he is adding the 100 freestyle to his repertoire so he can race Ian the Thorpedo again. That is going to be really exciting. I can’t wait for next summer. I have already booked my hotel in Omaha and I am trying to win enough at poker to be able to fly to London! If there are any Phelps Phans who want to meet up, email me at swimbrief@gmail.com and we will get together and talk about how Michael Phelps has changed our lives!




.

Jessica Hardy Came Home

Two nights of observations from the Charlotte Ultraswim Grand Prix:



Last Night:

As predicted here, Soni vs Hardy was the race of the night. What made it excited was, of course, the unexpected. In this case that was Hardy's closing speed. She was 34.88 on the second 50. She's come a long way from her return last summer when she finished the race is 38.32(!)

It was jarring to see Dagny Knutson swimming a B heat of 400 IM and getting beat. Doesn't it also feel weird that she is older than Elizbaeth Beisel. It can't have been fun for Knutson, who has been the unfortunate victim of some drama since she decided to break her commitment to Auburn.

Lebherz! Harris! Ford! Its the men's 400 IM at from Ultraswim! Aren't the two fastest swimmers in this event ever at the meet? I almost feel like they are trying to make sure me, David Rieder and Garrett are the only people watching the webcast.

Wacky things happen at a mid-season meet when almost no one is tapered. Like the men's 100 breast, where Eric Shanteau blew a body length past Mark Gangloff on a pullout, seemingly had the race in hand until a hard charging Vlad Polyakov pulled up even and then completely fell apart the last ten meters. It was as confusing as it sounds.

Tonight:

I thought for sure that Michael Phelps had loafted the 200 free prelim in the morning. Turns out not so much, as he turned in a 6th place finish in the final. Is he going to (gasp!) lose the 200 fly tonight? Yes! (dodges lightning bolt)

How anti-climactic will this 50 free be if Josh Schneider wins it? Looks like I'm cheering for Nick Brunelli.


Is David Plummer going to whup Ryan Lochte and co.  in the 100 back or am I just dreaming that?

Dominik Meichtry- by far, the best Swiss swimmer at the entire meet.

Swim-Off Hype: Foreshadowing The Future?

So a lot of the buzz on-deck here at Charlotte has been centered around the swim-off between Jones and Schneider. We won't get into the details. You know what happened. You know the stakes. You know the dilly, yo.

Fact is, that swim-off generated more excitement than I've seen in a long time. Of course, there was a World Championship roster on the line. Which is a big deal. However, a lot of the excitement centered just on the fact on the hype of it.

Think about it: How many of you stop whatever you're doing whenever a swim-off happens during a meet? Or you'll see the words, "swim-off required" in the results posting, and say to yourself, "Ohhhh, I can't miss that."

One interesting tweet from @Speed_Endurance mentioned that we should do these types of swim-offs more often. Specifically, at the Olympics. I got into a conversation with a few people about this during lunch today. Of course, the Olympic structure (eight swimmers per final) will never change. We can speculate all we want about the potential excitement generated that an "Olympic playoff" would create, but it ain't happening.

But there's no reason that we couldn't have a playoff championship structure (similar to the JAX50) each and every year. Swimming needs to have that "annual event" that's in the same location, same time of year, same name, same format. You could say that the national championships serve that purpose -- but do they really? I lose track how many "national championships" there are in the course of the year (short course, long course, YMCA, junior) not to mention that sometimes the biggest names don't necessary fully rest for these meets.

Swimming needs a Masters. Or a Kentucky Derby. Or a Wimbledon. Something that happens every year, circled on the calendar, that generates the same buzz and excitement and tradition.

We need an "every year" event bigger than the swimmers themselves.

1.) Dallas Stadium.

2.) Playoff structure. Elimination. Head-to-head races.

3.) Cash prize. Swimmers always need money. Money is exciting.

4.) A pair of literal "Golden Goggles" to the winner. Or something catchy -- like the Masters' green jacket.

5.) No corporate name, like the "CitiBank Swim-Off." Remember, you want a name to build tradition. Something that will exist in 100 years from now -- think: Rose Bowl, Kentucky Derby, etc..

6.) NOT during summer. Because you'd want to do this around the Olympic schedule. You'd want to hold it every year and get big names involved, no matter if it was an Olympic year.

7.) Something not dependent on the names involved. I cannot stress this enough. Wimbledon survives because it's Wimbledon -- and yes, tennis is also at the Olympic level. If you put all your marketing eggs into one basket (swimmer) and that swimmer decides to retire, or fails to show up -- what then? Instead of creating a smorgasbord of meets (since with swimming, it's tough to reach peak performance every other month) why not center the focus on one meet, each year -- and market the hell out of it? After 10 years, it becomes tradition.

8.) Name it after me.

9.) No lane lines. Seriously. Just once I'd love to see a meet with no lane lines. You incorporate the strategy of open water, the toughness of water polo, and the speed of fast pool swimming.

10.) Make it a festival. Every aquatic event, fundraiser, Hall of Fame ceremony, do it in one weekend. A celebration of swimming -- like the NBA All-Star weekend is. Instead of a "slam dunk" contest, you could have the swim-off playoff. Instead of the 3-point contest, you could have a 50m underwater race. Make it an aquatic celebration, with many exciting things going on, including interactive zones for fans to mingle with athletes -- and I think we could reach this "swim-off hype" year after year.

Jones Wins! (And Other Thoughts on Charlotte Ultraswim)

Sometimes, swimming seems extremely predictable. Michael Phelps always wins, Aaron Peirsol always wins, Team USA always the 4x100 Free Relay. Then Phelps all of a sudden isn't even the best swimmer on his own national team. Peirsol loses to multiple countrymen. Team Australia pulls the big upset and all of a sudden Michael Klim is playing an air guitar. The exciting moments are when something completely goes against that conventional wisdom, and its happened in spades this past year of swimming.


Now that its over, the Cullen Jones/Josh Schneider swim off seemed very unpredictable. Except beforehand everyone I talked to had decided that Schneider was better. It was clear why- Schneider was the young guy on the rise. Jones has seemingly leveled off over the last few years. The narrative makes sense- Schneider was just coming into his own and Jones was on his way out. Or was he?

The swim off is also a simple reminder of the utter objectivity of swimming. Having just watched my beloved Boston Celtics get booted from the playoffs by the Miami Heat, I will now be subjected to endless stories about how Lebron has finally arrived and Kevin Garnett is done. But the whole thing is muddled by five players being on the court at the same time. If a few plays go the other way then maybe Boston is still the title favorite. In swimming, there is no doubt who is better right at this moment- Cullen Jones.

Two more quick hit thoughts as I get frustrated by poorly updated live results:

-Is anything less exciting than watching Michael Phelps loaf his way through prelim 200 freestyles on the first day of these meets?  I feel like every time I check results he's in 7th or 8th in this race, he practically has the prelim 200 free with the least possible effort down to an art.

- Rebecca Soni vs Jessica Hardy in the 100 breast will be the race of the first night. I love watching races like this where its back half vs front half. Sure, back half usually wins but not always. See Crocker vs Phelps, 100 fly, 2005. I feel like last summer Hardy got psyched out when Soni was right with her at the first 50- here's hoping she gets a leg up enough here to make it a fun race to watch.

Check back for more thoughts and inane commentary as the weekend progresses.

Gutter Talk: Jones vs. Schneider Swim-Off

CULLEN JONES RECENTLY DEFEATED SWIMMAC TEAMMATE JOSH SCHNEIDER IN A HEAD TO HEAD SWIM-OFF FOR THE FINAL SPOT ON THE US WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

"I heard there was a lot of trash talking in practice.  It almost makes me feel like swimming is a legitimate sport."  Kobe B- Sports Fan.

"I am just glad they didn't tie again."  David M.- Swim Coach

"I heard Schneider kicked the crap out of Jones in the parking lot.  Does that mean he gets his spot back?"  Brad P.- Boxing Promoter

"I am surprised that those results were allowed to stand.  We all know how racist Omega Timing is after that Phelps/Cavic incident in Beijing."  Travis B- Taxi Driver

"I just lost a lot of money.  Man, I suck at picking winners."  David R.- Self-Proclaimed 'King of the Swim Geeks'