Broadcasting Life

trials fever

You know you are "jonesing" for Olympic Trials, if:

* You've sized up the biggest parking lots in your area - at the local college, the mall - to see if they could put in a pool. You know, just in case Trials are ever in your hometown.

* You've fished out the family atlas and found out exactly where Long Beach is located.

*You've surfed www.USASwimming.org and the web to see what records - American and International - stand the best chance of being broken at Trials. The answer: A lot, especially American records.

* You have gone to Jenny Thompson's bio, realized she is in her 30s, and are trying to imagine anyone in your family - and anyone you know - who is in their 30s who could even approach what she's doing at this time in their life.

* You've already set your VCR ahead to tape the Trials on TV! (Which means you have a future as an engineer if you can program your VCR -yesss!).

* Your family has no idea why you are on a taper since you don't have a meet for months.

* Every time you heard a firework go off this past weekend, you turned and expected to see eight lanes of swimmers diving into a pool.

* You have wondered what the atmosphere is really like at Trials - if anyone really sleeps the night before. To simulate, you imagine taking one test after all of your schooling, and that test alone determines whether you graduate.

* You are wondering whose name you will know in a week who you hadn't the foggiest notion of heading into Trials.

* Looking at the calendar, you wonder if it was really just four years ago that you hadn't heard of a 15-year-old named Michael Phelps who was about to become the youngest men's Olympic Team member.

* You've gone through the relay possibilities in your head, and you are so excited at the thought of some of the combinations that you really think being head men's coach Eddie Reese or women's coach Mark Schubert would be a dream job.

* After a little more thought, you realize some of the outstanding names you'd have to leave off each relay, and you realize coach Schubert and coach Reese have the toughest job in the sports world!

* You realize there just aren't enough slots for as many great swimmers as there are in this country. So you hope once, just once, the USA can send two men's teams, and two women's teams. Or even three teams: American Red, American White and American Blue! Yeesh, who'd you root for?

* You wonder who you will be able to relate to best at this Trials: Maybe you are the best in your area, and you identify with Natalie Coughlin or Michael Phelps. Maybe you are a senior at a Division III College and you are winding down your career, and you are pulling for one of our established stars who are in the twilight of their career and are hoping for just one more chance. Maybe you are on the cusp of breaking through big-time, and you'll root for a Katie Hoff or Larsen Jensen. The story covering the Olympic Trials will tell you who made the team, but every name in those stories will have an unbelievable story that can and will inspire us all.

* You've made a chart of almost every possibility for the two qualifiers in each event, men's and women's, and the possible relay. You've cross-referenced that chart to include those you want to make the team, those are most likely and those who could come of nowhere. Every possibility has been covered - almost. (Don't laugh, it took me almost six hours!!!!) And you realize you probably need another part-time job to take up some of this time!

via USA Swimming

haha...wow they're good...they know me too well!