When the going gets tough, Phelps' coach starts crying

Well I'm back from sitting my boss's house for 10 days, and ready to do some solid blogging. You probably saw that Michael Phelps lost in the pool for the first time in about four years yesterday, also losing his world record in the 200 freestyle to a relatively unknown German swimmer, Paul Biederman. Biederman beating Phelps was shocking enough, but shattering his world record by 0.96 seconds was even more astounding. How was this no-name able to accomplish this feat--most people, including Biederman, are saying it was his swimsuit.

Biederman swam in a polyurethane Arena X-Glide full-body suit, while Phelps stuck with his Speedo LZR Racer. Biederman's swimsuit was better, no doubt about that, but the fact remains he still swam an incredible race. Phelps' swimsuit was the unstoppable one for a couple years, now this suit is the best because it is more buoyant so the swimmer encounters less resistance in the water. This might bother you, but not me, because it's legal within FINA's rules. FINA has acknowledged that the high-tech suits are getting a bit ridiculous and will outlaw them starting in 2010, which is great. What bothers me is Phelps's coach, Bob Bowman's reaction.

After the race, Bowman was quoted as saying, "We've lost all the history of the sport. Does a 10-year-old boy in Baltimore want to break Paul Biedermann's record? The sport is in shambles right now and they better do something or they're going to lose their guy who fills these suits."

Would you just quit whining, Bowman? In answer to your question, yes, a thousand times yes, a 10 year-old boy in Baltimore wants to break Paul Biederman's record. Every 10 year-old boy that likes sports wants to break all kinds of world records. Whether that will be possible because they will be racing with less technology on their side is a legitimate question, but it doesn't start with Paul Biederman and his Arena X-Glide. Michael Phelps' LZR Racer was just as revolutionary when it came out, and changed swimming. Phelps and Speedo are as much to blame for this problem as anyone else. And by the way, Bob, I wonder why you haven't been upset about these suits every time that Phelps has broken a world record (you know, a gazillion times these past Olympics)? By the way, he broke his world record in the 200 butterfly today, making me wonder if a 10 year-old boy from Boston wants to break that record (again, the answer is yes). Maybe Bowman is just a sore loser who is just a bit too used to winning.

Bowman wants to hold Phelps out of swimming meets until FINA does something faster. That is just sad. Phelps has the option to wear one of these suits for the next 5 months, and he'll go right back to dominating everyone. The fact that he is sticking with his "obsolete" swimsuit is admirable, but it does not give him or his coach the right to complain about it.

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A Blast From the Past

I'm back after an incredibly long break, partially due to my being on vacation and having no internet, and partially due to lack of motivation. At any rate, I'm going to start back up here in the middle of July by talking about an event that covers the majority of July: The Tour de France.

Yes, yes, I know, you would rather watch some bad Kurt Russell movie on Tuesday afternoon TBS, but I'm telling you, the Tour is great. I got into it just before it was exposed for being just as bad as baseball, maybe worse, in the doping department. It has been absolutely heartbreaking to watch Tour after Tour get ruined by a serious contender testing positive for some banned substance, but like most sports fans, I and my family keep on coming back for more, because we want to see something special. When you know that you have seen a clean Tour from start to finish, it is really an awesome event.

That being said, the Tour committee is trying something old for a couple stages this year, and I think it is a mistake. In stages 10 (already happened) and 13 (tomorrow), there will be no radio communication from the team car to the riders. This means that the riders will not know how far behind the leaders they are, and makes it much more difficult to set an appropriate pace. I really don't know why they are doing this. You might think it will make things more exciting in a chaotic sort of way, but I am inclined to disagree. Think about forcing tennis players to use the old-style rackets for an entire tournament, or even just a match. Think about putting the old leather padding on football players instead of the protective equipment they wear now. In both cases, the results would be bad. That is the point behind all these advancements in sports, so that athletes have every opportunity to showcase their skills to the fullest.

Check out Stage 13 of the Tour and see what you think about it. Personally, I'm hoping the committee scraps it for next year as an unsuccessful experiment.