Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Trials recap: This paragraph from Sports Illustrated disturbs me!

Having lost a parent and a few other family members to smoking related illnesses will probably explain my bias when I read about a swimmer and a noted coach who smoked cigars post trials. I am so not impressed. Any tobacco product when used as directed or even rarely will harm you. Remember that kids.

From Sports Illustrated:
"... There was a "Come back! Come back!" Davis Tarwater, who had finished fourth in the 200 fly in the 2004 trials and third in the 2008 trials, left Omaha Monday morning empty-handed again. The 28-year-old had made the finals in each of his three events -- the 200 free, and the 200 and 100 butterfly -- but he had failed to do better than fourth in any of them. On Sunday night, he sat on an Omaha rooftop smoking cigars with his coach, Dave Marsh, and talking about life beyond swimming, from which he had just retired. The next morning he broke his training diet with a slice of airport pizza and boarded his plane for Charlotte. When he landed he heard that Phelps, a former teammate at Club Wolverine in Michigan, had dropped the 200 free, an event Tarwater had finished in seventh, one spot out of the relay pool. Twenty minutes later Marsh called in tears. Phelps' exit had created a space for him on the 4x200 free relay. At long last, Tarwater was an Olympian. ..." 
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm not worried about one cigar to celebrate the end of a career. I'm more worried about publicity about Ervin, who took up smoking regularly during his absence from swimming, and who the kids think is "cool".