Bloomberg: Sports marketing professionals weigh in on how Phelps can turn this around!

First and foremost he is told to STFU! and get back into the pool. (I personally would suggest a therapist or a mentor but what do I know?)

From Bloomberg:

Even though Phelps has shown poor judgment twice, he still has time to recover, said Steve Rosner, co-founder of sports marketing firm 16W in Rutherford, New Jersey. It may affect him more in the next six months. Rosner said.

“With longer-term deals, there is time to put this behind him,” he said.

Time to Recover

Rosner said Phelps can recover.

“I would advise him to do a mea culpa, and then lay low and see if it passes,” Rosner said. “The next thing to do is get him back in the pool, because that’s where his head would be straight. Then once he’s able to perform at the highest level, show the public the kid had a setback, but he’s back on track.”

In August, Spitz said Phelps was going to learn how hard it is to be the best in history.

“Let him carry the burden of responsibility of the highest of expectations for the next 20, 30, 50 years or for the rest of his life,” Spitz said in an interview. “And let me tell you, it’s a hard life.”

[Link]

I must say that I am impressed with the Mark Spitz quote. I always wondered how Janet Evans felt about being the best for nearly two decades. She was the best and remained the best longer than any other swimmer in history.

On that very subject, here is a Wikipedia link to my very favorite Twilight Zone episode starring Jack Klugman and Jonathan Winters who did an amazing 20-minute teleplay on what it means to: "...live that hard life." Ironically enough, it was titled "A Game of Pool"

[Link]

'Sports Illustrated' cover of guess who?

Well, we all knew this "Mark Spitz" pose was coming and "Sports Illustrated" got it first.

From the New York Post: "... This one being the first [photo] of him with all eight medals, we hope that our cover will stick in everyone's mind," SI's managing editor Terry McDonell said yesterday.

Phelps' pose is reminiscent of the well-known 1972 photograph of Spitz with his seven gold medals draped across his chest.

Phelps, who also beats Spitz, 5-3, on the number of SI covers on which he's featured, posed in front of a bright-red Chinese screen.

Spitz's famous photo - which never appeared in a magazine but was shot for a poster - netted him $1 million. ..." [Link]

The article is a bit trashy focusing most on how much money he will make rather than what he accomplished.

Also, the amount of medals he has is incomprehensible. He has won more gold medals than many nations put together.

Welcome to Mount Olympus, Michael!

I swear he only won by a fingernail, BUT, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Great race, great finish, great swimmer.

Mark Spitz article circa 1972: [Link]
Johnny Weissmuller Wikipedia article: [Link]
Duke Kahanamoku Wikipedia article: [Link]

Mark Spitz's on Speedsuits

On Friday's; I swim with Dean, he is a writer for Reuters. Dean is witty, charming, a snappy dresser and has a commonwealth accent I can never place. He has a good breaststroke too but he won't race. I may try and rope him into a relay.

Recently he did a very thorough interview with Mark Spitz for 'Reuters' and he is letting me post it.

Snippet from Dean's MySpace page:

DEAN: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE SPEEDO LZR BODYSUIT THAT'S BREAKING ALL THESE WORLD RECORDS?

Mark Spitz: I had long hair, I didn't wear goggles, I had a little suit that was nylon that wasn't even clingy and yet I broke world records. If you really thought that that swimsuit really made you faster then I'm buying Tiger Woods' golf clubs because I think I can be competitive.

The reality is, it's not the swimsuit that's taking the swimmer across the pool fast, it's the guy in the swimsuit stroking that suit fast. What they don't tell you is that you need to go about 6 miles per hour to break the actual drag co-efficient and that means you have to swim a 50 freestyle. Those are the only people that can actually swim fast enough to get anything out of that suit. Any thing more than that in distance, the suit starts to become smaller. If you look at Michael Phelps when he swam the 400 individual medley, he basically wore a suit from his waist to his knees. So he's not wearing that full-length bodysuit in some of those events because of the drag factor.

So it's a marketing tool. At about $700 a copy -- and they basically give them away and they only last for about 2 hours and I think you rip about one out of every 4 you're trying to get on -- it's not something that I think an age group swimmer's parents are going to be too happy about buying ... It's a psych. If everybody was wearing those suits, I'd want one too ... It's all psychological at that point. ..."

(And I just made a promise this morning I would leave the subject of speedsuits alone too. Sigh! Note that the above is Mark Spitz's opinion so don't shoot the messenger.)

'GoDaddy' Airs New Amanda Beard Commercial This Weekend

GoDaddy is a domain name registry. From TopHost: "...The ad will debut during the ESPN2 Saturday Night College Football Primetime.

Beard opens her bathrobe for a revealing plot twist in the new commercial titled Shock. The ad also features a cameo appearance by swimming icon Mark Spitz. ..." [Link]

The internet version can be seen here. It appears all cheesecake till the end: [Link]

Mark Spitz's muse

Jerry Heidenreich won 2 golds, a silver and a bronze at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Mark Spitz won 7 gold medals but Mark Spitz also feared Jerry Heidenreich and credited Heidenreich for making him the best swimmer in the world . From the article:

• After winning his fifth gold medal in Munich, Mark Spitz considered withdrawing from his final individual race. One reason was that he felt he needed rest for the 400-meter medley relay. Another was that Spitz – whose father, Arnold, often said, "Swimming isn't everything; winning is" – didn't believe he could beat U.S. teammate Jerry Heidenreich in the 100 freestyle."Six gold medals is better than six golds and a silver," Spitz said. But Spitz's coach, Sherm Chavoor, called him a chicken and warned that he might be left off the relay if he didn't swim the 100. Spitz swam, setting a world record in 51.22 seconds. Heidenreich was second in 51.65. [Link]

Post Olympics Heidenreich had a bad second act due familial tragedies and issues with alcohol, among other vices, ultimately leading to stroke and then suicide. Besides his Olympic accomplishments he left behind his personal swimming creed called the: 21 Top Laws of Swimming. [Link]

I found these articles at About.com [Link]

Quotes from great swimmers

Dawn Fraser was the only female swimmer I could find. There were no quotes from Janet Evans, Natalie Coughlin et al. What a shame too.

These quotes don't offer much in the way of wisdom but it gives you a sense about how they view themselves and competition.

Michael Phelps quotations page: Link
Ian Thorpe quotations page: Link
Mark Spitz quotations page: Link
Dawn Fraser quotations page: Link

Here is my favorite quote from Johnny Weissmuller, the first person to break a minute in the 100 meter free and later made a fortune playing Tarzan in the movies:

"Throughout my career I swam for form. Speed came as a result of it."
Johnny Weissmuller

2 World Records in the IM: Phelps and Hoff

Look at Phelps' Sternomastoid muscle bulging in his neck as he strains to look at the clock. Boy, you know he wanted that record.

Michael Phelps has now won more medals in a FINA World Swimming Championship than Ian Thorpe and he now matches Mark Spitz. Last night Phelps made it 7 gold medals by breaking his own world record in the 400 IM by over 2 seconds in a time of 4:06.22.

There hasn't been a swimmer this inspired since Mark Spitz or Ian Thorpe.

I joke with friends that I am not convinced that Katie Hoff is a land dwelling animal. Her butterfly is dolphin-like, the pull on her backstroke defies physics, and her freestyle seems effortless after swimming the 3 events before. Katie set broke a seven year old world record in the 400 IM in a time of 4:32.89.

This USA team is the strongest in history. If it maintains this momentum you will be seeing phrases next year at Beijing stating that the US is a "world swimming superpower" and they won't be read as hyperbolic either but rather accepted as a fact.