If you haven’t been following it, a storm has been brewing in the swim blog world. A few weeks ago, David Rieder (AKA the Swim Geek) announced that he would be having an National Championships prediction contest. We’ve been predicting meets for a few months here on TSC, but David’s taking it to a whole other level by holding us accountable for our picks.
Then the fun began. Chris DeSantis (aka Wants to Be The Swim Geek), who was one of the pioneers of swim blogging, threw down the challenge to David (aka The Swim Geek), and declared that if he were to outpick David (aka The Swim Geek), that he would then be the rightful heir to The Swim Geek throne.
And now a blog fight has broken out. DeSantis has declared that if he takes the title, he might not even use it. David started talking trash about DeSantis’ past picks. David also pointed out that he was given the title of The Swim Geek by Garrett McCaffrey, who is a long-time friend with DeSantis. The Screaming Viking even got in on the act and waxed about the origins of his own demonstrative swimNick name.
Needless to say, there is a lot of honor, respect, and pressure that comes with the title of The Swim Geek. It’s not just “a swim geek,” but THE Swim Geek.
I’m personally pulling for Team David, as he’s a fellow member of SBU. DeSantis has also threatened to lock the name away, just so that nobody else could have it, whereas David wears the honor proudly.
So, which team are you on? Team DeSantis or Team David?
Andy, you gonna be able to have yours ready in time for the contest. Deadline is midnight tonight (or tomorrow morning) pacific time.
Even though a significant amount of my previous picks for meets have been from left field, I have been relatively close for quite a lot of them…I guess I’ll have to step it up a notch with these!
Big time. It’s a gamble to pick him to do the medleys or the 100/400 free, which I think would be his back-up on those days. I’m not gonna say which I guessed, so DeSantis can’t change his. Maybe he’ll go with a combo, depending on how it feels on different days and that the 400 IM will hurt more than the 200.
The big question here is what to do with Lochte’s groin. My feeling on it is that he’ll be fine, because the modern breaststroke kick uses that more quad really. But missing that pick is big points…
My fourth darkhorse (the only one who was not an NCAA champ) is actually an Auburn guy, and it’s way out there! If he wants to be in the contest, gotta get them in by 12-midnight on the 3rd (3am eastern). Anyone can always change their picks during the meet, just not to be scored. I will be doing that.
No, no, no. He hasn’t made his picks yet. I was simply stating that Andy has a bad habit of picking Auburn swimmers to win EVERYTHING, but since they’re all foreign, he’s not going to be able to do that this time.
I’m trying to rag on Andy, and you’re totally killing my buzz!
Good point on the darkhorses.
Andy picked the foreign pros to place? Usually, foreigners who represent U.S. clubs (i.e., Cielo and the other Auburn swimmers but not Stephanie Rice) can swim at National meets (not Olympic Trials), but I guess not this time since they are picking so many teams and World University Games selection is very complex (who is eligible, etc.).
I knew what you meant, but I was thinking about Garrett’s shows where he picked dark-horses that were often Olympians or something but not great in-season swimmers. Less likely to move up here. I looked through my predictions, and I think I have four people not currently in the top ten in their events, two of them on relays. And three of the… Read more »
I was actually referring to NCAA basketball pools, but I was mostly saying it for Andy’s benefit, because some of his picks are from left field.
Too bad all of the Auburn swimmers are foreign. He’s going to have to put a little more thought into these picks…