Swimming Blogs - ActiveReno

After Michael Phelps epic performance, his life will never be the same. He is now a national celebrity. Evidence: speculation about his love life (http://tinyurl.com/64w5x7), a challenge to a race by NFL superstar Chad Johnson (http://tinyurl.com/685xjg), and the opportunity to host Saturday Night Live (http://tinyurl.com/58j7jk).

Michael Phelps has arrived, but will the sport of swimming be able to keep up? As I stated in my previous blog, I don’t think so.

Why? Because swim meets aren’t entertaining enough to keep the general sports fan engaged. Below I have listed three ideas that would make the sport more appealing to the general public. If you disagree, agree, have other ideas, or think I’m wrong for thinking meets are boring, let me know.

1. 50 Freestyle Tournament

An event like this would be perfect for a live, hour-long primetime show: bring together the world’s (or even just America’s) top 8 fastest 50 freestylers from the previous year, rank them 1-8, have head-to-head showdowns with the winner advancing to the next round, the last man standing wins.

This event would be about pure racing. Whoever gets their hand on the wall first wins, simple as that. Ask anyone who saw Phelps touch-out Cavic and 99% of these people don’t remember the time, they remember Phelps’s miraculous finish.

America loves the homerun, an explosive touchdown, and a monster slam-dunk. This country doesn’t have the patience to sit through a mile (two commercial breaks during the finals of the 1500 in Beijing). An event like this would be fast-paced, exciting, and entertaining—a perfect recipe for an American television audience.

Also, an event like this would be intriguing for a swim fan. Could Gary Hall manage four fast 50s in an hour? Could Garret Weber-Gale afford to shut it down (Asain Bolt style) in the early rounds? Would a rising star like Nathan Adrian be able to take down the veterans in a head-to-head race?

2. New Events

To continue the sprint theme, why not add a 4x50 free/medley relay. We all saw how exciting the 400 relays in Beijing were. A 200 free relay, French vs. USA would be amazing. Also, add the 50s of stroke at nationals—if they are swum at Worlds, why not every year in America.

Along with new events, create a “Featured Event” at Nationals. 6 months out of the meet, announce a non-traditional race, and select the competitors. The events could be individual races (example: 150 free, 100 IM, 100 – 50 breast/50 free, etc.) or relays. Imagine Phelps, Lochte, Peirsol, and Grevers lining up for a 100 – 50 back/50 free. Or Club Wolverine taking on Longhorn Aquatics in a 200-medley relay. Once again, the time is not the emphasis but pure racing is the key.

3. Make Meets Exciting

The idea sounds simple and everyone I talked to who went to Omaha said USA Swimming is stepping up their efforts but here are a couple simple ideas that can create an exciting atmosphere.

--- During an outstanding swim at Nationals, I can’t count how many times I’ve heard the announcer say, almost beg, “make some noise.” There will be a few scattered claps or shouts for a couple seconds and then it gets quiet. It’s hard to get the crowd into a swim unless they are witnessing something truly amazing.

So to combat the morgue like atmosphere encountered at numerous final sessions, how about blasting some rock and roll during the swim. If you are at a football game and the defense is trying to make a huge goal line stand, the energy level dramatically increases when they play an AC/DC riff over the PA.

How awesome would it be to see (and hear) Ozzy’s Crazy Train pumped through the natatorium as Erik Vendt tries to chase down the leader in the final 50 of a 400. The key to creating atmosphere through music is to use it at the right time and not to overuse it. But if done right, this tiny detail could result in an electric atmosphere at the pool.

--- Keep final sessions short and compact. If you want to keep interest from the fans, run all finals back-to-back. After the finals are complete, then you can swim the consolation and bonus heats. If all the finals were over in an hour, this would be a perfect amount of time to run live TV coverage.

Now is the time to make this sport appealing. Phelps has the world right now and swimming has to do everything it can to hang on. I strongly believe these simple changes can go a long way to keep swimming in the mainstream during a non-Olympic year.