To Kevin, et al.

Subject: Hitting the not-so-great wall

I was observing something at the pool earlier today. While the Olympic swimmers seem to be fresh and full of energy, the sportswriters charged with covering the Olympics seem to be completely zapped of whatever life force was keeping them going. Really, how could anyone be more tired than Michael Phelps, who's already swam in five races medals -- not to mention prelims, semifinals, warm-up swims, warm-down swims and daily showers?

Kevin, we all remember the other day when you were busted following me around with a camera. Well, to exact revenge, I did the same. It was more documentary than sensational; I wanted to share with people what a swim writer is like in the wild, and how he copes with watching finely-tuned, healthy young athletes perform at their peak performance every day. You can see the sad result for yourself below.

Actually Kevin, you might be interested to learn that you and Phelps share the same preparation strategy. He has three more races -- 200 IM, 100 fly and 400 medley relay. In looking forward, here's what he said after today's session: "More time to rest. That's the biggest thing over the next two days. Trying to get as much rest and recovery in my system as possible. Tomorrow the 200 IM is going to be a hard race and so is the 100 fly against [Ian] Crocker. Crock's been waiting around for this event, so you know he's going to be ready to do something good."

I should assure Sun readers, that I will be here to wake Kevin, so that he too will be prepared to do something good.