This is a first. I went to a sporting event and I don’t know who won.

Given that I’m a semi-trained, quasi-professional sports-watcher, this is a bit embarrassing to admit. But I have a plausible defense – nobody at the USC vs. UC Santa Barbara dual swim meet I attended recently ever made mention of a winning team. I wasn’t even positive they were keeping score.

Let me tell you about my day, and let you decide if I am guilty of Negligent Spectating…

First of all, I know I’ve previously gone on record proclaiming that ALL aquatic events should be conducted outside – but I was young and foolish then. It was the sunshine and 75 degrees talking. It was now January however, and I was wearing layers to an outdoor aquatic event. Be careful what you ask for.
Continue reading…

I’m starting a movement. I haven’t got a name for it yet…alright, I admit it – virtually none of the organizational details have progressed beyond the half-baked stage. But I have a cause: I will not rest until it is decreed that all aquatic sporting events must be conducted outside.

I didn’t even know that I was possessed of this passion until I arrived recently at the Splash Aquatics Center in La Mirada, CA. On my way there to watch the U.S. Masters Synchronized Swimming Championships, I had been assuming the event would take place in the same environment that I’d experienced when I attended the U.S. Nationals in April.

Now, I love the smell of chlorine as much as the next person. And what can be more inviting than the still air of a humid, over-heated natatorium? OK, pretty much anything. But my newfound love affair with “synchro” had made the conditions bearable in the Spring, and I knew that the same would hold true now in the Fall.
Continue reading…

Let me introduce you to Henry Hyde. He’s a talented kayaker from Colorado, by way of Frisco, Texas. If he looks a bit on the young side, there’s a good reason for that. He’s 9 years old.

The son of two elite paddlers, Henry has been in a kayak since the age of 3 ½ (well, other than for meals and bedtime stories). He’s been competing in junior events since he was 6.

He was in Maryland recently – as was I – to take in the USA Canoe/Kayak Slalom National Championships at the Bethesda Center of Excellence training center. There was one small detail that differentiated our visits though. Henry was there to compete in the National Championships.
Continue reading…

Michal Smolen of Gastonia, NC

You know what I like about sports? I mean aside from all of the obvious things that would motivate a previously sane individual to spend a year of his life chasing down events to watch?

It’s the unexpected and the ironic. And I found both at the USA Canoe/Kayak Slalom National Championships, where the unlikeliest of partnerships was on display.

The event venue, the Bethesda Center of Excellence whitewater course, is a man-made one, measuring 40 feet across and a quarter mile long. The beauty of this artificial river – and what makes it truly unique – is that the water that tumbles through it is always at least ten degrees warmer than that of the neighboring Potomac River, whose western shore runs parallel to the course and serves as its runoff point.

“How can this be?” the alert reader might ask. An excellent question.
Continue reading…

The thought has often occurred to me when crafting the schedule for the “It’s Game Time Somewhere” Tour that I might occasionally have to deal with weather wiping an event off the scoreboard. I never thought that a lack of weather might be the culprit though.

But when the Pacific turned to glass for three straight days prior to my visit to the ASP Hurley Pro, it occurred to me that I might not be able to claim surfing as one of the Nifty Fifty sports that ultimately make up the Tour. As Jeff Spicoli might say, “Bogus, dude – we need some righteous waves out here, pronto!”

I can only dream of someday being that eloquent.  

Fortunately, in the wee hours of the morning, somebody kick-started the wave machine. And while the early action at the Lower Trestles venue was a little slow when I arrived beachside, things got better quickly. Much better.
Continue reading…