Olympic Trials

I can’t believe it has been two months since I have posted here. I apologize to the handful of people that may actually check this site.

I will use the excuse that in Michigan we have all four seasons:  winter, June, July, and August.  With the disappearance of winter, Michaganders go outdoors at every free opportunity. That along with my passion for golf has made posting a low priority.

In the last two months, I have made two separate trips with my now-teenage daughter:

We went on a seventh grade field trip to Chicago. This trip was a two-day barnstorming tour of the Windy City. Chicago is absolutely my favorite city. It is clean, has friendly people, great restaurants, and is only about a 4.5 hour drive from my front door. I did the Wendella Boat Tour for the first time on the trip and highly recommend it. The history and focus on the city architecture was absolutely fascinating.

Our second trip was to the Olympic Swim Trials in Omaha. It was a great opportunity for her to see the best at her favorite sport in action. USA Swimming did a nice job of producing the event and the atmosphere was exciting and intense. One thousand, two hundred forty-three swimmers qualified to swim at the Olympic Trials, but only 43 made the team.

To give an example of the intensity of the Trials, take Hayley McGregory. She went from the high of setting a world record in the 100m backstroke prelims (which was subsequently broken twice by Natalie Coughlin), to the low of not making the Olympic team by finishing 3rd in the finals of both the 100m and 200m backstroke (top 2 make the team).

The Tigers are playing better and have their destiny in their own hands as almost 25% of their remaining schedule is against the two teams they are chasing in the Central Division. My golf game has improved as I have finally got the concept that the game is more about keeping the ball in play instead of trying to see how far you can hit it.