OH, LORDY LORDY LORD!! I think I just witnessed a miracle! A miracle on (melted) ice! Michael Phelps just won the 100m butterfly by .01 of a second! (If what I just wrote actually stands for “one one-hundredth,” which is what I meant. Please correct me if I’m wrong.)
But could it have been any closer?? Good LORD. Phelps was behind with 5 meters to go and literally just out-touched Cavic, who was basically in the lead at the last second. By all rights, he should have won. The difference was the touch. Cavic slid in, arms outstretched for the wall; Phelps took an extra half-stroke and put his fingertips on the wall first. He’s some kind of swimming savant, I swear. It’s that simple. A swimming genius.
Wow. WOW. Another breathtaking moment. He’s tied with Mark Spitz now — 7 gold medals in one Olympics.
One more race — a relay — to go to break the record. (By the way, did anyone see Matt Lauer’s interview with Mark Spitz? I have nothing to say on the content therein. Only this: Mark Spitz? Hubba hubba.)
So … how many more days til I can breathe again??
CONGRATULATIONS — AGAIN — YOU GOOFY-TOOTHED SWIMMING GENIUS!!
In four years, I picture Cavic telling Phelps he owes him a favor, and then taking him to some pool in the dead of night:
“No judges, no clocks, no TV… just you and me.”
“This is very irregular.”
“I lost by one one-hundredth of a second, that’s very hard for a man of my intelligence to handle!”
They mount the starting blocks.
“OK, you want to fire the gun?”
“Bang… bang.”
“You know, you still swim pretty good for an older guy…”
“Yeah, well watch out now, watch out…”