THIS and that to chew on over lunch: ’Bows look to set swim
marks—without BillHow often do you get to see an American record set?
It's rare, but here's your chance.
Four swimmers from the Rainbow men's team will attempt to set the U.S. Open and American Club records in the 200-meter freestyle relay Monday at Richardson Pool at Pearl Harbor.
New UH swim coach Sam Freas will choose four men from among seniors Greg Philips and Jeff Stanford, sophomores Nick Folker and Steven Freas (the coach's son) and freshmen Eddie Lovell and Ramie Darling to go for the marks.
"I'm taking them over there tomorrow to see who responds to cold water," Freas said.
That's important, the coach said, because records tend to be set in warmer water. Freas guessed the water temperature at Richardson Pool to be in the low 70s. Temperatures for swim competitions generally are about 80 degrees, he said.
"Most swimmers are usually pretty slight, (meaning) they don't have much fat on them."
A swimmer's muscles tend to be looser and more supple in the warmer water, Freas explained.
Freas was coach of the Arkansas team that holds both records. They were set Jan. 3, 1985 in Fayetteville, Ark.
"It's easier to set a record when you're at a meet and you have 6,000 people cheering for you," Freas said. "We were swimming against the Russians and Germans and our guys just got up and did it."
Making that day even more memorable is this interesting tidbit: In the crowd was a man who was watching his first-ever swim meet -- a guy who probably wishes the water around him wasn't always so hot.
Gov. William Jefferson Clinton.
Four quarters remain in what has turned out to be the worst football season in the history of the Rainbows.
I still don't know who has the tougher job. Is it Jim Leahey, whose job is to make the story sound interesting to people who are watching on tape-delay? Or is it Paul Arnett, whose job is to make the stories read interesting all week?
Fortunately for Arnett and Leahey, neither has to make the call on whether to retain coach Fred vonAppen and his staff. That will be up to athletic director Hugh Yoshida and university president Kenneth Mortimer.
That'll be tough. Do Yoshida and Mortimer risk their political reputations by firing vonAppen and buying out the last two years of his contract mere months after they recommended extending it?
Or do they say, hey, at this rate it makes more sense to buy out vonAppen at a quarter-million dollars than it does to drop another million on a team that doesn't make money.
I believe they'll make the politically safe call and keep vonAppen, at least for another year.
VonAppen has said that a loss of a half-million dollars is chump change at most universities with big-time football programs.
That's true.
Most big-time programs also already do the things vonAppen has recommended to the university. Things such as having practice fields that are the exclusive property of the football team, taking charter flights to and from games and generally treating the engine that drives the athletic department in a first-class manner. All the little things add up to a lot in the long run.
It's interesting to note that Glen Mason of Minnesota, whom vonAppen defeated in last season's first game, got all the little things he asked for when he signed his contract. His program is starting to see some of the benefits. The Gophers were 5-6 this year.
On the other hand, a real big-time football program would have a coach who goes 0-12 on the first flight out of town.
It's Thanksgiving tomorrow. Count your small blessings.
