swimming

The Top Five–Sports Memories

After thinking about my favorite baseball memories, I realized how many good sports memories I have, too, and Super Bowl weekend seems like the perfect time to share them, because they begin with…

  • The Super Bowl Shuffle–The Chicago Bears were the champions of Super Bowl XX in 1986, but what I really remember is the Shufflin’ Crew, The Fridge, Da Coach, and my dad buying me a championship t-shirt from a roadside stand on his way home from work. This is one of my earliest sports memories, and it has very little to do with the game itself…I don’t even like football! But this is the first city championship I remember, and the enthusiasm of the fans and the chemistry of the team lives in my memory.
  • The 1993-peat–This might be my number one sports memory ever. The Chicago Bulls had already won two NBA championships in my lifetime, and recently, too…in 1991 and 1992. But it’s all about the numbers, and the 3-peat was just meant to be, with the electrifying 3-point shot by John Paxson in the last second of game six concluding the fairy tale season.
  • Eight Gold Medals in Beijing–The first of my favorite sports memories as an adult was Michael Phelps’ improbable eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. I watched every race, hung on Rowdy Gaines’ every word, and when the eighth medal was on the line, I watched live, late at night, the only one awake in the house, and almost woke up the neighborhood with my screaming and jumping up and down as he won the race.
  • 11 in ’11–Following up on my love of the 1993-peat is the St. Louis Cardinals’ 11th World Series trophy in 2011…isn’t it fun when the numbers line up? This was the victory that almost wasn’t, or that shouldn’t have been, as the Cards didn’t even secure the wild card game spot in the playoffs until the final day of the season. But as the perfect team progressed through each series, I believed more and more that they could win the whole thing. In the end, game seven was a formality, because everything that needed to be said happened in Game Six, one of the best games in the history of any sport.
  • Play “Gloria”–Getting to see the St. Louis Blues win their first Stanley Cup was a rare treat. The city rallied around the team and their biggest fan, Laila Anderson, with a theme song of “Gloria.” This memory is extra special, because like the 3-peat, it happened within a few days of my birthday. We really went all-out for this win…the Fab Five and I even went downtown for the victory parade and rally, and a few months later, I got to kiss the Stanley Cup!

Do you have special sports memories?

Markels Making Magical Memories–Day Thirteen

Cabana Day; 12,488 steps

Our last day in Orlando was a “Cabana Day.” We rented a poolside cabana at the resort, and spent the day hanging out, swimming, playing ping pong, and building sand castles.

Of course, since we were in Florida, there was an afternoon storm that closed the pool for a bit, so we headed inside to the arcade, where we played Skee Ball. Turkey was the champion…he even hit the very rare “100!”

We found another hotel guest to take one last family picture:

And then picked up some surprisingly delicious pizzas from the hotel diner for dinner:

The children had a fun time playing with their lightsabers, and I thought they looked really cool through the screen in the room:

One last look before bed:

Up next: A very long and exhausting day of driving.

The Top Five–Olympic Sports

It’s time another Top Five list, this one inspired by the Olympic Games! I’m taking a look at my favorite sports to watch in the Summer Olympics:

  • Swimming–I was thinking about my very favorite Olympic sport before the Olympics began, and I was a little surprised to discover that it’s swimming. I love excitement of the races, getting to see world and Olympic records shattered, and learning the back stories of some of the athletes. I think it’s Rowdy Gaines’ love of the sport that really makes me love swimming, though…his passion and enthusiasm for swimming are contagious. As Turkey said this week, “everyone should have something they love as much as Rowdy Gaines loves swimming.” Although, to be honest, I’m not certain that anyone loves something as much as Rowdy Gaines loves swimming!
  • Artistic Gymnastics–I would have assumed that artistic gymnastics is my favorite Olympic sport. My earliest memories of the Olympics are of watching Mary Lou Retton compete, and I still remember not just American gymnasts, but competitors from all over the world from each Olympic Games I have seen. While swimming may be my favorite Olympic sport, gymnastics is definitely a close second…I love watching the athletes fly through the air and complete skills that terrify and delight me!
  • Diving–This sport is kind of where swimming and gymnastics meet, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that it’s one of my favorites. It scares me to death, especially the 10m platform, because I can’t imagine jumping off something so high. I also have very vivid memories of Greg Louganis hitting his head during the Seoul 1988 Games, so I know that it can actually be dangerous. But there’s also an elegance to it, and even though it looks scary to me, it also looks fun!
  • Water Polo–If it wasn’t for the Olympics, I don’t think I’d know anything about this sport. I still don’t understand all of the rules I’m sure, but there’s something so fun about what is essentially handball (another sport I enjoy watching) being played in the water. Plus, it’s kind of an angry sport, which I have to admit, appeals to me!
  • Rhythmic Gymnastics–As is so often the case with the fifth position, this was the most difficult to choose. I considered artistic swimming, which I love, and my new favorite Olympic sport, surfing, but in the end, dancing with a ribbon wins the day. There is so much grace and artistry in rhythmic gymnastics that it really has more in common with ballet than artistic gymnastics, which is part of why I love it.

What are you favorite Olympic sports? Have you discovered something new that’s your new favorite?

Saying Goodbye

Like many Americans, and even swimming fans around the world, I have measured today by the hours remaining until Michael Phelps’ final race. And, like many of his fans I imagine, I have been feeling nostalgic and a little bit sad at the prospect of saying goodbye.

In 2000 I was still a college student, watching the Sydney Olympics from my dorm room while I planned Ryan’s and my wedding for the following spring. This was the only Olympics he participated in that did not see Michael Phelps on the podium following a race, but he did make it to the finals, and the world was introduced to the 15-year-old phenom.

I don’t have a lot of memories of the 2004 Athens Olympics, probably because I was an exhausted mother of a newborn and a toddler, and we were all still settling into our new apartment following a move from Green Bay, WI, to St. Louis. One of the few memories I do have, however, is seeing Michael Phelps on top of the podium, more than once, wearing a gold medal around his neck and the olive wreath that was a signature of those Games crowning his head.

2008 was the first summer that we had children old enough to really enjoy the Olympics, and we all loved watching Michael Phelps on his historic quest to win eight gold medals in a single Olympics. Because of the late night swims, however, I was the only awake when he achieved that goal, and I remember jumping up and down and screaming along with Rowdy Gaines on TV, and hoping I didn’t wake up any of the sleeping members of my family.

The 2012 Olympics were, of course, my favorite to date, and again we watched Michael Phelps make history, this time as the most decorated Olympic athlete in history, as again we had a baby just past the newborn stage in the house. He said he was retiring after those games, but like Rowdy Gaines, I was skeptical, as it seemed he had unfinished business in the pool, and no one was happier than I was when Rowdy was proved right!

And now in 2016, our whole family has watched almost everything, from the trials in July where he reached his goal of competing in a fifth straight Summer Games, and again we’ve cheered and screamed and jumped up and down as Michael Phelps has continued to make history and set records, as an athlete who has won the gold medal for the same event in four straight Olympic Games, and has even broken a 2,000 year old record for the most individual Olympic titles. We’ve loved the backstage drama and the now-famous Phelps Face, and his obvious pure enjoyment at competing in his fifth straight Olympic Games, from the moment he carried in the US flag at the Opening Ceremony until today.

In a curious sort of way, I feel like the final chapter of whatever was left of my youth is being ended as Michael Phelps prepares to step out of the pool and (hopefully) onto the podium for the final time. Just as he is closing the door on the part of his life where he was an Olympic athlete, I’m looking back over those same 16 years, and realizing that my days of being a young wife, new mother, and mother of young children has come to an end as well.

Would I be shocked to see Michael Phelps come back in four years to swim at the Tokyo Olympics? No. I don’t even understand how, when you’re the greatest in the world at something, you’re able to walk away from it. But I also don’t expect to see him back. While he may have claimed to have swum his final race in London four years ago, he seems different now. There is a maturity and peace about him that he didn’t have before, and he is clearly a man happy and content with his personal life, and ready to settle down and spend time with his family. And while I’m very sad to say goodbye to the thrilling days of watching him swim at Nationals and Worlds and Olympics and every meet in between, I’m extremely happy that he seems to be exactly where he wants to be in life!