What he just said to Phelps on NBC just changed my complete view of him.

For those who didn't see what he said, he said " I can only say one thing...Epic. What you have done for the sport is Epic."

He must be a huge Jim Rome fan.

The rome is burning

He knew he had to make a nice recovery after he completely embarrassed himself earlier in the week. I still think he's a ***** - he just showed that he's at least capable of being decent on occasion.

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He knew he had to make a nice recovery after he completely embarrassed himself earlier in the week.

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I must have missed this, what did he say?

Yeah, I must have missed it too. I've seen him interviewed all week from different people and he's come across as the most gracious person to me. Are you referring to comments about not getting invited to Beijing? If so, those comments were taken out of context and he's already made it clear that that's not true.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hLnTiMa1nwi9qHodVSMCWbP2WBdQ

He's an arrogant jerk, which is why he never really cashed in on his accomplishment. Sorry, but this looks bad and self-centered no matter the context.

At least he was very gracious last night.

[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 8/16/2008 1:41p).]

He was right to be upset by the snub, especially when he was invited to Athens to see if it could happen there. He and Phelps have always been on good terms. NBC screwed up by not having him there in the studio in Beijing.

i don't see anything wrong with his comments. First of all he would have won 8 if they had the 50 free in 72. Secondly, the man is a bad ass that changed American swimming forever.

He should have been invited. Period.

He is right about his comments, but sometimes things are better left unsaid.

No way he would have won the 50 in Munich. There were two Americans that were bertter sprinters that time as well as a few others.

[This message has been edited by Beretta O/U (edited 8/18/2008 1:21p).]

I tend to wonder two things that possibly explain the "snub":

1) Was there maybe a jinx factor in play - NBC, the USOC, whoever not wanting to look foolish if Phelps failed? In the media glow these days, they would definitely have gotten mocked if they'd brought him out early and Phelps got beat early. Whereas on the other hand nobody really cares if you snub a documented jerk.
or
2) If there may have been some plans in the works to invite him out for the latter part of the week if things shaped up well early in the week (particularly in the early events where Phelps wasn't necessarly favored - like the freestyle relay), but he prematurely shot his mouth off so they pulled the plug before anything got off the ground.

Doubtful, but part of me wonders if either factor came into play.

I don't really blame NBC for having him satellite vs. studio in Beijing. It's not exactly a 3 hour plane ride.

[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 8/18/2008 1:54p).]

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No way he would have won the 50 in Munich. There were two Americans that were bertter sprinters that time as well as a few others.

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No way in hell you can say that.........hell they asked him about the 50m and he said that he would have won that event as well............I think I am going to believe Mark Spitz over you, sorry!

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here were two Americans that were bertter sprinters that time as well as a few others.

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100 meter is a sprint and he won the free and fly in those events.

don't forget there are more prelims these days than when spitz swam.

......more prelims? No..........semi-finals, yes. It still would not matter.

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......more prelims? No..........semi-finals, yes. It still would not matter.

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is a semi-final not a preliminary race to the finals.

no kidding. how about this - Phelps had to swim 17 races to get his 8 golds while Spitz swam 13 to get his 7?

as far as the 50m free goes, I assume he probably wins, but that said, the 100m freestyle was the race he nearly didn't swim because he was afraid of finishing 2nd and tarnishing his gold medal run. the 100m was also the closest margin of victory he had.

[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 8/18/2008 3:05p).]

I feel the biggest difference between what Spitz and Phelps accomplished is in Phelps diversity.

Mark the Shark only swam free and fly. Phelps swam every stoke this year.

I'm sure Spitz could have won an extra gold in either the 50 free or the 50 fly had those events been part of the program. It's very unlikely anyone else could have beat him in a 50 fly.

My former coach did however beat Spitz soundly at the'68 Mexico games in the 100m butterfly. Strangely enough Spitz beat him in that event some eight or nine times that same year.

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100 meter is a sprint and he won the free and fly in those events.

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yea well phelps won the fly and there's no way he wins the 50. the guy who won the 50 got 4th in the 100. none of this stuff is a given.

nope, they are part of the finals. Besides, most of the top swimmers like Phelps, just cruse through the semis to make it to the finals, they don't have to go all out like most do.

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I feel the biggest difference between what Spitz and Phelps accomplished is in Phelps diversity.

Mark the Shark only swam free and fly. Phelps swam every stoke this year.

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Agree 100%. And while I can't say I've seen every minute of every interview, article, etc about the subject this week, this fact has received NO publicity from what I have seen. The two IM gold medals add a lot imo.

[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 8/18/2008 3:34p).]

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yea well phelps won the fly and there's no way he wins the 50. the guy who won the 50 got 4th in the 100. none of this stuff is a given.

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never said it was a given, but it still would have been highly unlikely for Spitz to have been beat in a butterfly event in 1972. He was just that dominate.

The 50 fly has never been an Olympic event and is not today.

Most of the articles I have read say they do not believe Spitz would have won a 50 free in 1972. Dave Edgar and Mark Heidenreich were considered better pure sprinters than Spitz. Spitz won most of his races in the second half and didn't have the pure speed required to excel in the 50. Note that Spitz has NEVER held the American record in the SCY 50 free. Dave Edgar was the record holder in 1971.

To be fair it isn't a given that Spitz couldn't win it.

I don't want to sell Spitz short. He was an amazing swimmer. Dig up a video of his 200 fly swim in Munich. He won by 3 body lengths.

But I think Phelps is a far more complete swimmer because of his great versatility. If Phelps chose to swim fewer races his WRs would be even better.

i think phelps could train for any of the events and have success. if he were to start concentrating on the backstroke, he'd probably compete with the best