The Lochtenator has been separated from one of his prized possessions. No, not any of his Olympic medals. He’s lost his grill.

Yes, my friends. I’m afraid that it’s true. RyRy hit the town Monday night and somewhere along the way, lost his infamous grill. I can’t say I’m too surprised because aint no party like a Lochte party, cuz a Lochte party don’t stop!

He’ll just replace it. I mean, if he can afford to purchase a Lamborghini or Aston-Martin, I think a replacement grill won’t break the bank. Can’t wait to see if the “top row’s diamond and the bottom row’s gold”.

Now, he lost them after competition closed for pool swimming, so that still doesn’t explain why he didn’t flash them on the medals stand. We’ll have to investimagate once he gets back stateside and things calm down for him. We aren’t even going to try and bother him in the midst of all this Olympic activity and afterglow.

Thanks to Izzy for the head’s up!

Next week, when the Olympics are over and NBC’s late night lineup returns, swimming fans will be greeted with a familiar face: that of Dara Torres.

She will be a guest on the Tonight Show w/ Jay Leno (again) on the night of August 25th. The following night, gymnast Nastia Liukin will be a guest.

The show airs weeknights at 11:35 PM (ET). Click here for the Tonight Show website.

We know you think you’re always right, but you’re not.

You know good and well that our Olympic Trials should be in March or April and not July. In fact, all of the team trials for internation competitions should be months in advance, not weeks. Think about the selection meets for the 2007 World Champs, Pan Ams, and WUGs. Those were done properly.

You really ought to work on this. Do the right thing and tell NBC to kiss your ass while you’re at it.

Keepin’ it real in the swimming blogosphere,

The Swim Aids

Photo by Getty Images…please don’t come after us, kthnx

I saw this pic on the USA Swimming website and definitely let out a hearty laugh. Not just because Ricky dwarfs the US gymnasts, but also because of how hard he is cheesin’. Nice look, “Tricky Ricky”.

ETA: The video from the Today Show

Thought we forgot about this, didn’t ya?

Well the Lochtenator has been part of 2 World Record performances whilst over in Beijing. Individually, he rocked it in the 200 back tonight and earlier in the week, as the 2nd leg of the WR-setting men’s 800 Free Relay.

For his efforts, he’s earned himself 5 more cases and a 6-pack of Heineken from us today. That brings his grand total to 9 cases and two 6-packs, which we’ll convert into one 12er. Do we have a total for what we owe him? Nope. Let’s just leave it at “a lot”. I almost wish I hadn’t made that bet with him back in 2005. Who knew he was gonna blow up like this? I’m thinking he did and that was part of his plan alllll along. I’m onto you, Lochtenator! Congrats and call us when you want to redeem any of those cases.

And seriously….WHERE IS THE GRILL?!?! I’m going to be quite upset if I find out someone took (hid?) it from him or told him couldn’t wear it! It’s too classic and deliciously Lochte!

Previous days’ earnings:

I was watching gymnastics, but with the way the judges are hosing the Americans with the scoring, I’ve decided I can’t watch that bullshit anymore.

Shout out to Rebecca Soni for doing the damn thing in the 200 Breast! Holla!

Before I forget, here are some quick observations from watching NBC’s Olympic Coverage:

1. Why hasn’t the Lochtenator busted out his grillz? I hope they didn’t confiscate them! The world needs to see his grillz because “the whole top diamonds and da bottom row’s gold”.

2. Isn’t it refreshing to see the medals ceremony girls not looking like hoochies? That was one of my beefs from Trials.

3. It’s kind of stupid that NBC is tape-delaying coverage of the West Coast. Heard that the Al Jazeera feed has come to the rescue for some. May want to check it out!

4. Watching the Olympics, I’m doing a whole lot of thinking about who the next generation of “Swim Stars” are gonna be since I’m going to lose quite a few to retirement.

5. Speaking of Swim Stars, the sites are back online and functioning. It was a very stressful stretch when I couldn’t access any of them nor their control panels, but it all seems to be worked out. *knock on wood*

6. I love me some gymnastics, don’t get me wrong. Attempts at watching gymnastics back in Athens is what drew me into swimming. However, I’m not thrilled that we don’t get to see a lot of the semifinal races because of the gymnastics coverage.

7. Is it bad that I could still pick out Bob’s whistle while watching races?

8. My heart broke for The Hoff tonight.

9. I’m not going to lie. There were “man tears” for me when PVK won the bronze in the 200 Free. That’s my dawg. So proud of him.

10. GREEEEEVERRRRRSSSS

ETA: 11. Our Trials need to be in March, not early July. Period.

It’s no surprise that there are a ton of fans and curious individuals filtering through the Swim Aids website these days. This site is indexed very well with Google, so even the simplest of search terms pertaining to swimmers will bring visitors here.

The most amusing of the search terms leading to Swim Aids is the oh-so-predictable: “Who is Michael Phelps dating?” query.

When the Olympics roll around, the “once every 4 years fangirls” come out of the woodwork as well as new bandwagoners. They all begin obsessing over all things Phelpsi. First and foremost they want to know if he’s single. He’s not. Sorry, chicas. However, why not try to stick around and be a fan for the 4 years in between the Olympics? That’s what happened with us. We’ve been sucked in since Athens. It’s really gratifying and then you too can be in the know.

We’ve never been set out to be all up his business because frankly we don’t care. That, and it’s no one’s business. His personal life is just that, personal. Do we know things? You bet. But we’re not those type of fans and never will be.

So, where do all the dating searches go? Here. LOLZ. Way to go, kiwi.