Joe, your cup runneth over! (I actually envy you your two summer courses - or, at least one of them.) I hope you get into the water on a regular basis. It’s good for one’s cardio, plus it’s low-to-no impact.
Thanks for bringing Peter’s latest to our attention. (Although, given Peter’s production-pace, it’s probably been superseded in the past 45 minutes.)

Paul, Your pool runneth over. You’ve turned a commentary on the manly art of cutthroat competition into a health lesson. But I’m glad to read anything that gets my mind off the sheer banality of the World Cup.

Peter, a more precise rendering of my post would indicate that I turned my attention from Joe’s splashing, healthy, competitive kids to their proud but merely (?) spectating dad. An invidious comparison, perhaps, but one that in no way deprecated cutthroat competition with "the evil empire" of teen swimmers.
Was I right about the intervening 45 minutes and another production?

Paul, How do you know Joe’s kids are healthy? Maybe they’re hyped up on surplus steroids left over the mightily successful East German swimming experience. But you’re right to get him the pool, as long as his kids don’t have to watch him. Actually, I just sent you a draft of the article I wrote for the McWilliams symposium. It would have been great to see Carey in the pool!

Peter, with respect to Joe’s kids: there’s something called polite society or civility, which requires saying nice things about friends’ kids even in the absence of factual knowledge.
Got your piece on Carey McWilliams; I’ll read it, despite the fact that you introduced the truly horrific image of him poolside, which will make working difficult for the next few hours.

On Joe, of course, although if I thought it might be true, I wouldn’t have said it. The fall of communism and the success of Barry Bonds have totally discredited the use of steroids for athletic performance.

Nothing but sugar in my kids when they swim competitively. The concession stands at the pools do a booming business in Nerds, Airheads, and other offensive forms of candy.

My kids, btw, "specialize" in strokes most kids don’t like--butterfly and breaststroke. The have the privilege--which they don’t regard as a privilege--of competing in the 100 IM, as well as in their "specialty" events and relays. Their times, generally speaking, are respectable, though I doubt you’ll be seeing Knippenbergs in the summer Olympics.

I, on the other hand, am not in swimming shape. My specialty poolside is shouting encouragement; I’ve also been the post-meet clean-up honcho for several years now.

As for exercise, beyond running (off at the mouth), I put my time in on cardio machines at the gym.

Dear Joe, a very gracious (and informative) response to your friends worrying and talking about you behind your back. In the for what it’s worth department, when I swim I do the breast and the back, not the American crawl. Honorary Knippenberg status?

I can understand the kids doing those strange and foreign strokes to gain competitive advantage. But you Paul?
Why do you needlessly torture yourself by avoiding the efficient AMERICAN crawl?

Peter:
Beware. I know from long, fraternal experience that Paul is SETTING YOU UP for a swimming race (OF COURSE!, using the efficient American crawl), almost certainly involving "cutthroat competition" for money. He recently tested our pool in NM. The man knows the American crawl. I say again: Beware.

Peter, you have a narrow, deficient understanding of "American." (It doesn’t necessarily include the element of ’anti-French,’ for example.)
Gary, I’ll deal with you later. That’s not a wimpish threat, it’s a manly promise.
With friends and brothers like this ... .