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There’s nothing better, I mean nothing better, than the following three names: Summer Sanders, a U.S. Olympic swimmer in 1992; Rowdy Gaines on the team in 1984 and now broadcasting the U.S. Olympic trials with insight and passion that elevates the entire event; and Summer McIntosh, a 17-year-old Canadian who broke Katie Ledecky’s 13-year unbeaten streak in the 800 freestyle earlier this year and is a serious threat to beat her again at this summer’s Paris Olympics.
Summer, Rowdy, and Summer.
Just listen and your ears will get tingly: Summer, Rowdy and Summer.
One more time: Summer, Rowdy and Summer.
The names fit as tightly as the Speedos being put on by the U.S. Olympic Trials competitors.
How so?
Glad you asked.
The Olympic swimming always happens in the summer and it’s always rowdy. You like summer and you like to get rowdy. It’s as natural as drinking water which reminds me of another name of a girl who swam on our local team with my daughters named Katie Drinkwater. Of course she was a swimmer with that name.
You drink water after you swim in the summer during a rowdy race. See how it all fits together?
If I had another life to live, I would name myself and my son Rowdy and my daughters Summer and Summer.
You could spend the rest of today and tomorrow and through the summer thinking of better names for swimmers than Summer and Rowdy and not even come close to anything better than these two. Matt Biondi is a great name but not quite on the stratospheric levels of Rowdy and Summer.
How cool would it have been if all the great Olympic swimmers we know about had names as cool as these such as Fish Phelps, Racer Lochte, Drilling Dressel, and Rebecca Splash Soni. Can you imagine how much more fired up we would all be about swimming than we are already? I’m talking a dive into the deep blue sea from the top of a sailboat would be in order.
Naming your daughter who becomes a swimmer Summer is like naming a Winter Olympian Winter or a hockey player Ice or a volleyball player Sandy or a track and field sprinter Speed.
The point of all this is that summer is sensational and sunny and the name Summer is sweet and getting rowdy is rambunctious and the name Rowdy is rip-roaring and draws everybody together to cheer on swimmers during the summer.
The other point of all this is that when Summer McIntosh stands on the blocks in Paris to try to dethrone Katie in the 800 freestyle, will you be thinking to yourself “I wonder if this Summer will get rowdy and out-touch Katie and, if so, will Katie change her name to Summer Ledecky, come back and beat her in the 2028 Olympics, which would be a really rowdy thing to do four summers from now.
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Sammy Sportface, a sports blogger, galvanizes, inspires, and amuses The Baby Boomer Brotherhood. And you can learn about his vision and join this group's Facebook page here:
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