It does seem like a stretch for Food Network to combine Survivor and Chopped, but hey, why not? I was happy to give it a try.

When I tuned in, three chefs had to swim out to a spot in the cold body of water, catch a fish, (which had already been trapped for them), and then get in a boat and row back to a cooking station.

While the two non-black chefs gamely dove in and tried their hand at the aquatic challenge, the black chef chose to stay on shore and add 5 minutes to his cooking time.

If he couldn’t swim, that was a wise choice. But could not knowing how to swim ruin his chances at winning Extreme Chefs, thereby limiting his career? Time will tell. He did lose the cooking challenge after the aquatic event.

What you don’t know about swimming can hurt you.

Edited to add: Chef Jerome, the black chef ended up coming in second. It likely had less to do with swimming than cooking, but swimming could have given him an edge.

My mother’s birthday was in June. She passed 5 years ago, but her memory looms strong in the summer. She had an unusual relationship to swimming.

She and my father were Peace Corps volunteers in the mid 60s. A swimming test was part of the entrance exam. My parents were a typical black couple–non-swimmers. My mother learned the back stroke for the Peace Corps. The only stroke she ever learned was the back stroke. She wore a nose plug when she swam, and she kicked dainty little splash free kicks.

My mother loved the water, the beach, and, especially, Esther Williams movies. When she got older, my mother took water aerobics.

I am sure my mother’s attitude towards the water contributed to my brother and my love of swimming.

You don’t have to become a swim star to instill a love of water in your children.

Here’s the winner of that race I mentioned a few days ago. Enjoy.

With the NBA finals now behind us, we can look forward to football season in a few months, right? Well…maybe.

Although the idea of football players striking is not palatable or exciting, I just heard a good story to come out of the labor dispute.

The Kansas City Chief’s Leonard Pope saved a boy from drowning. Pope was in his home town, not at training camp, (see, 1 benefit!) and he was the sole adult swimmer at a pool party. Swimmers! Every pool party needs one!

When Pope heard his high school friend, mother of 6 year old Bryson Moore screaming bloody murder, the Kansas City tight end went into super hero mode, dove in the pool, and rescued the child.

This story was about such a close call! I don’t even want to go there thinking about all the non-swimmers attending a swimming party–except to say, they shouldn’t have!

But my mind keeps going to the hero here. How is it that Leonard Pope bucked the trend and learned to swim? Not only did he learn to swim, but he had enough skills to save someone’s life? I don’t think it’s that uncommon for a professional athlete to know how to swim. Have you noticed how many pro athletes are proficient in other sports? I wonder if there’s a correlation between the strength, courage and confidence to excel in a sport–to the professional level, and the courage and confidence it takes to swim well enough to save yourself (or someone else)?

I think about my brother, who was a semi-pro football player, proficient in swimming, tennis, golf, cycling–maybe it’s an interest in physically bettering yourself, or maybe it’s a certain physical awareness that all athletes have.

This is worth closer examination. I notice that on one of my favorite reality shows, The Biggest Loser, the staff on the show seeks to fight morbid obesity through turning fat people into elite athletes. If they start off not knowing how to swim, they don’t stay that way. Just sayin’.

It looks like the Olympic pool may be a little darker next year, what with this hopeful young swimmer from the University of Texas, not to mention Brett Fraser, who surpassed Hill in NCAA 200 free. Fraser swam for his native Cayman Island’s Olympic team in the 2008 games.

My son borrowed my bike to go to the library yesterday. He returned with the serious tome, How to Survive a Zombie Attack.

One place to be safe from zombies would be a prison, the book conjectures.

But the safest place? An off-shore oil rig. Because zombies can’t swim.

Just another good reason to learn to swim, yall.