Living After the Manner of Happiness

Think back to when you got your last pair of shiney white tennis shoes.  Shortly after school started this year, Backman picked out these new shoes.  He loved the shiney newness of them and each day would wipe off any dirt or imperfections, determined to keep them looking new as long as possible.  About a month or so after getting his new shoes, he went to a carnival with some of his friends.  It had been raining a couple of days prior and so the ground was quite soggy that evening.  Without even thinking, he put on his new shoes and headed out.  Once he got to the carnival he realized that it was going to take some work to keep a lot of the muck off his prized shoes.  Somewhere during the course of the evening, one of his friends misstepped and his foot landed on top of Backman's shoes leaving mud and muck ALL over them.  (To Backman's credit, he did not let this put a damper on his evening.)  When he returned home at the end of the evening, he took the shoes off before ente

Backman and a teammate were interviewed yesterday by a local TV station about being selected to attend the National Select Training Camp next week at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.  Here is what aired last night on WSAV . Here is the article from another news station in town,  WTOC . Here's the video clip that aired on  WTOC on 10/26/09. Here is the article that ran in the  Savannah Morning News on 10/28/09 Here is the article that ran in the  Bryan County News on 10/31/09.  Here is a clip from the camp.  He is the backstroker in the closet lane when Coach Silver is being interviewed.  USA Swimming