When I was a junior in high school, someone at our school decided to have a school wide contest between the classes. It was like elementary field day for high schoolers consisiting of silly games like the sack race and the egg on the spoon race. To keep it from getting out of hand, one person was selected from each "home room" class to compete on the team. Therefore, I was on the "Juniors" team.

How I was selected, I'll never know. But as you can imagine, this was the world's biggest popularity contest. We just happened to have a bunch of nerds in my class. And can you imagine how awkward it was for the rest of the school? They had to go to the gym and watch the popular kids compete in 5th grade games. They were even encouraged to root for their class. (Almost as awkward as pep rallies. How can any straight guy scream like a mad man and watch all of his friends walk in the gym and tell everyone how they will dominate in the game that night?)

One of the competitions was a "Water in the Spoon" race. Each competitor had to go the length of the gym floor and poor water from their spoon into a beaker. Obviously, the team with the most water won. Mr. Downs (The World's Greatest Chemistry and Physics Teacher) was the judge. As we (the competitors) were anxiously awaiting our turn, one of the other "cool" guys says, "Wouldn't it be awesome if someone drank the water and went down to the other end of the court and spit it into the beaker?" Everyone had a laugh, and then I quickly realized that everyone was scared to do it. Being ever eager to get some attention, I jumped on the opportunity. Surprisingly, I walked down the length of the gym and spit a mouthful of water into the beaker without being caught by the 2,000 students that were supposed to be watching.

When the competition was over, Mr. Downs (The World's Greatest Chemistry and Physics Teacher) walked over to the beaker and just shook his head. He knew that there was no way that that we hadn't cheated. It was just physically impossible.

Which brings me to Olympic swimming. I guess everyone is OK with World Records being broken in every race. Doesn't it seem like in every race you see the guys beating the green line by at least half a second? What is causing this? And why are we all just accepting this like it's no big deal? Remember, it's not just one individual (Michael Phelps), it's every race. Records are even broken in back to back races. Isn't that a little much?

Several explanations have been offered.

It could be the new Speedo LZR suits.

Apparently, they cause the swimmers to have better form in the water and it reduces drag. Many records have been broken since the suits have been introduced and that probably has something to do with it. But here's what I want to know. Why isn't everyone outraged by these suits? Suddenly, we're OK with a piece of equipment that makes the playing field different?

This is a fast pool.

Here's what one article has to say about the pool in the Water Cube:

The Beijing pool is three meters deep, 50 centimeters more than at the last Games in Athens, and unlike older style pools where there was a deep end a shallow end, there is no variation in the water depth which reduces turbulence.

The water on the sides of the pool spills on to the deck and drains away rather than flowing back into the pool. The racing lanes, once ropes, are now designed to stop waves crashing from one lane to the next.

The water is maintained at a constant temperature and treated with filters that improve visibility and cut the taste, smell and red eyes from chlorine, while the starting blocks are designed to help the swimmers, angled to give them a flying start.

Again, where is the outrage concerning all of the swimmers not playing on a level playing field? But I'm not sure this is the correct answer. Records were falling earlier this year in a different pool. The swimmers are definitely getting faster and it's not just in this pool. At this rate, my guess is that records will continue to fall after the Olympics.

It's a Chinese Conspiracy.

As a resident conspiracy theorist, I love this one. Is the pool slightly smaller in length? Have the Chinese somehow rigged the clocks so that they show times slightly faster? Remember, a second makes all of the difference. I love it. You can say the Chinese are doing anything and we'll believe it.

Training programs and nutrition have evolved.

Have you seen Michael Phelps training schedule? I'm sure he's not the only guy that trains that hard. The thinking behind this theory is that over time, they (whoever "they" is) has figured out how to swim more efficiently. I would buy this argument if one or two records were being broken. But with the number of records being broken, something else is going on.

It's a combination of all four.

Take all of these factors into account and records will fall. That's what most people will say. And it makes everyone feel better. Isn't it fun to watch a record being broken? And as a friend of mine pointed out, it's fun to watch Rowdy Gaines's fascination with the finish. We all feel better, especially when it's an American.

But here's my question. Haven't we seen records fall like this before? Does anyone remember the Summer of '96? I'm not talking about the Olympics. I'm talking about Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa. The home run records were falling like crazy and we all loved it. It felt good. Baseball was back. And then ten years later we find out they were probably juicing. (For the record, it wasn't against the rules in baseball at the time.) But now we feel cheated. I just don't want to look back and ten years and say, "Wow, I had no idea." It is a possibility. And I will keep that in mind.

I just keep watching these races and shake my head like Mr. Downs. Something's not right?