According to an article on People.com (found via Swim.com), Dara Torres and Danica Patrick are having (or had) a media tiff where they commented on each others’ comments without talking directly.

Tiff: (n) (1) A fight between two people; a disagreement where two people aren’t talking; (2) A scwabble, or fight between people, most commonly a “girlish” fight about something small or rediculous. (UrbanDictionary.com)

Why is this news? Because people love this kind of stuff. You could say that any media coverage of female athletes is positive because it adds to the amount of press female athletes get – which is traditionally less than their male counterparts. But notice that the there is a disproportionate amount of ‘gossip’ and ‘bickering’ news coverage of female athletes as opposed to their skill, passion, and career plans.

Consider the commentary of a basketball game. If you’ve never watched a women’s basketball game, you’ll find it hard to compare the two. The comments made during a men’s basketball game focus on the skill of the players, the amount of hard work they put in, or where their career is going. In contrast, an announcer for a women’s game will talk about how fun and energetic the athletes are, how they really get along with each other, or how they got good grades or managed to raise a family. Don’t elite female athletes merrit a discussion of something more than their pleasant attitude or fun personality?

But I digress, the point of the People.com article was that Danica made an off-hand comment on a radio show saying that if she was sure she wouldn’t get caught she’d use drugs to win the Indy 500. Then Dara said “As an athlete that has been tested a thousand times whether through blood or urine samples

On April 9th, 2009, Dara Torres’ ad campaign with Body By Milk was released. I dunno where milk is getting the money to release an ad every week, but the newest celebrity to endorse the drink is Wolverine himself. I couldn’t think of a better spokesman for building strong bones!

The ad reads: My power to regenerate might be top secret but my ability to re-energize is simple. Milk has protein to help build muscle and a unique mix of nutrients to help you refuel. So, eat right, train hard and drink lowfat milk. That’s just common mutant sense. Found via SuperHeroHype.com.

Check out these photos from Dara Torres’ Book Tour and media appearances.

View more in the online gallery on DaraTorres.com

Dara proves there are no special effects needed to show her great abs. Photo by StarPix via AP Photo on DayLife.com

So this thumbnail is an artist’s (and I use that term loosely) interpretation of the overwhelming amount of media milk is getting in the world of swimming lately.

I’ll try to paint you a picture of how I went from surfing the web of swimming info, to hanging-on-for-dear-life-screaming-flying-face-first-down-a-tidal-wave-of-milk-adventure!

9 hours ago I mixed milk with Carnation Instant Breakfast and a tablespoon of Maxwell instant coffee for a little extra kick.

6 hours ago, Dara Torres tweeted @daratorresswims “On my way to my Got Milk press conference at Rockefeller Center. Can’t wait to show everyone the ad!!!” Her ad will debut on April 9th, 2009 and reads:

I’m a natural in water. But after a workout, my natural choice is milk. It’s a strong starting block for wellness. The protein helps build muscle, plus its nutrients help me refuel. Three glasses of lowfat or fat free milk a day. Lap it up.

The timing couldn’t be better for Torres to head a new ad campaign, because she has been receiving plenty of press surrounding her new book release. The17thman provides a taste of the different media outlets covering Torres.

3 hours ago, Aquatics International tweeted @aquaticsintl Olympian Torres sports milk mustaches in new ads http://is.gd/rrui” which led me to this article about Dara Torres promoting milk as essential to women’s health and as a post-workout recovery drink.

2 hours ago, I read a segment of the previous article which talks about how effective chocolate milk in particular is when it comes to muscle recovery between workouts. This is especially important in swimming because athletes often practice twice a day and need to recover as quickly as possible between workouts. I remember how our coach at Miami would encourage us to drink chocolate milk between practices, and I assumed it was some secret of the coaching trade. The science behind chocolate milk as a recovery drink has to do with the optimal ratio of carbohydrates to protein that it contains.

The citation led me to a peer-reviewed journal article, by Jason R. Karp (et al.) , called Chocolate Milk as a Post-Exercise Recovery Aid. The article was published in International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism in 2006, and thankfully is available as a full text PDF on MilkNewsRoom.com. There’s a milk news room? Sure!

If you don’t want to read the entire article, read this summary and background article about author Joel Stager. As an exercise physiologist at Indiana University, and director of the Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming, he came up with the idea to do a controlled lab experiment on the benefits of chocolate milk.

1 hour ago, I do a photo search for Dara Torres and milk. I couldn’t find a sneak peek of her ad, but I did find this great Olympic athlete milk photo from last year–which includes Ryan Lochte dressed in an all white speedsuit. I also remembered the Body By Milk page on Facebook, but they didn’t have a preview of the new ad either.

20 minutes ago, I finally find Dara Torres’ milk ad on WhyMilk.com, along with a video behind the scenes look at her photo shoot.

WhyMilk.com answers just that, why is milk so important? They have their own summary of the chocolate milk study, a supporting science page, a Dara Torres Q&A;, a downloadable mp3 playlist, and what they’re calling Dara Torres’ Muscle and Bone Workout. It looks like the web marketing department got a little carried away. The site is called Why Milk? not What Is Dara Torres Amazon.com MP3 Playlist? Very thorough.

In an article by Jim Vertuno (AP) on TeamUSA.org, Dara Torres said her goal was to beat 25 seconds in the 50-meter LC freestyle at the Austin Grand Prix last weekend. Although she didn’t even know if she was going to compete in the Grand Prix meet until a week before the competition, Torres clocked a 24.91 in finals which was good for a win.

Master’s swimmers beware, if Torres were to pursue Master’s swimming at this level of training, she would have beaten the current world record for the 40-44 year old age group by 1.68 seconds with her latest swim! (LC Master’s records).

Vertuno reported that Torres has had three separate operations since the Beijing Olympics, repairing her left thumb, right shoulder, and left knee. Surgery or not, it doesn’t look like Dara Torres is ready to retire from the elite swimming spotlight.