Leave the gold, take the cannoli

How much stock should we put in the times being posted by Olympic swimmers during this summer's Beijing Games? Everyone and their mothers* are tearing down Olympic and world-best marks left and right.
The balls are juiced.... er, the pool is juiced.
I'm not one to question the authority of an NBC swimming commentator, but I'm pretty sure that there's either something funny in the water in Beijing (Anyone for a dip in the Yangtze?**), or the pool is juiced.
The stories about the Water Cube all point to the later: Wave dissipation, less turbulence, more speed.
They say all the major Olympic-sized pools used for world competition have this kind of technology available to them, but do they actually have it?
Let's, for a moment, just put aside the fake fireworks, the fake singer and the indifference toward the age rules for the women's gymnastics squad on the part of China. This is about the biggest story of the Games: Michael Phelps and his quest for eternal glory... err, beating the Mark Spitz mark of seven golds in a single Olympiad.
I'm not doubting Phelps is an absolute beast in the water, but at this point, the level of expectation is not just to win eight gold medals in Beijing, but to also shatter the world record each and every time he's in the pool. God help him if he doesn't do it in the 100-meter butterfly and the 4-by-100-meter medley relay this weekend.
If he does or doesn't, may I propose: The records set at Beijing get the asterisk treatment until someone shows the marks can be bested outside of the Water Cube.

* - Just kidding; I'm only referring to Dara Torres.
** - I know the Yangtze doesn't go through Beijing; don't downgrade me on geography, I just don't think the average person can't relate to any geographical/historical features in China beyond the Great Wall, the Yangtze, the Forbidden City and the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang.

ALSO: Here's a heightened expectation for the entire country -- the U.S. contingent cannot consider themselves the medal winners just based on total medals. They need more gold than China. As of Friday morning, China is annihilating everyone else in the race for golds with 26; the next three countries combined (USA, Germany and Japan) have 28, with the USA totaling only 14 at this time. Like Ricky Bobby's daddy told him, "You're either first or you're last."