sports news

Superbowl Sunday! A big day for Americans, and for practically no one else. My father puts it this way: "If another country wanted to attack us, this would be the day to do it." Indeed.

But I'm not writing about football right now. Instead, I'm writing to ask whether you heard the news that a British publication called News of the World has published pictures of swimming hero Michael Phelps-- he of the eight Olympic gold medals and those goofy language-learning software commercials-- smoking a bong.

While it doesn't surprise me that a celebrity might go off the rails, I do have to wonder how it is that Phelps, who seemed like a rather balanced and sensible individual, would be stupid enough to engage in an activity so detrimental to his public image.

I'll be honest, here: I don't particularly care how Phelps handles his personal life, as long as he's clean when he's competing. I'm not a young athletic hopeful in need of inspiration; I don't have any ideals that will be smashed by this revelation of Phelps's "darker" side. As far as I'm concerned, I have no need to forgive Phelps because there's nothing to forgive. Smoking pot? Come on-- that's nothing. Truth be told, I'm leaning toward the school of thought that says we should lower the drinking age to 18 and legalize certain drugs.

But I still think Phelps should have known better-- if not for moral reasons, then at least for practical reasons. I can already see the fallout from this: Phelps will be barred from competition, he'll lose all those lucrative commercial deals, and worst of all, Mark Spitz is going to have the last laugh.


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