Honestly, has any non-story ever elicited such an unnecessary apology? Phelps was caught doing a hit off a bong. He has released an abject apology calling his behaviour “regrettable.” Oh, and the sports pages say his sponsors might bail.
Is there anyone left on earth who is not either 87 years old or a fundamentalist nut of one religion or another who cares if some kid smokes some weed? Is it really likely that the consumers of some flashy product are going to avoid it because the spokesman was once seen getting a little high? Really? Hell, some sponsors should probabl;y sign on big time with someone known to enjoy a little of the wacky tabacky. I am thinking specifically of the Frito-Lay folks, not to mention Burger King and Hostess. I see a creative endeavour with Phish going over very well.
Now, if Phelps was caught shooting up some Barry Bonds Special, that’d be something else entirely, but what does marijuana have to do with swimming? If Jerry Garcia’s career record of zero Olympic medals is any indication, not much.
I suppose the fear of weed lives on as: “I don’t care, but other people might, and those people might give me a hard time if I don’t pooh-pooh about it.”
That’s how the Moral Minority keeps everybody else hostage.
I heard a commentator on NPR saying that sponsors might not want him anymore because he will have lost his image as the “all-American boy.” I’m sorry, but if anything, he’s MORE of an all-American boy now.
I got a kick out of how all the announcers bent themselves double avoiding the word “bong.” “A glassine pipe used by some to smoke marijuana.” I had no idea what they were talking about until I saw a picture.
I don’t suppose I should drop politics in an unrelated thread like this, but I was pleased when Obama responded to questions about his own youthful drug use by saying, “Of course I inhaled. That was the point.”
When someone with that attitude can get elected President of the U.S., I think it indicates a step the country is taking towards getting past its uptight beliefs about drugs.
Well, as the father of a daughter who is at an impressionable age, and who is keen to impress upon her the correct values, I must say…dude, don’t bogart that shit–pass it on over!
I disagree. Someone who’s been given the vital task of swimming from one end of a pool to another has no business being involved in performance debilitating drugs.
You don’t have to be in the moral majority to be a little disappointed with Phelps.
I’ve got two daughters and I’m happy that they don’t indulge.
Phelps is a major role model for kids and we don’t need anyone encouraging the use of weed. Who knows, one day your kid might want to run for the oval office of the United States.
What if Obama was caught smoking a joint in the White House? You have no problem with that ?
None whatsoever. I’d actually love to have a President who openly smokes weed.
My only disappointment with Phelps is that he apologized for it. I assume he did it because he was afraid of losing sponsors. I say we should boycott any sponsors who do drop Michael Phelps over this. The dude lives like a monk for most of the year and has more personal discipline in his pinky toe than I’ve ever had in my life. If he doesn’t have a right to party a little in his downtime after winning 8 Gold Medals, then nobody does. No one would think a thing about him haveing a couple of beers, and alcohol is more harmful than pot, so I can’t see any reason to care about this.
I have a feeling that among people under 30, this is going to do nothing but make him more sympathetic.
It undermines the spectacular success of the Bush administrations war on drugs! Under his leadership, emergency room admissions for marijuana overdoses have been cut practically to zero! Hell, it may even be zero, not that he’ll get any credit for that, oh, no!