After the attention from these past Olympic games, it seemed as though Phelps could do no wrong. Now, the country’s “golden boy” may be rusting just a bit.
Apparently these days, Phelps is spending less time swimming laps and more time smoking bowls. Actually, it was a bong to be exact. A British tabloid recently published an image of Phelps smoking what appears to be marijuana and all of a sudden Phelps has dived right into a sticky situation.
Phelps, like any public figure, should know better than to himself into this precarious situation. In this day of the Internet and cell phone cameras, anything and everything can be posted for millions to see in a matter of seconds.
These situations occur all the time and these young athletes just don’t seem to learn from each other’s mistakes. Remember Matt Leinart? The former star USC quarterback who now rides the bench for the Arizona Cardinals found himself with the same problem after a picture surfaced of him using a beer bong with some Arizona college girls. Everybody was quick to determine Leinart was too immature to be an NFL quarterback. Ever since, his field duties have been delegated to kneeling the ball at the end of blowouts.
But the source of the problem comes from the expectations we have for these young athletes. Why would people expect anything more from the 24-year-old Phelps? People obviously don’t remember the DUI Phelps received back in 2004 at the age of 19. And not to be harsh but if you’ve heard the kid talk, he clearly is not the sharpest tool in the shed. Phelps has struggled with learning disabilities and behavior issues his entire life. So why should we expect anything different now?
Phelps’ two main sponsors Kelloggs and Subway were in talks to void their contract with the swimmer. In the end, Subway stuck with him and Kelloggs dropped. But it’s no surprise the cereal company wouldn’t jump at an opportunity to save some money in these tough economic times. Especially when Phelps gets all his attention only once every four years.
America needs to lower their expectations for young athletes. Sure, it would be great for them all to be role models and upstanding citizens, but in the end success on the fields and in the pools is all they are truly responsible for.
Fortunately for Phelps and all the other athletes who have made “questionable” decisions, the public has a short memory. While Phelps gets high from smoking, the public gets their high from hearing stories like these. Fortunately, just like the DUI in 2004, the high will wear off and the memories will fade into the distance.
In 2012, when Phelps is bringing home more gold medals for the U.S., nobody will even remember or care. They shouldn’t care now either.
Revealing Look
"What Phelps was photographed doing should not brand him for the rest of his life. It is not unusual behavior for a 23-year-old. But Phelps left the usual life behind a long time ago." I agree entirely that his behavior isn't so out-of-line as people make it out to be. But as you said, he's not the average person to begin with so it's a definite fall from grace.. being that he came back from Beijing a national hero.
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