Spring Break
Outside the pool
Jeff Ellis
Issue date: 2/5/09 Section: Sports
From the looks of it, everyone's American hero feels as, or more, comfortable taking an enormous bong hit as he does swimming the 400 medley.
If you haven't overheard classmates gossiping about it, failed to turn on your local news broadcast, or read the latest tabloids walking through the check-out line at Fred Meyer stating that indeed, Michael Phelps is a DRUG ADDICT! Not so fast, don't be so quick to judge, Phelps haters. The 23-year-old Phelps may have slipped up, but it is clear that he is not sputtering out of control as he slowly watches his entire persona disappear overnight because of a simple smoke break.
We all know that Michael Phelps has a record 14 gold medals, and anyone capable of such a fantastic feat knows better than to continually smoke marijuana and pull off a stunt no athlete with similar credentials has ever done before. If he felt that his personal choice was jeopardizing his entire life and well-being he wouldn't have done it.
When asked if he smokes weed regularly, Michael Phelps told reporters from the Baltimore Sun, "This was stupid, and I know this won't happen again." He spoke with the Sun for 10 minutes following daily practice at Meadowbrook Athletic Club in his hometown of Baltimore.
"It's obviously bad judgment and it's something I'm not proud of at all," Phelps told The Baltimore Sun. "I will say that with the mistakes that I've made in my life, I've learned from them. Every one of them. And I've become a better person. That's what I plan to do from here. It's definitely not what I wanted, and it's clearly not what my mom wanted."
Obviously Michael Phelps is annoyed, waking up to megaphones outside of his window telling him how horrible of a person he is due to his personal choice to smoke. Speaking on the overall outcome of this unfortunate situation, Phelps told the Sun, "I've had paparazzi people following me from my house to my mom's house, people knocking on the door. What I've gone through in the last week, no one wants to go through."
Mainly, Phelps is trying to avoid punishments from his sponsors, which so far have responded kindly to his surprising escapade, and in the public perception as well, where things are playing themselves on a day to day basis. People need to cut him some slack and let him experience a real life. Becoming a world icon overnight following the Olympics cannot be easy, and maybe that's what caused the swimmer to break under peer pressure. He needed to relax. He definitely isn't a drug addict, just the greatest swimmer with the strongest lungs out of anyone in the pool or circle of tokers that dreadful night.
Jeff Ellis, sports writer
sports@dailybarometer.com
If you haven't overheard classmates gossiping about it, failed to turn on your local news broadcast, or read the latest tabloids walking through the check-out line at Fred Meyer stating that indeed, Michael Phelps is a DRUG ADDICT! Not so fast, don't be so quick to judge, Phelps haters. The 23-year-old Phelps may have slipped up, but it is clear that he is not sputtering out of control as he slowly watches his entire persona disappear overnight because of a simple smoke break.
We all know that Michael Phelps has a record 14 gold medals, and anyone capable of such a fantastic feat knows better than to continually smoke marijuana and pull off a stunt no athlete with similar credentials has ever done before. If he felt that his personal choice was jeopardizing his entire life and well-being he wouldn't have done it.
When asked if he smokes weed regularly, Michael Phelps told reporters from the Baltimore Sun, "This was stupid, and I know this won't happen again." He spoke with the Sun for 10 minutes following daily practice at Meadowbrook Athletic Club in his hometown of Baltimore.
"It's obviously bad judgment and it's something I'm not proud of at all," Phelps told The Baltimore Sun. "I will say that with the mistakes that I've made in my life, I've learned from them. Every one of them. And I've become a better person. That's what I plan to do from here. It's definitely not what I wanted, and it's clearly not what my mom wanted."
Obviously Michael Phelps is annoyed, waking up to megaphones outside of his window telling him how horrible of a person he is due to his personal choice to smoke. Speaking on the overall outcome of this unfortunate situation, Phelps told the Sun, "I've had paparazzi people following me from my house to my mom's house, people knocking on the door. What I've gone through in the last week, no one wants to go through."
Mainly, Phelps is trying to avoid punishments from his sponsors, which so far have responded kindly to his surprising escapade, and in the public perception as well, where things are playing themselves on a day to day basis. People need to cut him some slack and let him experience a real life. Becoming a world icon overnight following the Olympics cannot be easy, and maybe that's what caused the swimmer to break under peer pressure. He needed to relax. He definitely isn't a drug addict, just the greatest swimmer with the strongest lungs out of anyone in the pool or circle of tokers that dreadful night.
Jeff Ellis, sports writer
sports@dailybarometer.com
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