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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
This is my current favourite as the most vapid non-story of 2009.
That said, it is only the 2nd of February.
As far as the children go, I would posit that "choosing" to spend six hours a day (365 days a year) in a pool from the ages of five through 25 raises many more questions when it comes to one's adequacy as a role model than being acquainted with the business end of a bong.
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
Phil Greenspun summed it up nicely today:
If Michael Phelps needs to smoke dope, what do the rest of us need?
Michael Phelps, the heroic swimmer from the 2008 Olympics, apparently has been smoking some marijuana lately. Let's compare his situation to the average American's. Phelps has a high-paying job doing something that he loves, millions of dollars in endorsement revenue just in the last few months (source), and his own charitable foundation. All of this has been achieved at the age of 23. Phelps has made money so fast he probably didn't have time to invest it in the stock market, so we can be fairly certain he isn't depressed about his personal finances.
Joe Typical American, by contrast, is about 35 years of age. His Olympic gold medal count is zero. He is probably overweight, if not obese. Unless he works for the government or in health care, he is unemployed or worried about being unemployed. He probably didn't enjoy his job that much when he was employed. His retirement savings have been confiscated by the Wall Street bonuses of 1995-2007. His future earnings have been confiscated by the Wall Street bonuses of 2008-2015 (to be paid out of TARP and other taxpayer funds, which will inevitably result in debt).
If Phelps needs to smoke dope, what do the rest of us need to get through the next decade or two?
(On an unrelated note, a few readers pointed out that Phelps was convicted of drunken driving four years ago, shortly after winning 8 gold medals, and the world didn't get its panties quite as twisted. Driving a monster SUV and running the risk of killing someone isn't as exciting as inhaling some marijuana.)
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
Spot on. The silliness of this story is quite astounding.
As someone put it somewhere else; he lives like a monk for ten months of the year - the fuck whould anybody else care about what he does for the other two?
Runours about this party continue to swirl, though. Apparently, there may also have been underage drinking, and possibly even girls present.
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
With the possible exception of Lewis Hamilton, is there a more boring bastard in world sport than Michael Phelps?
I suspect this story is a carefully-orchestrated plant aimed at adding a little artificial Ingredient X/dark side to his crushingly white-bread personality.
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
Phelps can get more stoned than you can.
12 fucking liters. Damn. I have large lung capacity myself, but I'm pretty sure it's not more than 8 liters.
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
erwin wrote:
The biggest joke was not him having a toke or two but cravenly apologising for it.
One of Phelps' fellow American Olympian swimmers had an endorsement deal with Speedo a long time ago, and was caught smoking pot. Speedo dropped him instantly. Funny they haven't done that with Phelps yet.
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
Reed of the Valley People wrote:
Think of the CHILDREN!!!!
Michael Phelps is (still) seen as a role model and example of what someone can achieve by many children and their parents. His enormous success will undoubtedly inspire many others. Whether we think this sort of (often mindless) idolatry is a good idea or not is beside the point.
Why is it so hilarious that someone may legitimately ask whether to be seen taking drugs (even ones as arguably inoffensive as marijuana) isn't a bad idea for someone like Phelps?
I understand that the hysterical invocation of children is often (usually?) worthy of mockery. But in this case it's actually worth thinking about for once.
No doubt this will bring out the legalization lobby out in droves, but I know that *I* wouldn't want *my* children, especially at an impressionable age, to see drug taking legitimized in this way by someone who is quite possibly a hero to many children.
Also, Kellogg just canceled Phelps' contract.
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
Why is it so hilarious that someone may legitimately ask whether to be seen taking drugs (even ones as arguably inoffensive as marijuana) isn't a bad idea for someone like Phelps?
Why should he be held accountable for not meeting the lofty expectation of other people?
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
No doubt this will bring out the legalization lobby out in droves, but I know that *I* wouldn't want *my* children, especially at an impressionable age, to see drug taking legitimized in this way by someone who is quite possibly a hero to many children.
*there's nothing wrong with legitamising them. I mean, they're every bit as 'legitimate' as anything else to my mind.
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
Why should he be held accountable for not meeting the lofty expectation of other people?
kellogg customers don't expect a hip-hop obsessed kid from baltimore ever to smoke dope, even on his holidays. corn flakes shrink the brain.
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
I understand that what he did was stupid insofar as he should have know that this was going to cause an uproar and lose him sponsorships. And I don't think he can claim he didn't sign up for this. He's being paid handsomely to sell products, so he has to abide by their conditions.
But the only reason why companies would think this is possibly damaging to their brand is because they believe/know that the general public thinks smoking pot is some sort of moral failing. The only reason the public thinks that is because we still refuse to discuss drugs honestly in this country. There's plenty of blame to go around for that failure - media, conservatives, parents, teachers, stoners, etc.
I've never smoked anything. That's my choice. But I find it absurd that in this country in 2009, having a hit on a bong is considered a moral lapse. Indeed, most of the articles (and there are way too many) on this seem to equate Phelps pot experience with the time he got picked up for DUI. DUI is way more reckless, it should be needless to say.
He's 23. He's on vacation, not training. Sparking up is not very healthy, but he's probably had a hot dog or two at an Orioles game that was far more unhealthy and that hasn't made the news.
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
there's an opportunistic element to kellogg's decision. they've already had most of the good publicity associated with phelps - in fact, dropping him now could be seen as them wringing out the last drops - and their stock price has fallen by more than a third since they signed him up.
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
... he's probably had a hot dog or two at an Orioles game that was far more unhealthy
His apology, if any was needed at all, might usefully have included a number of other harmful things:
"It was a lapse - I apologise to my fans and would advise them not to follow my lead. I have also experimented with alcohol, tobacco and fast food. I would strongly warn young people against trying any of these things. And while I'm at it, I would ask parents to refrain from consuming them, especially in front of their children, and ask them to discourage their children from experimenting with them."
It would have been more honest.
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
But the only reason why companies would think this is possibly damaging to their brand is because they believe/know that the general public thinks smoking pot is some sort of moral failing. The only reason the public thinks that is because we still refuse to discuss drugs honestly in this country. There's plenty of blame to go around for that failure - media, conservatives, parents, teachers, stoners, etc.
Marijuana is one of the biggest cash crops in the US. And that doesn't even count all of the pot brought in from other countries. It's not just the white guy with dreads from your dorm smoking it all--tons of people smoke pot. But as I said earlier, there are a lot of reasons--mostly social stigma--why they don't discuss their pot smoking openly.
When my daughter grows up, I wouldn't want her to smoke pot. But if it was between smoking pot once a week, to smoking cigarettes daily, I'd sure as hell hope she'd hit that bong rather than bum a smoke when she hangs out with her friends. But there's a major concentration of different groups in the US--almost ever single politician from both major parties, law enforcement, the justice system, "family groups," moral scolds, etc.--that would want to have me shamed for thinking that and want to be sure that marijuana is ever seen with any sort of legitimacy.
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Have we done OMG Michael Phelps smoked pot yet?
xugumad wrote:
Michael Phelps is (still) seen as a role model and example of what someone can achieve by many children and their parents. His enormous success will undoubtedly inspire many others. Whether we think this sort of (often mindless) idolatry is a good idea or not is beside the point.
i thought this was the basis of the THINK OF THE CHILDREN bit, that it is mocking mountains being made out of molehills.
Why is it so hilarious that someone may legitimately ask whether to be seen taking drugs (even ones as arguably inoffensive as marijuana) isn't a bad idea for someone like Phelps?
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