Big Deal About Nothing

Recently a picture surfaced of Michael Phelps hitting the bong pretty hard at a University party.  The picture was taken in November and shows the Olympic hero taking a mean hit and showing off the true power of his lungs.  Unfortunately for Phelps people are blowing this way out of proportion and he has been suspended for 3 months and lost his place as the spokesman for Kellogg's.

Is this really that big of a deal?  So the guy likes to smoke a little weed.  Its not as if he was baked out of his mind while he was winning all those gold medals in the Olympics and it's not as if he is a big pot head and rolling around with Cheech and Chong in his spare time.  The only thing that this picture tells me is that it fully explains how he is able to eat so much all the time.

Let's look at this picture realistically.  He is at a party with a bunch of college kids and they are offering him beer, weed, and probably a million other things.  He doesn't want to look like a complete tool and be the sober guy all night just watching people have a good time so he took the lesser of two evils.  He took probably one hit coughed like crazy and then passed it to the left.

Phelps has already apologized profusely for this and his lawyer has said, "Michael accepts these decisions and understands their point of view.  He feels bad he let anyone down. He's also encouraged by the thousands of comments he's received from his fans and the support from his many sponsors. He intends to work hard to regain every one's trust."

The worst part of all of this nonsense is that the local sheriffs department in the county where Phelps toked up is starting an investigation and says Phelps will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.  This guy needs to take a cue from Police Chief Wiggum and let loose instead of trying to be supercop and get his name all over the newspapers.  This guy is just trying to get his 15 minutes of fame and in the end will only look like a jackass because if the American public has to choose between some no name cop and the greatest Olympic athlete ever it is a no contest.

Turning back to his suspension Phelps has resumed training in his hometown of Baltimore, but his plans to return to competitive swimming will have to be put on hold. Phelps had planned to compete in early March at a Grand Prix meet in Austin, Texas.  Now, he won't be able to compete until early May, which would give him a little more than two months for some racing before July's world championships in Rome.  As if a suspension will even affect him.  I'm sure he could show up baked out of his mind and still set world records.

The whole ordeal was bet summed up by a Evan Morgenstein, who represents other notable athletes, when he said, "the penalty is far greater than the crime. He has said he is sorry. Let's move on to the real problems in this country."