Michael Phelps, 14 time gold medalist winner, was caught smoking a marijuana pipe. On November 6, "weeks after his Beijing triumph, 23 year old Phelps surprised students at the University of South Carolina in Columbia by showing up unannounced at a house party" (News of the World).
After reading this article, I began to feel sorry for him. He is under such scrutiny. Although I think it was a dumb decision on his part, I think that he is truly sorry. I think the public should take it easy on him. I watched a video on youtube and it brought up a very good point. CNN is interviewing Eric Hirshberg who states how "this kind of thing is harder for his image to sustain than someone with a bad boy image". This type of thing would not hurt Kid Rock, it probably would not be thought twice about. But because Michael Phelps is a "golden boy" this picture could cause him to lose endorsements and hurt his image.
The poor guy made a mistake. In the article on News of the World, they are bashing him. It states how he was drinking a ton of alcohol and grabbed the marijuana pipe with no hesitation. He knew how to smoke the pipe. An on looker said, "he looked just as natural with a bong in his hands as he does swimming in the pool. He was the gold medal winner of bong hits." All the statements in this article are making Michael Phelps look like a terrible person. I think we should give him a break. He is 23 years old and had a slip up, just as long as it does not happen again I think the public should forgive and move on!
4 comments:
When I heard about the Michael Phelps Marijuana scandal, it didn’t phase me too much because I am a college student, myself. If you spend time at SMU, you’ll find that weed and alcohol are the norm here. I think we all need to give Phelps a break because marijuana has become a major part of adolescent life. I certainly don’t condone the behavior especially from someone who is supposed to be role model, but seeing Phelps participating in such an activity, only makes him appear more human. Mistakes are what make us human, and it doesn’t shock me that Phelps has tried marijuana before or drank illegally, because these activities are ingrained in our society. I agree with Almost Famous and I think people should stop giving him such a hard time. It’s a lot of pressure to be perfect all the time; we need to let Michael Phelps live a little! I mean this kid just won tons of gold medals for our country, and when we find him doing one thing wrong, we rip him apart. Michael Phelps is a role model for many people, and what makes him great is that fact he makes human errors, and moves on with his life. I think Almost Famous’s post was good because it reminds us that everyone is human and sometimes we need to cut people a break when they make a mistake because no one is perfect.
I think the ordeal with Michael Phelps is very unfortunate. It is upsetting that this picture was take because it really puts an image to the whole thing. I think if there was no picture, things would be a lot different. Phelps probably would not be under so much scrutiny then if he had just been caught. While Phelps, being such a great champion should have had better judgement, I can't help but think people should give him a break. The man made a mistake, it happens to all of us. I don't understand why this got as much, if not more publicity then Chris Brown beating up Rihanna. Did Michael Phelps hurt anyone? Did he do anything that caused any trouble? Yes, marijuana is illegal, but in the future can anybody say for sure that it won't be legal. California has a measure trying to get passed right now to legalize it. Marijuana is everywhere in our society, and its not like its uncommon to see a 23 year old using it. I am not condoning what he did, he obviously made a mistake, but leave the man alone.
After visiting many sites on the Internet, I was very surprised at the picture I saw of Phelps hitting the bong. But should we view him differently because of this incidence? Of course not, he IS the greatest swimmer to have ever swam on this planet. The work-ethic and time that he put into winning all those medals shows his drive in life. Yes, he smoked weed, but he wanted to have a good time and sometimes people make the wrong choices just as I have done. He trains nearly 365 days of the year to strive to make himself the best, and look where he is. So for those of you that think it was wrong for him to do that, look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if you have ever done anything wrong before? So Michael, I am with you brother and do not think anything different of you.
Very cool picture. On her blog, Bon Qui Qui has an equally flattering photograph of a girl enjoying an alcoholic beverage. With cameras everwhere, you'd think people would think more about self-presentation.
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