This whole Michael Phelps thing is really making me angry.
Everyone seems to have an opinion, okay myself included, and many are just too quick to damn him.
And the very assertion that "all these other celebrity athletes manage not to engage in questionable behavior because they realize they are on permanant display" is a whole lot of bull. Don't make me break this down people.
Fine.
One article lists Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning as "role models" of the celebrity atheletes so to say.
Who are their audiences? Sure they've got talent and may play your favorite sport or for your favorite team. But the internet generation with iPhones glued to their hands has little to no interest in them as people.
How often have you seen any photos of them in their private life that wasn't captured by some kind of tabloid-media? (And for that, when's the last time you saw them on TMZ?)
Now lets count how many times dear Michael has been snapped, shall we? How about from across the pool in Vegas, or out after the MTV VMAs? His ex-stripper-now-hostess-at-the-Palms lady friend? Yep, there's snapped pictures of her too, or girls they think is her, simply because there are rumors they are connected. And that analysis is paltry because trust me, there is so much more.
He has a huge following, spanning just about every generation we've got.
He has mass apeal.
Yes, that makes nine year olds itch for the day pool season starts.
He has overcome personal difficulties that echo many of our daily lives.
We get it. He is a role model. Heck, I look up to him.
But just as we elevate regular celebrities to super-human status, where nothing they do could ever possibly be wrong-no, its funny, its creative, they're addicted to heroin but its because they weren't loved enough as children, but man did he give an amazing performance; we too have elevated Michael to a near-God-like-figure. Forgetting that though charming and talented and gracious, he is only human. A human that makes mistakes, and shock! likes to live a little. So what he spent so much time in Vegas? So what he partied like he was 23 (oh wait, he is 23?!! OH. MY. GOSH.) for the months following his olympic wins.
But on a tangent I have gone.
This human has garnered world wide attention. When he shows up somewhere as a person it is a big deal. But he's got friends, people he wants to visit. So he does. And in these scenarios, he is surrounded by the iPhone generation. They are not only glued to hands, but always set on camera. Waiting for right moment to snap away. If not for the money, at least the temporary fame of being acknowledged as "perezious reader calvin saw...". Clealy this photo appears this week for the money.
And what a sick puppy that fellow-party goer, and now considerably richer, seller is. Were the negotiations tough? Did the big bad UK tabloid low ball you for weeks? Did they threaten to out you as a source because you kept demaning a higher price than they thought it was worth? Poor little sick puppy. Gah.
I've got one word for you. Karma. Thats it.
Now back to you my gentle readers.
Are the newsmags really giving us examples of good athletes like we are supposed to forget about the womanizing, lot-lizard-shopping, dog-fighting, performance-enhancing-drug using athletes that seemingly permeate the athletic world? No, not all professionals are plauged with these problems. But we sure do hear about those that are. Now don't we? Do not pretend that they do not exist and feed me some bull so that you confuse us into thinking that Mr. Phelps is the biggest dissapointment to disgrace the sports world. Puh-lease.
This incident not only pales in comparison but it is a shame to even have to put this incident in the same written space as those other "indiscretions".
And just to round this up, did anyone ever stop to think that perhaps it was Salvia he was smoking and not weed? Salvia is legal. Legal. I'm not saying it is, but even the article that broke the "news" says something along the lines that it appears to be marijuana he is smoking. Well don't you know? Isn't your source good enough? What did you pay them all that money for if you can't say conclusively? Hmm. Sounds like a weak case.
(Oh sweet Lord do not get me started on the South Carolina Sheriff's Department. I laugh at you. A distainful Laugh, just for you).
p.s. "to bed early" in the previous post meant asleep by 11:30 and awake at 3:30. I don't think to bed early is a positive anymore.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Completly agree. However the consensus at school is that Olympic athletes are more of a role model then the other athletes you speak of and should be held in a higher regard. I guess because of the traditon and esteem of it. I dont know I agree with you. So he allegedly smoked a little pot, big fucking deal!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sam.
ReplyDeleteTo further your/my point:
Olympic athletes aren't God, and while I agree that they are/should be held in higher esteem, I still think that he has always conducted himself to gain the respect he deserves. He's made mistakes, as we all have, but pot doesn't reach the level of performance enhancing drugs that allow athletes to cheat, or other moral indignities that are too foul to repeat.
If we raise our children to follow a "hero" with no flaws, they will never understand that the flaws we have are part of what make us who we are. Everyone has flaws and must learn to deal with them. No one is perfect. Not even Phelps. Children shouldn't be raised to think he is. Because they aren't perfect either, never can be, never will be, and they shouldn't have that kind of pressure to live up to in the first place.