Good:
-16 Olympic Medals
-Inspires ADHD kids (and their parents) to achieve
-Gave $1 million to start Michael Phelps Foundation
-Works extensively w special needs kids (before famous)
-Active in Bid 2 Beat Aids
-Fierce competitor and good natured
“Bad”
-Admitted mistakes and gave me opportunity to speak to my 13-year-old swimmer abouts drugs
-Long sideburns
.
Hi,
I agree 110 percent on your points.
Michael Phelps is a full on stud (on the aquatic field of play), and (HooRay!!!) a fairly “Normal” 23 yo kid…especially considering that it is a challenge to be a normal kid, when you have been swimming since young, Olympics at 15, 19 and 23…No private time to just be a dorky kid. I still salute him as much today, as I did back in August.
The best thing about the related thread on Michael being photo’d (horrors!) torching a bowl is that it exposed some real uptight DeeBags in the ST crowd. Certainly not a fun group to hang with.
But as a Washington/BC person, I put weed and its supposed horrors pretty low on the scale of things to even think about, let alone to use as basis for a value judgement .
Now Meth mfg (a particular scourge in Washington and the Interior of BC)
and DWI, those actually do ill to many people and actually are bad. Of course those are my opinions and others may choose to disagree.
As a former D1 swimmer, I know that if we had removed the athletes who sparked a bowl say, one to four times a week, there would not be enough swimmers left to fill all 8 lanes with 1 swimmer each. Lord knows I would have been benched if there was a coaches’ or admin.care of rec. pot use in College.
Uh, oh, I sense rocks coming in from self-riteous, glass houses.
Whatever folks, its just weed, and it is not really illegal in this part of the world
tp
You mean he did something wrong? Oh My GOD! Where is that bathwater we’re tossing out…toss him in too!
Burn him! Burn him, I say!
i think phelps was arrested for DWI when he was like 19 or something as well, right?
i think phelps is a dumb young kid being a dumb young kid. he’s a freaking athlete. NOT a role model. he’s a great athlete…has lots of money…has agents and PR people that get him to donate and volunteer for causes to keep his image somewhat afloat. but at the end of the day, he’s a dumbass 23 year old. we were all dumbass 23 year olds!!! i’m not proud…but i’ve driven while drunk when i was in my early 20’s…i just didn’t get caught and i’m no famous. i’ve also smoked pot twice in my life at college parties…again, i’m not famous and no one cares that i did it. i was fucking retarded immature kid…and phelps is a fucking retarded immature kid. gasp he’s human!
whatever…
Phelps is an incredibly gifted athlete; probably one of the best alive today. He has also done some laudable work for charity for which I give him kudos.
That being said, he is NOT a hero. He is an athletic force of nature. But he has done nothing that shows him to be a great, courageous, or noble man.
I have no problem giving credit where credit is due. But when we hero-worship gifted athletes, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment.
I like it that he used drugs. I always knew that it made sense to legalize drugs (as we still have in the Netherlands!). It doesn’t make sense that one can get pissed with alcohol in a legal way and that a way more inocent drug get this attention. So yes even for a non American: Phelps is a hero. But he would be even a bigger hero if he did not apologize for it, and said that he enjoyed it and sure will do it again.
I like it that he used drugs. I always knew that it made sense to legalize drugs (as we still have in the Netherlands!). It doesn’t make sense that one can get pissed with alcohol in a legal way and that a way more inocent drug get this attention. So yes even for a non American: Phelps is a hero. But he would be even a bigger hero if he did not apologize for it, and said that he enjoyed it and sure will do it again.
1 joint is about equivalent to 20 cigarettes for what it does to your lungs.
However, I agree that it should be legalized and taxed.
And I don’t really care that he smoked some weed. Whoopie ding for him. But, my parenting won’t be limited to “Look at him, you should be like him!” while pointing to the athlete of the day on TV.
John
I’m not positive, but pretty sure that this statistic is false.
My friend, who is a doctor, says in fact that pot has less affect on your lungs from a lung efficiency standpoint. Not sure about cancer risk though.
1 joint is about equivalent to 20 cigarettes for what it does to your lungs.
John
But getting drunk is even worse than 20 cigarettes. That was my point. Alcohol is really bad in over doses and also legal. Doesn’t stop me from drinking a beer every now and then, so if Phelps is a hero with winning olympics and drinking a beer every now and then, than why does he have to apologize for smoking grass… Weird world.
I’m not positive, but pretty sure that this statistic is false.
My friend, who is a doctor, says in fact that pot has less affect on your lungs from a lung efficiency standpoint. Not sure about cancer risk though.
1 joint is about equivalent to 20 cigarettes for what it does to your lungs.
John
A doctor of what?
In an article published in the European Respiratory Journal, the scientists said cannabis could be expected to harm the airways more than tobacco as its smoke contained twice the level of carcinogens, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, compared with tobacco cigarettes. The method of smoking also increases the risk, since joints are typically smoked without a proper filter and almost to the very tip, which increases the amount of smoke inhaled
I might be off on the stat, or confusing it with the 20x increased cancer risk, but they are more damaging than cigarettes.
John
But getting drunk is even worse than 20 cigarettes. That was my point. Alcohol is really bad in over doses and also legal. Doesn’t stop me from drinking a beer every now and then, so if Phelps is a hero with winning olympics and drinking a beer every now and then, than why does he have to apologize for smoking grass… Weird world.
Because the US is a backass, Puritan founded country that can’t shake the puritan roots. Hell, it wasn’t until the 60’s that someone suggested sex could be fun rather than just reproductive…
John
I’m just not seeing it
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,196678,00.html
We know that there are as many or more carcinogens and co-carcinogens in marijuana smoke as in cigarettes,” researcher Donald Tashkin, MD, of UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine tells WebMD. “But we did not find any evidence for an increase in cancer risk for even heavy marijuana smoking.” Carcinogens are substances that cause cancer
A doctor of what?
In an article published in the European Respiratory Journal, the scientists said cannabis could be expected to harm the airways more than tobacco as its smoke contained twice the level of carcinogens, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, compared with tobacco cigarettes. The method of smoking also increases the risk, since joints are typically smoked without a proper filter and almost to the very tip, which increases the amount of smoke inhaled
I might be off on the stat, or confusing it with the 20x increased cancer risk, but they are more damaging than cigarettes.
John
** Because the US is a backass, Puritan founded country that can’t shake the puritan roots.**
I’ve never been in the US so maybe I should not judge, but this is exactly my view on Americans. Glad I live on the good side of the Ocean.
Agreed. The man is deified, and as such, like many of our public figures, we hold them to a higher standard of conduct than we ourselves are often willing/able to maintain. That’s unfair, but the vagaries of celebrity are unfair.
That said, Phelps in a very human character, and in that, he offers the hope that the everyman can acheive dreams through hard work and dedication (and a very long torso and long arms…).
Seriously though, while I think what he did was a trifle foolish, I can’t throw bricks since I live in a glass house like many of us (although I have never used marijuana, drank alcohol or used any other recreational drug). No one is the perfect person the media may want to depict- then destroy.
Wheaties take note: I would never have bought your shitty cereal before, but if you put phelps on the box now I will by some.
=)
"“Bad”
-Admitted mistakes and gave me opportunity to speak to my 13-year-old swimmer abouts drugs
-Long sideburns "
Obviously, if you want to have Phelps be a hero to you, that’s fine, but let’s at least be honest. In the “Bad” category, you would need to list:
Gets behind the wheel after drinking. Arrested for DWI.
Smokes illegal narcotics. Is photographed doing so.
Makes bad commercials for Rosetta Stone.
For Bad you forgot he got caught for DWI in 2004
.
whats bad about smoking illegal narcotics again?
hehe
my conversations with my kids about drugs will be weird
“ok so its LEGAL to drink alcohol, but REALLY bad for you and REALYL risky…its ILLEGAL to smoke weed, which is only slightly bad for you and slightly risky…I dunno kid ask Obama.”
I’m just not seeing it
http://www.foxnews.com/…,2933,196678,00.html
We know that there are as many or more carcinogens and co-carcinogens in marijuana smoke as in cigarettes,” researcher Donald Tashkin, MD, of UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine tells WebMD. “But we did not find any evidence for an increase in cancer risk for even heavy marijuana smoking.” Carcinogens are substances that cause cancer
A doctor of what?
In an article published in the European Respiratory Journal, the scientists said cannabis could be expected to harm the airways more than tobacco as its smoke contained twice the level of carcinogens, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, compared with tobacco cigarettes. The method of smoking also increases the risk, since joints are typically smoked without a proper filter and almost to the very tip, which increases the amount of smoke inhaled
I might be off on the stat, or confusing it with the 20x increased cancer risk, but they are more damaging than cigarettes.
John
Yeah, Fox news, that epitome of editorial precision. Obviously you pick and choose what you want to believe. I see studies from Europe (Where it is much more accepted than here) that say it’s more damaging. I choose to believe that and not smoke it. You have decided on your opinion, and can find research to support it. Same on my side. I err on the side of caution.
John
Devlin,
your article and my article agree in that there are more carcinogens in pot smoke than tobacco smoke.
That is true. Your article states that they EXPECT more lung damage because of this.
Broccoli has carcinogens too. Does broccoli cause cancer?
No.
Nobody who has studies pot smokers has found them to have significantly elevated lung cancer risk that I am aware of.
I am not saying this as someone trying to rationalize my own use, I don’t use the stuff, too risky because jobs test for it.
Which is bullshit but its a fact of life =)