Michael Phelps is a douche…and other thoughts

> I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that watching Michael Phelps dominate the Olympics last year was one of the most amazing things I have seen in sports. I enjoyed every minute of his historic run. It’s inspiring to see someone so dedicated to their craft, especially a fellow American, succeed the way he did. I guess it’s too bad he’s a weak-minded fool who can’t seem to handle the fame and exposure that comes with being a star like he is.

Watching his slow and steady fall from grace has made me appreciate a guy like LeBron James. LeBron’s been under a microscope since he was a sophomore in high school. Even back then, I remember being impressed with how poised he seemed when giving interviews. The kid always seemed to say the exact right thing. At the time, it was hard not to think that it was only a matter of time before the guy let all the fame get to his head, and he went out and did something stupid. But, other than the thing where his mom made news for taking out a loan to buy him a Hummer, LeBron’s pretty much stayed controversy free. (We won’t get into the whole “crab dribble” thing).

Okay, maybe LeBron isn’t the best comparison for Phelps. First off, basketball and swimming aren’t necessarily analogous sports. But, more importantly, LeBron seems like the type of guy who has never had a problem with…how should I say this…being a complete dork. Something tells me LeBron’s never lacked for confidence, even as a youngin. But, Phelps? Please. With those big ears and the weird way he talks, it’s not hard to imagine him being a bit of a social outcast as a kid. We were inundated with stories during the Olympics about how his mom used to worry about him, because other kids were constantly picking on him. The moral of those stories was supposed to be the whole, “yeah, but look at him now” sort of thing. But, I guess the real moral should have been that this dude has never, ever been the coolest guy in the room. He was a dork, plain and simple.

So, maybe Tiger Woods is a better example. Yeah, Tiger’s been dominating golf for over a decade, and he’s probably one of the most recognizable people on the planet. So, people may forget that he used to be kind of a nerd. The kid went to Stanford, for crying out loud. Any non-nerds from Stanford? Not likely. Anyway, the point is that when Tiger was first coming up in golf, he was forced to go through the transition from huge dork to huge dork everyone in the room wanted to talk to. I remember hearing stories about Tiger partying with Fred Savage and Chelsea Clinton while he was in college. But, nothing salacious ever came out of that. And he’s been pretty controversy free since he turned pro. He’s handled his transition to uber-stardom with about as much class as possible. Too bad Phelps couldn’t have done the same.

I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t think people appreciate guys like LeBron and Tiger for just not being total douches. I suppose an argument could be made that because LeBron and Tiger are black, they have to keep their image squeaky clean, whereas Phelps will be given much more slack as the “all-American” white kid. I don’t really feel like getting into that though. I’d rather just appreciate LeBron James and Tiger Woods for being the best at what they do, and not being assholes about it.

While we’re on the subject of people not getting the appreciation they deserve, anyone see what happened to the Hornets last night once Chris Paul got hurt? He left the game with like 2:50 left in the 3rd Quarter (and already had 13 assists), and the Hornets were outscored 42-17 the rest of the game. They ended up blowing a 17 point lead. Yeah, LeBron’s great, and so is Kobe, but I don’t know how there can be an argument about which player is more valuable to their team than Chris Paul. This guy IS the Hornets. I hope he’s not hurt for long.

And, speaking of Kobe, I got an interesting email from my brother this morning, I thought I’d share:

“Can you please blog about the fact that everybody has forgotten that Kobe is an analrapist? I mean, 4 years after OJ was acquitted of murder he wasn't doing Hertz commercials and reprising Detective Nordberg in Naked Gun 187 and 7/8! Kobe's defense wasn't that he didn't do her in the dirtstar, it was that he didn't forcibly do her up the browneye (couldn't decide which reference I liked better). But I guess you get a free pass by jumping over fake Aston Martins, hilariously riding horses in commercials, and lighting up a run-and-gun Knicks team. (Even though Gasol arguably had the better complete game with 34,14,5). Anyway, I guess we're just too far removed from The Black Mamba shamelessly buying his wife back for $4M and starting the chain of events that led to Shaq's divorce (don't you think she heard the media reports of Kobe's claims of Shaq's infidelity and started hiding money?)

So due to my anger on the subject, on a scale of 1 to Gus Johnson, I'd rate this a Stephen A. Smith.”
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Home Cooking

> Does anyone else find it mildly strange that more and more networks are using hometown players to call games? Today alone I've heard Greg Kelser on Michigan State, Kendall Gill on Illinois, and Mike Gminski on Duke. Um ... I know that objective journalism and sports journalism don't exactly go hand in hand, but is it really a great idea to have the team's former stars calling their nationally-televised games?On a scale of one to Gus Johnson, I'd give this post a Bill Walton. Read full post...