Quote Originally Posted by Medusa View Post
I haven't seen any evidence of tearing down Phelps. He's a celebrity athlete, he was arrogant enough to allow his photo to be taken while sucking on a bong; it's newsworthy. The majority of us have simply commented on the story or asked questions. He isn't competing right now so if he wants to smoke the stuff, it's his business, I guess, but he knows that a story like this could be potentially harmful to his career and/or image. As Karen stated, he's 23 years old and if he doesn't realize what the ramifications of his actions could be, then his "people" do and they should've warned him.
Really, Medusa...do you think he knew of or condoned his photo being taken?

What makes me sad is the guy is a swimmer. And an exceptional one. So that makes him a "celebrity." And that makes him a target of anyone with a cell phone camera or the like who can make a million dollars by taking a photo.

And that is what I mean by tearing him down. These people who take pleasure...and money...in letting us know that successful people are human...with many of the same weaknesses the rest of us have.

What makes this newsworthy? That he is human? Should he have known better? -- of course. But I guess I have made mistakes in my life that I would rather not have splattered all over the front page of the newspaper.

And I feel compassion for him...it must be difficult when every move you make, every zit, every burp, every scratch of a personal place is "newsworthy" especially when you are 23.