So, Michael Phelps smoked some pot. I can’t say that I’m happy about it, but I’m not sure that it is as big of a deal as everyone is making it out to be. I never smoked weed (unless you count the occasional second hand), or did any other illegal drugs (yeah, I know, hard to believe). I know that Andrew doesn’t really understand such things, but if Andrew has a sports hero, it is Michael Phelps. Even Alex knows who Michael Phelps is. A lot of children look up to Michael Phelps and the image of him smoking weed will not be helpful when they are faced with hard choices of adolescence. But how much will it hurt? I don’t know any kids when I was young that said, well, such and such big name star smokes pot so I guess it is OK. So, is it really a big deal, I don’t think so, is it something that he should have to deal with, sure.
What bothered me most was the public relations machine spin and coldness. His words “I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again.” I just don’t like it, it sounds like a team of lawyers and PR people made it up and told him to say it. If it were really him, I’d expect to hear something like, “wow, someone took a picture of that, what a jerk, well, there is nothing wrong with the truth, it happened, and it looks like I’ll have some explaining to do to the fans, I bet I let a lot of folks down, I’m sorry.” Would that have been so hard?
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Aaron has been very vocal about the subject. Apparently the kids at school must have been talking about. He basically just said, "Wow Michael Phelps is really stupid to do drugs".
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