news flash: another athlete stumbles

Just read that Michael Phelps got caught smoking pot in a photo that somehow made its way from a University of South Carolina house party to one of the many, many British tabloids. Recall that a few years ago, shortly after the 2004 Athens Olympics, he was busted for DUI in his home state. It's fair to say the guy has a bad habit of doing stupid things shortly after winning lots of gold medals.

Now I'm not saying Phelps is a bad guy or anything. In fact, I still have a lot of respect for him. He certainly seems like an upstanding athlete, and a refreshingly humble one given all the success he's had at such a young age. No doubt it would be quite hard to deal with all that glory and the attention and worship that comes with it for anyone, much less a guy who's no older than a lot of folks just graduating from college and entering the real world.

But his behavior does imply one of two things: either he's not who we are led to believe he is (and who I think he is), or he's prone to very poor and embarrassing lapses in judgment. He is held up as a role model and yet is compiling a not-so-sparse record of dumb behavior. I'm beginning to think the guy falls in the Michael Vick category of guys in over their head lifestyle-wise and in need of some support to avoid ruining the life that's ahead of them. Somebody has to make sure he doesn't flush down all he's worked for up until now, and I don't think he's up to the task by himself. So far he's been the biggest threat to his own success.

This all points to a disturbing trend in society, too. Why do we continue to idolize people we know are only human, only to be crushed, disappointed, angered, etc., when they inevitably crack and show some imperfections? Doesn't it occur to folks that such idolatry focused on mere mortals is part of the reason they end up failing us expectations-wise? Not to mention the hope for the rest of us that such worship doesn't provide.

Oh well, I guess it's been obvious for a long time now that people too often care more about being entertained and poring over the details of someone else's shortcomings than they do in focusing on how they themselves could be better stewards of society. Such is contemporary Western culture...

Anyway, gotta go, Stupid Bowl's finally on. GO CARDS!!!!!