Michael Phelps smokes pot

So Michael Phelps smokes pot...big deal...so do a lot of 23 year olds. I don't. I have. I don't see it as a big deal. The picture is the one released showing Phelps smoking out of a bong and is reported to have been post Olympics. The fact is, he's a college aged kid with plenty of money and access. When are we going to grow up about this kind of thing. The actual differences between alcohol and marijuana are barely existent...to be outraged over this is absurd. For those who say he is a role model and is paid handsomely to be that, grow up. Sports stars are NOT role models. Charles Barkley drinks and drives, Michael Jordan gambles, Michael Vick tortures dogs, Plaxico Burress carries guns and dresses poorly to night clubs, Roger Clemens does steroids, John Rocker is a bigot, Bobby Knight chokes a kid, some douche referee sold his calls, Pete Rose bet on his own team, Ty Cobb was an outright racist, Mickey Mantle was a drunk, Babe Ruth was a womanizer...I could keep going if you'd like. These aren't special men with special moral value sets, they are good at a game. Any parent who allows their children to emulate and put these men on a pedestal deserves the rotten kid and the heartbreak that comes with it. These men are not paid because they are role models, they are paid because they bring ADULTS to the TV so that advertisements cost a lot. Yes, children watch sports, but children also tend to have parents. These are the people who should be shaping the kids beliefs, not TV. I grew up addicted to sports. I was a Mets fan and loved Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Bobby Bonilla and Todd Hundley. I was a Giants fan who loved Lawrence Taylor. You know why I knew that these were athletes and not role models...mom and dad. I saw Dad come home from work every day. Mom took me to school, went to work (at the same school) and took me home every day. Dad coached my sports. I didn't do crack or steroids because my parents taught me not to. I didn't avoid them because Derek Jeter has never gotten in any trouble. Even if Michael Phelps smokes weed, does this mean he isn't a role model? He is a student athlete at University of Michigan and has worked harder than anyone can imagine to reach the height of his profession and represent his country effectively. He is turned his hard work and determination into a great deal of personal success professionally and financially...and he likes to smoke pot, which is the equivalent of drinking alcohol after a big win.

Personally, I don't like weed. I consider it dirty, cumbersome, difficult, and down right white trashy. But what I don't consider it is a big deal. Not only should it not be a crime, but this shouldn't be news. The kid smokes pot, so what? The IOC already said it's OK as far as his competing goes, which makes sense. I would only imagine it would slow him down in training. And now we've gone through the very scripted apology and promise never to do it again. Does anybody else get tired of everyone pretending to be something they are not? Does anybody get tired of people being forced to pretend to be something they are not? I do.