Michael Phelps is a terrific athlete...
.....and apparently also quite boring.
"60 Minutes" did a story last night on the guy. Pretty much a puff piece saying how wonderful he is and what a great athlete he is. Bla bla.
Admittedly, winning 8 gold medals is amazing and has never been accomplished by any other Olympian in one of those "We give out medals for everything and anything" sports like swimming, gymnastics or maybe even sprinting.
But enjoy your fame now, Mr. Phelps, because you sure don't have much of a personality. Amassing legacy wealth may not be the most noble of goals, but that seems to be what the man is most interested in. Assuming Phelps comes up with his $50 or $200 million dollar collective paydays somewhere down the line, well, what's next?
From all the interviews I have seen with the young man he is basically a jock who thinks about swimming 24/7. What's so interesting about that? It's certainly no way to build a career in the entertainment world.
I just finished a book about Curt Flood, the major league baseball player who, back in the early 1970's, challenged the baseball establishment and attempted to end a heinous practice of keeping players tenured to one team their entire career known as the reserve clause. His case wound up before the US Supreme Court and, though he lost that decision, his struggle led to free agency for players that has grown the average salary from a few thousand a year in Flood's time to over two million dollars a year today. Flood uses his celebrity to help his fellow man; in this case his fellow athletes.
Not that I expect today's athletes to become historians or social activists, but a little political awareness would be nice. A little personality would be kind of cool. A few thoughts on the state of the world would be most welcome. Anything to show that there is more to the world than swimming laps in a pool.
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ps: In the 60 Minutes piece, Phelps is shown in his $1.1 million waterfront condo in his hometown of Baltimore. One point one million? For a guys whose net worth is probably in the tens or twenty of millions of dollars and is only going to grow and grow? Why the heck doesn't he just live with his Mom for crying out loud! If I had ten million in the bank, I would certainly find a more interesting place to live than a million dollar cookie cutter condo in Baltimore. Jeesus.
pps: I guess Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year was inevitable. Solid choice, but lacks imagination. I would have gone for President Elect Obama, who can play a little basketball and loves the Chicago White Sox, myself. Just sayin'.
"60 Minutes" did a story last night on the guy. Pretty much a puff piece saying how wonderful he is and what a great athlete he is. Bla bla.
Admittedly, winning 8 gold medals is amazing and has never been accomplished by any other Olympian in one of those "We give out medals for everything and anything" sports like swimming, gymnastics or maybe even sprinting.
But enjoy your fame now, Mr. Phelps, because you sure don't have much of a personality. Amassing legacy wealth may not be the most noble of goals, but that seems to be what the man is most interested in. Assuming Phelps comes up with his $50 or $200 million dollar collective paydays somewhere down the line, well, what's next?
From all the interviews I have seen with the young man he is basically a jock who thinks about swimming 24/7. What's so interesting about that? It's certainly no way to build a career in the entertainment world.
I just finished a book about Curt Flood, the major league baseball player who, back in the early 1970's, challenged the baseball establishment and attempted to end a heinous practice of keeping players tenured to one team their entire career known as the reserve clause. His case wound up before the US Supreme Court and, though he lost that decision, his struggle led to free agency for players that has grown the average salary from a few thousand a year in Flood's time to over two million dollars a year today. Flood uses his celebrity to help his fellow man; in this case his fellow athletes.
Not that I expect today's athletes to become historians or social activists, but a little political awareness would be nice. A little personality would be kind of cool. A few thoughts on the state of the world would be most welcome. Anything to show that there is more to the world than swimming laps in a pool.
---------------------------------
ps: In the 60 Minutes piece, Phelps is shown in his $1.1 million waterfront condo in his hometown of Baltimore. One point one million? For a guys whose net worth is probably in the tens or twenty of millions of dollars and is only going to grow and grow? Why the heck doesn't he just live with his Mom for crying out loud! If I had ten million in the bank, I would certainly find a more interesting place to live than a million dollar cookie cutter condo in Baltimore. Jeesus.
pps: I guess Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year was inevitable. Solid choice, but lacks imagination. I would have gone for President Elect Obama, who can play a little basketball and loves the Chicago White Sox, myself. Just sayin'.
posted by joe sweeney at 2:41 AM
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