The Assy McGee Award® for February 9th, 2009, goes to Baptist Press staff writer and Townhall contributor Kelly Boggs, who is OUTRAGED at Phelps, both for his visit to Pete's Couch and for his past DUI. A Righteous Snippet:
Kellogg's has already announced it will not continue its endorsement deal with Phelps. A company spokesman said that Phelps' recent behavior is not in keeping with the company's image. Any company that is forking over big bucks to Phelps has every right to expect him to behave in a fashion that will not reflect poorly on the company.
As for Kelloggs. What banality that cereal company has manifested. Hopefully the consumer backlash against these asshats will be strong. American public opinion on marijuana use in general is surprisingly removed from the draconian laws and from the stigma that some in the media wish to maintain. So we will see.
Unsurprisingly, Seth Myers nailed the right way of looking at the Michael Phelps Rhetoric on the most recent SNL.
6 comments:
You should have seen Ann Curry's reaction on the Today Show when one of her colleagues mentioned that Phelps was suspended for three months. (This was sometime last week.)
She got a confused look on her face and quickly straightened her neck, as if to say "Really?!" I laughed. More people should react this way to the media's over-blown reaction to the photo.
The whole thing is ridiculous.
While I agree that the media has overblown this thing, I also feel like someone needs to be the voice of righteousness here. I don't the IOC has any business getting involved; Phelps was clearly not doing any sort of drugs during the Olympics or during the extensive training and competition period leading up to the Olympics. But if USA Swimming wants to ban Phelps from competition for three months and if Kelloggs wants to drop his as a spokesperson, they are fully within their rights to do so, and I don't think either of these things is an overreaction, especially not Kelloggs.
And before everyone on TRS goes over the deep end on me, here's why. Phelps, whether he likes it or not, is a role model to a lot of little kids. While I certainly think there are a lot of worse things he could do to taint his image than to smoke pot at a private house party where some total asshat took a picture with his (and yes, I'm totally assuming the asshat was male) cell phone and then sold it to the highest bidder, he did do something illegal (as a side note, he should have attended a college party in Canada, where smoking pot is legal). Further, considering he is a public person, he did something immensely stupid. There are, unfortunately, consequences to his actions, and he is currently facing those consequences. I give Phelps lots of props for handling these consequences with dignity and humility, and as a mom (yes, I'm breaking out that one), I'm glad that he's facing the consequences so well. If Wild Man were older, I would likely try to use this as a learning tool to say that very thing: Phelps made a mistake, he screwed up, and now he is facing the aftermath. That's what happens, guys. We screw up and we have to handle the aftermath. Frankly, I think there are lots of other athletes who could learn a thing or two from the way Phelps has handled this whole overblown situation.
On a different note, how about An Assy McGee Award to the loser that took the picture in the first place. I mean, it isn't as if Phelps were on the streets of NYC toking up. He was in a private home. I actually think the DUI he got 4 years ago was way worse than this.
m:
Did ye see Seth's tirade in the SNL clip? Harrogate thought he handled the whole role model question nicely, by telling parents to tell their kids, you can smoke pot just like Phelps, as soon as you win 12 gold medals for your country.
His comments on Kelloggs and the IOC suspension, meanwhile, are both trenchant and funny.
And in response to your second comment: Seth totally gave out an Assy McGee Award® to the photographer.
I did not see SNL, but I take you at your word that I would have been both amused and pleased with the comments.
M:
To obliquely channel Ronald Reagan (hahahahah) Harrogate appreciates your Trust in his word, but the clip at the bottom of the post will Verify.
:-)
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