Phelps-mania

I feel a little guilty being part of Phelps-mania, with all it's crazy obsessiveness, but I feel that I'm at least a bit justified by the fact that a) I knew who Michael Phelps was before all the mania began and b) I swam in high school and college so I would have been watching every waking moment of swimming on the Olympics whether Phelps was winning 8 golds or not. Irregardless of my reasons, I have been swept up in the fun of the fact a swimmer is getting all the attention, and a very grounded one that is swimming for more than just to win gold (if you saw the interview with the guy who won the Men's 100 meter track race vs. the interview with Phelps and his coach you will know what I am comparing him to). I've watched all the interviews, all the short segments, and of course all the races. And by the time he got his eight gold I was quite excited that I had been part of the mass public that followed his every waking moment. I do however have a problem with Phelps-mania as it really minimizes the actual work that went into what he did so that they can maximize the rating. In fact, yesterday as I was browsing the NBC site I saw this picture which I decided pretty much summed up Phelps-mania. Notice you can barely even find where he is in this picture, and notice he is paying attention to his mom and sisters, not the cameras that are trying to crush them.

I also found this incredible picture of the relay exchange between Phelps and Lezak on the last relay. As I looked at this one I decided that while most people would not find this the most interesting of the million pictures of Phelps available, this tops the list for me.


So while I try to not be crazy, I do believe I am a Phelps-addict.