Whenever I see Phelps I think of what a nightmare he would have been to teach. (Like in the classroom, not the pool.)
Don’t like the guy. His “conversion” probably won’t last. All that crap about “fatherhood” is only until the next girlfriend and bar fight.
I get that he is arguably one of the best swimmers of all time. But every time I see him talk it just looks like he doesn’t have any respect for his sport, or the Olympics.
As someone who knows how hard these other swimmers work, that pisses me off.
[QUOTE=StormyDay;8789970]
I get that he is arguably one of the best swimmers of all time. But every time I see him talk it just looks like he doesn’t have any respect for his sport, or the Olympics.
As someone who knows how hard these other swimmers work, that pisses me off.[/QUOTE]
First, it’s not “arguably”. He IS known now as the best swimmer of all time. And how can anyone POSSIBLY make the statement he “looks like” he doesn’t have respect for his sport? So dedicated training to the extent that you medal repeatedly and win every challenge as a swimmer isn’t “respecting the sport”? Oh. Who knew.
I love how the armchair athletes just love to judge and bash people they don’t even know in their moment of well-deserved glory. It’s quite a thing these days. :rolleyes:
It is the Games - you can think what you want, but it is unsportsmanlike to put him down. Sometimes the guy is a bit awkward in public. He has had his ups and downs, but as a kid his mother saw that he had a swimmer’s body and put him in swim to help him.
Phelps is working very hard this Games, he’s in the water in so many races and qualifiers and it must be telling on him.
We have to recognize greatness when we see it.
Not only is he the best swimmer of all time, he beat the odds by retiring and returning at the top of his game. It is almost unheard of for an athlete to come back into training and return to the top of his sport.
Yes, he has amazing stroke mechanics and his “wingspan” probably doesn’t hurt, but he also swims 6 hours day/six times per week and that doesn’t even take into account his dry land training. He swims about 50 miles/week. There is no question that he has worked hard for his success.
I don’t know if he’s someone I’d like to invite over for dinner, but I’m damned impressed with him as a swimmer (I swam competitively as a masters swimmer for about 10 years and know a lot of very successful swimmers).
[QUOTE=TBROCKS;8790108]
First, it’s not “arguably”. He IS known now as the best swimmer of all time. And how can anyone POSSIBLY make the statement he “looks like” he doesn’t have respect for his sport? So dedicated training to the extent that you medal repeatedly and win every challenge as a swimmer isn’t “respecting the sport”? Oh. Who knew.
I love how the armchair athletes just love to judge and bash people they don’t even know in their moment of well-deserved glory. It’s quite a thing these days. :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Rackonteur;8789093]
Laughing and sticking out his tongue during the National Anthem. That’s it for him in my opinion. :mad:
He has previously looked like an ape when he cheers for himself. He made a monkey of himself just now on the podium.
What is he doing at the Olympics? Winning medals, duh. But the Olympics are supposed to be about good sportsmanship, and he doesn’t have it. I’d rather have class on my team.[/QUOTE]
Aw, did the anthem get its feelings hurt? What is the deal here? Gabby Douglas felt she had to apologize after taking a huge amount of crap for not having her hand over her heart while they played the National Anthem? News flash - it’s not required! People are getting crazy with this stuff.
Michael Phelps isn’t my favorite, but I’ve been watching the swimming every night and have seen nothing but him being supportive of his teammates and gracious to those he has beaten. Even Le Clos got a handshake last night.
He’s competitive. There’s nothing wrong with that.
As for his “antics” during the National Anthem? Please. Next time you (the general you) win your 20th gold medal at the Olympics and are standing on the podium while the anthem plays and hear cheers of support from your hometown crowd (like, your SPECIFIC home town, not just the USA/your home country), get back to me on if the emotion of it doesn’t make you burst out laughing or something just as silly.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/08/phelps-laughing-medal-ceremony-orioles-friends-baltimore
If you are from Baltimore you know the O in the national anthem stands for orioles as far as Oriole fans are concerned --apparently the home town crowd must have hijacked the song at the Olympics .
[QUOTE=TBROCKS;8790108]
First, it’s not “arguably”. He IS known now as the best swimmer of all time. And how can anyone POSSIBLY make the statement he “looks like” he doesn’t have respect for his sport? So dedicated training to the extent that you medal repeatedly and win every challenge as a swimmer isn’t “respecting the sport”? Oh. Who knew.
I love how the armchair athletes just love to judge and bash people they don’t even know in their moment of well-deserved glory. It’s quite a thing these days. :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]
He has openly admitted to not training and still winning in 2012. He has had serious addiction problems, and still managed to win in 2012. He himself admits to these things. As someone who understands this sport I find that saddening and pretty enraging that other athletes who trained every day, as hard as they could, lost to someone who was just f-ing around and having DWIs.
Maybe he is the best swimmer of all time. But that doesn’t mean his glory (especially in 2012) is well deserved. I for one believe hard work should always be celebrated over natural talent.
I do have to say I believe he is conducting himself better at these games. But it is still hard to forget the past.
[QUOTE=SillyHorse;8790249]
Aw, did the anthem get its feelings hurt? What is the deal here? Gabby Douglas felt she had to apologize after taking a huge amount of crap for not having her hand over her heart while they played the National Anthem? News flash - it’s not required! People are getting crazy with this stuff.[/QUOTE]
Yeah. It’s a very recent thing. I don’t remember when the custom started, or why, but I never saw it done 'til recent Olympic years. In school we put our hands over our hearts during the pledge to the flag, never did it in school or later for the national anthem. Why anyone would criticize Gabby or anyone else for not doing it is beyond me – I was never taught to do it nor was anyone else I know of my age. Boys were taught to take their hats off; that was all.
IMO an outstanding swimmer, and that adjective does not really describe his results. Yes he’s had problems. Yes he has an ego. But you don’t accomplish what he’s done over his career without work and dedication. Kudos to him.
I watched the medal ceremony, and when he heard the joke or whatever from the crowd, it seemed he tried hard not to laugh but couldn’t totally help himself.
As for his “antics” during the National Anthem? Please. Next time you (the general you) win your 20th gold medal at the Olympics and are standing on the podium while the anthem plays and hear cheers of support from your hometown crowd (like, your SPECIFIC home town, not just the USA/your home country), get back to me on if the emotion of it doesn’t make you burst out laughing or something just as silly
Well, right there is a lot of what is wrong with this country.
People used to have good manners, and part of being adult was growing up being taught how to behave like a grownup in public (especially having the eyes of the world on you).
Not so anymore. Like that fencer who won his event. Pulling off your mask and pounding the playing surface with your fist is poor sportsmanship.
Being an adult means having a little self-control unless extenuating circumstances rob you of it. I have seen enough Olympics and their medal ceremonies to know how ADULTS behave.
Anyone else remember the guy who got the flack for raising his fist during the medal ceremony back in the '60s? These bad manners are nothing compared to that, but they’re still bad manners.
Anyone who has the discipline to train for their sport day in and day out should also be able to exercise discipline when they win. It’s what’s called being a well-rounded athlete.
[QUOTE=Rackonteur;8790799]
Well, right there is a lot of what is wrong with this country.
People used to have good manners, and part of being adult was growing up being taught how to behave like a grownup in public (especially having the eyes of the world on you).
Not so anymore. Like that fencer who won his event. Pulling off your mask and pounding the playing surface with your fist is poor sportsmanship.
Being an adult means having a little self-control unless extenuating circumstances rob you of it. I have seen enough Olympics and their medal ceremonies to know how ADULTS behave.
Anyone else remember the guy who got the flack for raising his fist during the medal ceremony back in the '60s? These bad manners are nothing compared to that, but they’re still bad manners.
Anyone who has the discipline to train for their sport day in and day out should also be able to exercise discipline when they win. It’s what’s called being a well-rounded athlete.[/QUOTE]
Well, bless your heart.
does anyone remember what he had to overcome to get where he is? Seriously, he has issues but some he can’t help…I’m sure he is very socially awkward.
When Michael Phelps was in the sixth grade, he was fidgety and had trouble paying attention in the classroom. His pediatrician diagnosed him with ADHD and prescribed Ritalin. Michael took the medication for several years, and it seemed to help. At age 13, however, he decided that he was using the drug as a crutch, even though it did help make him less “jumpy” at school. He thought that if he applied his mind to controlling his behavior and focusing, he could help himself without taking pills. As he recalls in his autobiography No Limits, Phelps felt humiliated in front of his friends when the school nurse came to find him in class to remind him to take his Ritalin.
Michael weaned himself off the medication with his doctor’s support, and learned to use the power of his mind to focus on his school work and control himself in the classroom. At this point, his teacher told his mother that her son would never succeed at anything because he couldn’t focus on anything for a long enough time. His mother, too, was skeptical that her son could do well without the Ritalin. Defying his teacher’s and his mother’s grim predictions, Michael Phelps went on to become the most decorated athlete in the history of the Olympics. He had found in vigorous and disciplined swimming a solution for the nervous energy that made him jumpy and fidgety.
In an interview, Phelps commented, “Your mind is the strongest medicine you can have…You can overcome anything if you think you can and you want to.”
As I write in my recent book, Pills are not for Preschoolers, “Diagnoses like the one Michael Phelps received can even become self fulfilling prophecies. If a child is branded with the label of ADHD, parents, teachers, doctors and other family members will actually come to see that child as having ADHD…Like Phelps’ mother, they will expect that the child needs medication to contol his behavior because they think he has a chemical imbalance or some such biologically based defect. The child himself will come to believe that he has a ‘problem.’”
Of course Michael Phelps had an exceptional gift of athletic talent to boost his self-confidence to take control of his behavior and shake off the label of “ADHD.” But even with his exceptional gifts, Phelps could not beat his ADHD diagnosis if it were truly a biologically-based disease or brain defect.
I think Michael Phelps’ story is worth retelling because it can be an inspiration to children and parents who stand under the shadow of an ADHD diagnosis. Enrolling a boy in an active sport such as swimming, soccer, tennis, and so forth can go a long way in helping him get out his excess nervous energy. Other modifications to the child’s life can also help—like limiting media stimulation, and deciding whether the child’s teacher or school is a good “match” for his personality.
I’m amazed at how many perfect people are on this forum. Who knew? :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=JJ’sLuckyTrain;8789376]
As an Orioles fan, and someone who attended games at Memorial Stadium and Camden Yards, I have to bite my tongue to not yell out “O” during the national anthem.[/QUOTE]
Yelling O is one of my favorite parts of the game. I really love when the Ravens are on the road and you can hear the Ravens fans yell O on the TV broadcast. I know the players love that too, it helps them to know their fans are out there. I mouth the O silently when in an inappropriate place to yell it.
Please, if I won a gold medal in the Olympics I’ll be showing a whole lot of emotion. Screw what polite society thinks. It’s something that these athletes have trained their entire lives for and they deserve their moment.
Your being done with him is also part of what’s wrong with this country.
[QUOTE=Flash44;8789679]
Like others have said, it’s a Baltimore thing. Everyone screams the “O” during the national anthem at ballgames, and other places too. And we don’t say Rio, we say Ri-OOOHHHH!!![/QUOTE]
You got it, hon!
