Crime and Punishment

I have been wanting to rant about this for a while, so I know it is no longer particularly timely. I am sure my handful of readers will bear with me. Michael Phelps (you know that major star of the 2008 Summer Games. Super Swimming Olympian) was recently caught in a picture smoking marijuana at a party. He has since admitted to doing it, is apologizing all over the place and I'm sure you know the rest. What absolutely amazes me is the number of people and articles I have heard/read over the subsequent week or so talking about how Michael Phelp's punishment (at this point it amounts to a 3 month suspension from USA Swimming after which he will still be able to compete in the world championships and Kellogg's dropping his contract as their spokesperson) is overly harsh considering what happened. I have heard everyone from NPR's Juan Williams to Charles Krauthammer to various sports writers express that Michael Phelps is a kid who made a dumb mistake and that he is being overly punished.

First of all, Michael Phelps is an adult. A young one yes, but an adult all the same. Furthermore, 8 people have been arrested in connection with this whole thing. So far, there have been no criminal charges for Michael Phelps. I will admit I don't know if there should be, but it seems that anyone else with any connection to this is facing worse. He broke the law, a 3 month suspension doesn't seem overly harsh to me. The loss of his Kellogg's contract makes perfect business sense. They've reaped most of what they would get from his spokesman role anyhow. With the economy like it is, he gave them a perfect excuse to sever the contract. As for the argument that people have made that they don't think breakfast cereal has a reputation to maintain, try telling that to moms who have to explain to their children why what Michael Phelps did was stupid even though he is a major swimming star etc. etc.

That leads me to my biggest rant. I read a piece by a Yahoo sportswriter (I can't find the piece now, sorry) that said to parents to not be angry with Michael Phelps but to be angry they fell for the perfect sport star stereotype. I think the author misses the boat here. I don't think Michael Phelps is perfect. I do think, however, that it is naive to think Michael Phelps isn't taking a certain role upon himself when he decides to represent the United States in the Olympics and to be a major player in international sports. Trent has to be careful about what he does when in uniform, because his actions in uniform reflect upon the Coast Guard. When we worked at Boy Scout camp, our director always reminded us to behave properly when on road trips, because what we did reflected on the Boy Scouts. That was the uniform we had on. When a person in a Boy Scout shirt litters in Yellowstone National Park, it reflects on the entire organization. That is just how it is. Michael Phelps is not an idiot. Most sports stars know what it means to be a sports star, and they benefit from it in the form of often lucrative contracts as spokesperson for various companies. Why then, if the star does something stupid (and illegal) like smoke pot at a party, does it follow that losing that lucrative contract is overly harsh?

Finally, when I was doing my student teaching etc., I debated with far too many 14 year olds about why smoking pot was a very bad idea even though it isn't addictive. Michael Phelps sets a terrible example given that he is so amazing at what he does. It says, you can do this and still be amazing. The thing is that many young kids don't get to amazing if they start out with that. They get stuck in a world of not caring at all, which certainly doesn't lead to amazing.

I am not out for blood here. I don't think Michael Phelps should never swim again, but I certainly don't think he is being overly punished. Sheesh.