Michael Phelps: They See Their Sons In The World I Know
How many kids in their twenties smoke marijuana? A lot of them do. They want to laugh and drink and chill with a bunch of their people and not think about anything else.
Seems like a right of passage…passage from young to old, stress to no stress.
Michael Phelps getting caught with a bong connected to his face really doesn’t mean anything to me. I could care less. Do what you do bruh. The problem is how the media will respond. Sponsors are already stuttering their support behind the Olympic world record holder.
Will they be kind or run his red, white and blue name through the mud? I’d expect if this was LeBron James or Terrelle Pryor you’d never hear the end of scrutiny until they were walking the perp walk hog tied and shackled. What do you think? Am I right?
Flow so slow, so I keep my head low
Searching for the next 1000 years of me
G’damnit! ‘Cause joy I desperately wanna see
Stuck in place because the light always shines in my red eyed face
While others do, but nothing seems to happen to their crew
Yeah…even you pass to him who wears silver and blue
As I carry heavy on my back a fat ass docket stack
Olympic Village fun in Beijing sun
Record Spitz run, but Mike it’s only just begun
American shield hides 8 from the media Black overkill
Sure he has puff la skill, just like so many of his age will
Is it Black dark, or White light
In the World I Know, dark wrong, White right
Cast the sirens away from him!
Sponsors scramble…the green cow will not catch fright
Others red and blue hue dash from the corner asthma attack blunt outta sight
Excuses abound for an aqua angel they’ll always hold one notch above
But…Little Wayne, LBJ and Wade is who he chooses to show love
American made, no White super slave
Nat Turner soldier never caves to the despair of slaves sprayed
Love decayed, objectified, passed over and over until behind bars bird bath bathe
Picture this your honor, he did the same thing Texas probably did in the motorcade
Fuck everyone else they say! Michael is one of us!
No sad mother eyes for him under the Adam Jones media bus
He makes us money! Our wives love to call him their honey, even though his teeth look funny…Dude, is that your nose too that is runny
Shade him from the specter oh new one who is elected
He’s to be respected, not Black like you neglected
Throw those Black motherfuckers all in jail, we don’t care give ‘em hell!
No negative groundswell for the one we all know so well
We put your Black ass in office so rush to fill our mental stability coffers
He’s not of your kind, for he is our son
Yeah, our wonderful son…
The media is at times biased against young black athletes. We all know that. I say leave marine boy alone. We all made stupid mistakes at that age.
MF,
My take: Whitlock creates controversy for his own sake, his own ego’s sake, and his own pocketbook’s sake. An entirely different author could right a very similar column and just be flawed in their analysis. One of those standards that T3 mentions is honest truth seeking. It is a matter of integrity.
As a writer, i can never promise that i will get any particular article just right, but can always promise that I will try in good faith. Same goes for everyone here at TSF or any genuine writer who seeks truth. In my mind that is a fair prerequisite for engaging in discussion, and Whitlock doesn’t pass.
Also, I wouldn’t lump those four names together. On one end, Whitlock get his own special category. On another end, Rhoden is pretty consistent about calling out BS double-standards, and Wilbon and Hill are somewhere in that gulf in between.
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Patrick,
From what I’ve seen — and you know how much I hate them — ESPN is not as guilty as they usually are. They have covered Phelps on all their shows, and have printed daily articles. That is pretty unusual for them. But of course, with that money photograph and who it was, ignoring the story was not an option. Will they investigate Phelps like they do Bonds, Adam Jones, or OJ mayo? Of course not. Investigations are “black-man-only” territory.
But for me the real surprise is the (white) public’s reaction which is so overwhelmingly supportive of Phelps. I mean, if Obama wants do decriminalize marijuana (and he has indicated that he may want to do that), THIS IS THE WEEK! I mean, “High Times” must have tripled its subscriptions this week! never seen so many weed activists in my life…
In principle, I agree with miz and couldn’t care less. In context of how black athletes are treated, Phelps must be grilled. I am for grilling all white misbehaving athletes to the fullest black extent until a tipping point is reached where all athletes are uniformly treated better — which is ultimately the way it should be.
Chuuuuch…
A quote from Michael Phelps:
“If I decide to walk away, I’ll decide to walk away on my own terms. If it’s now, if it’s four years, who knows. But it is something I need to think about and decide what I want to do.”
The short-term media barrage has been intense toward Michael Phelps, and at some point (maybe by the weekend), it the media glare will wane significantly. Many columnists across the country have weighed in on this story and most say give Phelps a break (i.e. a pass). However, there is a splatter of columns that point out the double standard, and that incriminating PHOTO is hard to deny.
Phelps is still in control of his life. (He isn’t in jail nor lost his ability to make a living). He still has his money (millions already in the bank) and despite a temporary suspension (mostly cosmetic to help get the press and so called ‘haters’ off his back), Phelps just want to lie low and ESPN is scouring the police scanners nationwide/AP wires or Dallas Cowboys training facility for the next ‘scandal’ to help quickly pivot away from the Phelps story.
The Phelps story is an uncomfortable story, an unfortunate story. As I had said earlier, his treatment is uncomfortable to most who watch sports. However, he won’t be scarred for life by a overzealous American mainstream media. Phelps will have his second or third chance. Phelps has been the center of attention for a few days in comparison to Barry Bonds or even Michael Vick or even O.J. Simpson in which the contempt and hate has lasted for years and eventually the media tried to influence the government to indict them and not only take their careers, but their freedom. Same thing for Marion Jones. Same thing for Michael Vick. In regards to Vince Young, they tried to take his ‘soul’ with the suicide allegations.
Phelps is still in control of his life because the media will eventually leave him alone with no strings attached..but watch out for those British tabloids! The Olympics are in London for 2012, and that press will cut down everyone..
“If I decide to walk away, I’ll decide to walk away on my own terms. If it’s now, if it’s four years, who knows. But it is something I need to think about and decide what I want to do.”
Matthew this is where all this started with JW.
patrick,
besides the British press, even though the NY daily news is generally trash, I give them great credit because they are the only media outlet that investigate white athletes with the same vigor as black ones