Originally Posted By barboy ///yea, but 90% doesn't go from that to Olympics and win 7 golds/// True, so why even bring up the 'picked on as a kid' angle? ---better just to concentrate on his real accomplishments like smoking the competition in the water. Who gives a rip if he was picked on-- like I said probably 9 out of 10 kids endured some kind of ridiculing and went on to be productive teachers, community leaders, professional athletes or complete jerks and brutes--- nothing too amazing about that. His childhood does not make him special but his rather heavy necklaces do.
Originally Posted By LadyKluck ^^So I guess that makes me the 1 out of 10 kids that got teased and picked on and oh, grew up to amount to chopped liver. I don't care if some of you don't think he's a hero - he is to me - Michael Phelps has inspired me to be a better person & to stop feeling sorry for myself and the things I never accomplisted because I was too scared or poor or didn't fit in - and if I'm the only person who feels that way about him (and I doubt I am) - so be it! So he's an athlete, so what. He's not the a-typical athlete that we think of that we DON'T want to be roll models for our children like steroid shooting baseball players, football players who run dog fighting rings, or basketball players that cheat on their wives and its alllll ok because they make millions of dollars. I don't look up to people like that and I sure as heck don't want my kids looking up to them either!! OK my ranting is done. Promise.
Originally Posted By barboy ///like steroid shooting baseball players, , football players who run dog fighting rings, or basketball players that cheat on their wives and its alllll ok because they make millions of dollars./// What are you talking about? steroid shooting baseball players--- who despite the numbers will **not** go Hall of Fame and be subjected to Congressional investigations/hearings and IRS audits and perjury charges football players who run dog fighting---who get charged and convicted by the US and sits in jail(good!) basketball players that cheat on their wives--- and get charged with sexual assault ---doesn't sound too 'all Ok' to me.
Originally Posted By barboy Furthermore, now that you opened the door to the old cliche 'role model for children'...... what is more egregious? sex outside of mariage/adulerty or driving a car while under the influence of drugs? Let's see potentially emotionally hurting a spouse or potentially killing a person(s) or worse making them a paraplegic whereby the only communication is by blinking ones eyes.
Originally Posted By LadyKluck All I was saying is if my kid is going to have an athlete as a hero I'd much rather it be someone like Michael Phelps than the above mentioned type athletes - if you wanted to take it completely out of context that's totally fine - but that's all I was saying about it. You go ahead and waste your energy making more out of it then that.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Go check out the pictures/video of this now available on LP. WDW just pulled off the tackiest and most bizarrely out of theme event on Main Street USA I've ever seen. Did the managers of the county fair just pull off a coup in the WDW offices? Who the heck is in charge out there in WDW and is making these types of embarassing decisions? Motorcycle cops and brand new Pontiacs? On Main Street USA?!?
Originally Posted By barboy ///You guys all being American's should have been down at WDW cheering him on instead of debating if he's a hero or not./// You've got to be kidding. Tell me you are joking. Have you been to the US before? We are an extremely geographically large nation. Do you really think someone from Boise, ID is going to grab the first palne out to see some makeshift parade featuring an athlete? Do you really think someone from Trenton, NJ will expend 40 road hrs. and multiple tanks of gas to see a swimmer on Main St.? If one is already scheduled for the World then I'm sure they might pop in to check out the scene and some locals but don't expect some cornhusker to just drop on down to Orlando on a whim from Omaha.
Originally Posted By dshyates I say not just hero, but American Hero. And I'm very proud of him, and proud to have him represtent our country in the games. He is a talented and respectful person who is worthy of being a role model. He is the most decorated athlete in Olympic history. And won the most gold medals in a single set of games. Between Michael Phelps and Lance Armstrong, the U.S. has kicked the bar up in a few sports.
Originally Posted By barboy And he also subjected others to inherent danger by taking drugs and driving. Just think if he put you dsh in a wheelchair or sent another to an early grave--- nothing heroic about that. If that's your hero I'd have to say you have some mighty low standards.
Originally Posted By dshyates Hey, we've all made mistakes. I heard something this week that made a lot of sense. I think it was Biden's Dad who said something to the effect of, "It's not that you got knocked down, everyone gets knocked down, its how fast you get back up." Barboy, knowing your proclivities, are you going to attemp to say that you have never driven impaired? I have been a "smoker" since 1976, and have seen 30 Grateful Dead Shows, 25 Phish shows ansd 19 moe. shows and I am embarassed to admit to which the level of impaired that I have driven. (The '80s were wild). I am all for impaired, but I, knowing what I have done and why, am very against impaired driving. I think since public transport is so lame, that all cab drivers should be reqiired to carry breathalizers, and if you blow positive that should be legally required to take you home (within a 30 mile limit.)
Originally Posted By barboy ///Barboy, knowing your proclivities, are you going to attemp to say that you have never driven impaired?/// 100% never. I would be way too paranoid to even attempt such a thing(paranoid of hurting someone and paranoid of getting handcuffed and spending the night in jail). Either Wife drives me, I walk, take a bus/taxi or I don't go at all--- it's that simple. In fact I am so extreme about this that Wife and I have had many verbal battles over it. She thinks I am way too cautious. One puff or one beer there is no way, no how I am driving.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey <<And he also subjected others to inherent danger by taking drugs and driving. Just think if he put you dsh in a wheelchair or sent another to an early grave--- nothing heroic about that.>> This happened what, three years ago when he was 20? I'm not saying what he did was right, but he was a young guy who made a mistake. When I was his age, I made the same stupid mistake many times, but I never got caught for it. Does that make me less of an example for my students or my niece and nephew? How many of our politicians, including John F. Kennedy, whom many admire and hold up as an American hero, have cheated on their wives? How many have drunk to excess and experimented with drugs in their college days? Barboy, it's a freaking Disney parade for a celebrity. To put it into perspective, a company whose spokesperson is a talking mouse is calling the man a hero. Don't take it so freaking seriously.
Originally Posted By barboy ///Hey, we've all made mistakes. I heard something this week that made a lot of sense. I think it was Biden's Dad who said something to the effect of, "It's not that you got knocked down, everyone gets knocked down, its how fast you get back up."/// You're right about that, and I'm being too harsh on Phelps. I don't think he is a hero wahtsoever but I can see that he has a very nice disposition and has extraordinary swimming talent. He'll most likely handle his celebrity status just fine unlike so many others before him.
Originally Posted By barboy ///How many of our politicians, including John F. Kennedy, whom many admire and hold up as an American hero, have cheated on their wives?/// And those cats are no heroes to me either. Kennedy and Co. almost got us all killed back in the early 60's with some reckless foreign policy decisions. Just because some nut put two rifle shots in him in Dallas doesn't make him heroic to me. I reserve that special status for people like Earl Warren, WWI and WW2 vets and Berry Scheck. There are countless others but that is just a quick example.
Originally Posted By Malin <<< You've got to be kidding. Tell me you are joking. Have you been to the US before? We are an extremely geographically large nation. Do you really think someone from Boise, ID is going to grab the first palne out to see some makeshift parade featuring an athlete? >>> I think in a way to try and win this discussion, you are starting to take coments and twist them around. Do you honestly think I meant by my comments that all American's though out the United States should hop on a plane and travel down to WDW to see Michael Phelps. However if your within short driving distance and proud that a fellow American was able to acheive 8 golds in the 2008 Olympics, than yeah why shouldn't you head down and show your support. Hero or not you shouldn't take away what this man has managed to acheive and if some which to call him a hero, thats up to them.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey ^^^^^Malin, I think barboy needs to take this whole thing a little less seriously. He would better serve us all by directing all of his indignation at something important.
Originally Posted By barboy ///However if your within short driving distance and proud that a fellow American was able to acheive 8 golds in the 2008 Olympics,/// Let's be brutally honest here.... how is an athlete who pulled in 8 golds going to 'make my day' or make me feel better about who I am. And what does the fact that he is US American have to do with any of this. Just because we both just happened to be born in the same country---a country with 300 MILLION no less-- doesn't mean I need to appreciate him any more(or any less for that matter). Frankly I don't care if he is from Uganda, the US or Russia--- it means nothing to me. With that swimmer all I care about is watching him blow out the competition or sitting back and watching a beautiful artist go to work, 'American' or not.
Originally Posted By barboy ///Malin, I think barboy needs to take this whole thing a little less seriously/// I think you're right---- see ya(maybe) over in WE
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 <<<Barboy, it's a freaking Disney parade for a celebrity. To put it into perspective, a company whose spokesperson is a talking mouse is calling the man a hero. Don't take it so freaking seriously.>>> Nikki, that's beautiful, I love you.
Originally Posted By USCSurfer Putting one's life on the line for others is what makes a hero in my opinion. But if they want to give this guy a "hero's" welcome...it's certainly their right to do so I guess.
