Phelps Poll!

He should be prosecuted like anybody else (ie no preferential treatment, nor extra severity, just because he's a celebrity). As a completely separate issue: He should lose his sponsorships IF THAT'S WHAT HIS SPONSORS DECIDE IS IN THEIR BEST INTEREST - its a business decision - and, consequently, none of our business.

I thought some of you might be interested in this article. It seems that Phelps picked up that new Land Rover he was hinting about. www.swiminfo.com/.../8405.asp

Originally posted by emmett He should be prosecuted like anybody else (ie no preferential treatment, nor extra severity, just because he's a celebrity). As a completely separate issue: He should lose his sponsorships IF THAT'S WHAT HIS SPONSORS DECIDE IS IN THEIR BEST INTEREST - its a business decision - and, consequently, none of our business. I am joining Emmett on that one - he should be applied just the right amount of punishment to that anyone in that situation would be regardless of if they are a celebrity or not.So the poll should probably contain something like:he should get fair punshment and his endorsements should be considered by the companies sponsoring him.

Originally posted by 330man I thought some of you might be interested in this article. It seems that Phelps picked up that new Land Rover he was hinting about. www.swiminfo.com/.../8405.asp There was a quote in this article from a Masters swimmer. If everything I had done at 19 was on the news, I would not have a future. I think this is up to the judge to decide.

Innocent or guilty, the middle option is still a valid choice.

Yes, he messed up big time. Yes, he should be punished. I do feel sorry for him to some degree though! As we all know...learning through your mistakes is tough. I'm sure he has felt some kind of mental letdown from all the olympic hype and the tour he did afterward being over. He has to "grow up" under a microscope. I think his coach makes a very good point...we should support him now the way everyone did when he was our Olympic champ. Please note...by support, I don't think he means let him get by without punishment. I think he means we need to realize he is human and forgive him. He screwed up. I hope that he will use all this to teach his young..and old..fans that it is NEVER ok to drink and drive.

I think I am going to decide later. He still may not be guilty. George

Since Power Bar has stepped up and provided him with legal support, I doubt he will be getting the full punishment allowed by law. Speedo has also announced that they have no plans to alter their contract with Phelps in any way. I suspect he will get off pretty easy and make the best of a bad situation. When is the next big swim meet? FINA Montreal? By then this will all be a distant memory for the American public.

I think we are kidding our selves to think there won't be any preferential or special consideration with how they treat this situation. Being a celebrity could force the decision's in this case to go either way - no consequences at all or the maximum punishment. I hope there are reasonable head's involved with this and we and Phelp's can all learn and progress from this mistake. This is a great time for USA Swimming, college swimming, and high school swimming to use Mike's celebrity status to educate our swimmers on the consequences of our decision's in life. Speaking from my own youthful mistakes from 20 years ago, in a similar situation, my prayers go out to Mike. This is not an easy situation, but a lot of good can come out of it as well.

He made a mistake... Those things happen to a lot of people. The kid is only 19, he's going through a ton of stuff that even very mature 19-year-olds aren't really equipped to deal with. I bet most 45 year olds would have a tough time with everything that comes with suddenly being so high profile. I'm more interested in seeing how he handles things from this point on, rather than what happened in this one incident. Nobody is perfect. People that I admire the most are those who put forth the effort to learn from their mistakes.