Jeez...... Spitz is full of it.
"Reminds me of myself"
"I could have won the 50M too if they had it"
He should be thrilled that his name is used in every article written about Phelps!
I'll just like to add: Let's remember this is the same press that brings us all the real news like Britney's custody battle, Amy crack addicition and the Heath Ledger Death circus.
Please remember they ask a bunch of questions and put only a few select cuts in. I wouldn't take that as being verbatim or in it's entirety. I could be wrong.
First of all, I believe that Spitz should have been invited to the Games. They are making a huge issue over Phelps breaking his "record" - and it would have been a great PR move to have him there - as well as symbolic - to pass along the torch - if Phelps even ties or one ups him.
Secondly - Spitz has a huge ego from all the hype since he won the 7 golds... listen to him talk in interviews lately - I'm not just talking about his article. That 50 Free comment sealed the deal - he's pretty full of himself!
I will be pretty darn pleased if Phelps ties or wins 8 golds, that way we can MOVE on.
:agree:
So can someone tell me why the Russian swimmer Popoff (spelling) was handing out the bronze medals at the event on Sunday night?
While the silver and gold winners had some Olympic official type (including a woman wearing a Moslem/Muslim head covering handing out the silver)?
So…we're watching the swimming, Phelps just got another gold, yadda, yadda, yadda. They pan in the crowd just before the women's 100 ***, and show Ian Thorpe in the stands. So my question is, who invited him?
Popov is a member of the International Olympic Committee, and he also is president or something of the Russian Swimming Federation. Anyway, he was there as a member of the Olympic Committee, however his being there in the swimming events is on purpose. The lady in "arab" clothes is a former Egyptian Olympic swimmer, also a African record holder in some event.
Kudos to Frank "Skip" Thompson for a very erudite backstory here.
For what it's worth, I think that for all his alleged egomania, Spitz probably did more to popularize swimming in the US then just about any swimmer before or since.
Looking at it purely from his point of view, imagine if you had been the greatest the world has ever seen in any particular endeavor, be it swimming, dog handling, or stamp collecting. Not just the greatest, but a quantum leap above what had existed before you came along.
Then imagine that the bureaucracy that deals with whatever this activity is--FINA, the American Kennel Club, or the World Philatelist Society, for example--was populated by people that loved that activity but were not necessarily all that good at it themselves. And then, for whatever reason, real or imaginary, the bureacratic elements thought you were not being polite enough to them, that you somehow were obligated to stay on their good side, rather than vice versa.
It would be like Mozart being on the outs with the American Association of High School Music Educators.
Granted, it would be nice if Mozart, or Spitz, was world class in every aspect of their respective lives, including magnanimity. This rarely happens. I don't know about Mozart, but in Spitz's case, isn't it enough that he was just world class in swimming? Doesn't that buy him a free pass for life?
It will be interesting to see if the Phelps legacy leads the same "pig in the python" demographic boom of great masters swimmers a couple decades from now that Spitz, I believe, triggered.
Even the wicked get more than they deserve, somebody once said. Being a jerk in middle age, especially in defense of your life's greatest accomplishments that are fast receding into dimming history, seems to me something we should all forgive...
All I can say is thank God he went to Indiana and had "Doc" to mature him a little. I knew Mark when is was eight years old and his "Daddy" used to towel him off in the dressing room. Fantastic swimmer, no doubt, but thank God I did'nt have to deal him day after day. He is one of those special cases where the victories just don't over-shadow is self-rightous self-preceived endowement.
