Hello Sports Fans!
I have to admit something un-American. In recent years, I have let my interest in the Olympics wain. It’s become like the drugstore…I’ll go when I need something. Well I needed something this time and his name is Michael Phelps. Obviously I am not alone. The ratings for this Olympics ,even with the time difference and all the ways you can see it besides TV, have been great! However, you have to admit that most have been tuning in to see if Michael would break Mark Spitz’s record. He did and we cheered and those of us with two X chromosomes (and some with a Y) took some time out to shamelessly check out the merchandise. I hate to admit it, but what he’s selling I’m buying. What’s he selling? In my opinion good ol’ fashioned American sex appeal. You know the wholesome guy next door. You know the guy that back in the day threw the paper or mowed your parent’s lawn or was the high school quarterback . The good-looking-( but didn’t really know it which made him that much more appealing) guy. One of the boys who’s loved by the girls because down deep he’s a good guy. Popular as he is, it’s not going to his head. He’s the hometown hero that still says please and thank-you and holds the door open for ladies.
Now before I go any further with this let me state for the record I don’t know Michael Phelps, save for pictures and interviews. I have never met him or anybody that has met him so part of my musings are just that. It’s the impression that I get of him with some of my personal fantasy heaped on. I’m sure he has flaws like the rest of us and the media will find them and splash them across every tabloid in the supermarket. However, for just a little while longer I would like to bask in the golden glow of his 8 medals and remember a time when sex appeal wasn’t all style with no substance. I’m sure the day is coming that he’ll hit Hollywood with his posse and there’s a You Tube video of him locking lips or worse with some model/actress/whatever while chugging booze straight out of the bottle before passing out and being carried out to the limo. Some will applaud, some will laugh and many of us will be dissappointed. Whatever. Call it old-fashioned but right now I want to have a schoolgirl crush on the cool boy next door who’s an American hero who doesn’t know this girl is alive. Go USA!