Michael Phelps: The Boy Behind The Wheel

Commentary by Casey Barrett

After a second DUI arrest, a hard look at Michael Phelps on dry land…

This time it’s different. It’s already being lumped in with his past two public transgressions, but those two past offenses belong in a separate category. A dumb decision at 19-years-old, getting behind the wheel after a few too many? Not okay, but not the end of the world either. You and a million other dumb-ass teens have done the same thing, and you hope it’s lesson learned. You hope you recognize how lucky you were that no one got hurt. Transgression number two: getting caught smoking from a bong at age 23. It’s hard even to dignify this with an ounce of judgement. If you have a problem with a kid in his early twenties smoking weed at a party, well then, less power to you.

But this time, for Michael Phelps, it’s a different story. He didn’t get caught making a teenager’s mistake, and he didn’t get caught puffing on something that’s soon to be legal in every state any way. This time, Michael Phelps did something deserving of judgement and the harshest of words. He got S@#T-faced, climbed into his Land Rover, and sped almost 40 miles per hour over the speed limit, charging through the Fort McHenry Tunnel, going 84mph in a 45mph zone, swerving over the double lines as he did it. Then, when stopped, the officer immediately noticed Phelps was plastered. A sobriety test proved it: it’s been reported that his blood alcohol level was almost twice the legal limit.

Then he was arrested, charged, released, and sent sulking home in shame and fear, as Michael Phelps, Inc. spun into Code Red.

Before making clear why this time it’s so different, a note to the moralizing masses: I don’t think Michael Phelps has a drinking problem. I don’t think he’s off the rails or out of control in any get-this-kid-to-rehab sense. I don’t judge him for getting a DUI at 19, nor for unwinding with a bit of weed. And I certainly don’t judge him for enjoying a few drinks. Lord knows I enjoy bending an elbow too. I’ll be as permissive as you like when it comes to recreational drug use, as well. You can judge me for that, I’ll accept my choices, and others’ too. But here’s where unflinching judgement is due:

When you get into your car, blitzed, and blaze down the highway going so far over the speed limit that it qualifies as reckless endangerment. What does that term mean? Well, according to Maryland state law, “this behavior is seen as reckless because it unnecessarily endangers not only your life and the lives of your passengers, but also the lives of other innocent people on the road around you.”

Basically, you’re not just risking your own life due to your own reckless choices, but you’re risking the lives of everyone around you. This is something that they tend to you remind you of a lot after one’s first DUI arrest, when you get the old slap on the wrist, with probation and plenty of scared-straight classes.

Speaking of scared straight, back in high school, when I was swimming for NBAC at Meadowbrook just like Phelps, I lost a friend in a drunk driving accident. The kid was 17. He left a party plenty drunk, and flipped his car over a bridge. I’ll never forget talking to his devastated father at the wake, as he made the rounds through a bunch of dazed teary teenagers, doing his best to keep it together. You probably have a similar story. Sadly, most of us do. Did that keep us from drinking when we got to college? Hell no. But did we think twice before we hopped behind a wheel and sped off into the night with a head full of booze? Damn right.

That’s not to say we always made the right choices. No one does. But when you’ve already been busted and shamed once, and then reminded in excruciating detail how bad those decisions can turn out, then one starts to lose sympathy for your mistakes in a hurry. Going 39mph over the speed limit when you’re hammered does not make you an alcoholic or an evil person. It makes you a selfish little (Explitive Deleted) without regard for the lives around you.

That’s why this time is different. Phelps is well aware of the stakes. He’s made high stakes his career. But outside of the pool, he’s proven, in public transgressions and private ones, that he’s not very good at handling himself on dry land.

The phrase “role model” is always tossed around when star athletes screw up. Like you, I tend to roll my eyes when I hear it. It’s a joke, to label the athletically gifted as role models. Because Michael Phelps is the greatest who ever lived at swimming across a swimming pool does not make him a role model in any sense of the word. In fact, on dry land, he’s done a pretty good job at proving he’s not worthy of the label. Do you remember that great “I Am Not a Role Model” Charles Barkley commercial from back in the 90s? Barkley, like Phelps, has been arrested for a DUI. It didn’t make him a worse athlete, or a less colorful commentator. It just proved that he made a selfish, dumb-ass choice, and he should face the consequences like anyone else.

Before this script is hijacked by Michael “needing help” or “recovering” as he tries to sorry and spin away this event, let’s put it in the wider context of the superstar and his circle. These are men, man-childs, really, who are used to controlling their environments. They impose their prodigious will, and they get the results they want. They do not hear the word ‘no’ very often, and the ones who dare to utter any criticism are soon excommunicated from the flock. They would never believe the phrase “you can’t.” Their response, the one that makes them so damn good on the field of play, is: I’ll show you.

A lovely quality when you’re a master of your environment, the best ever, with a will and a talent that has inspired billions. But it’s a very ugly quality indeed when you step away from the play, get hammered, hop in your fancy car, and charge down the highway putting every life in your wake at risk.

Visit Casey Barrett’s Caps and Goggles blog to read more of his insights on swimming.

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emelyn
emelyn
9 years ago

Great article, you nailed it.

Geoff
Geoff
9 years ago

Recreational drug use is not a victimless crime. You may toke it up without guilt, but talk to the thousands of innocent children and parents who are murdered by drug lords throughout North and South America. Now, with that out of the way, you’re right on everything else.

Evan
Evan
9 years ago
Reply to  Geoff

I’m sorry but that is a really ignorant stance on the topic…

Jimi
Jimi
9 years ago
Reply to  Geoff

I don’t believe the majority of marijuana production comes from other countries. If you’re talking about other “harder” drugs then sure.

Viv
Viv
9 years ago

Love the article! He made a really dumb choice when he decided to drive his SUV, but it does not take away that he is the best swimmer ever.

BW
BW
9 years ago
Reply to  Viv

Not putting the toilet seat down is a dumb choice. Driving drunk is illegal and kills innocent people. Personal choices absolutely tarnish people’s greatness, ask Barry Bonds, Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods.

BW
BW
9 years ago

While I agree with some parts of this, there is a part I think the author sorely misses. All successful people (sports, business, politics, etc…) are role models. Whether they like it or not you can’t stop kids from knowing about them and looking up to them. Yes, parents are responsible and I take full responsibility for how my son is parented. BUT, I can’t stop my son from hearing about the successes and failures of athletes like Michael. It does impact him, especially if there are no consequences from the governing bodies. What he (can possibly) learn is that you if you are successful, you can do what you want and there are no consequences. He knows Michael is not perfect, but Michael and athletes like him definitely pass on an influence that cannot and should not be denied. Now, I’m off for a long conversation with my 12 yr old about how life hopefully really works.

Tomás
Tomás
9 years ago

Events like this expose the risk multinational companies irresponsibly assume by portraying their sponsored athletes as role models in life

Leander
Leander
9 years ago

It is really extraordinary that anyone would jump behind the wheel at twice the legal limit and then go speeding down the interstate in 2014. This is not the case of someone who drank three beers instead of two and was just barely over the limit. This is also not a case of someone driving reasonably rationally even though legally intoxicated, which is possible even though it’s quite properly illegal because your reaction time is slowed down. This is the case of someone who decided to get fairly intoxicated and then decided to jump behind the wheel and speed off into the night and was then not able to keep his car in a traffic lane. He made half a dozen bad decisions here, and he’s really lucky he didn’t kill himself or someone else. IMHO, the question should not be what the national swim team should do. The question should be how long he is going to be a guest of the Commonwealth of Maryland. If he really wants to accept responsibility, then he should plead guilty to all the charges and then not contest a strict sentence.

Mike Biltonen
Mike Biltonen
9 years ago
Reply to  Leander

He is not MY role model. He is an incredibly gifted swimmer who has made a series of horrible decisions that are overshadowed by his success. He shouldn’t be punished by USA Swimming unless there is something in their By Laws that requires them to punish common lawbreakers (its not like he used EPO or anything, that we know of). He should worry about jail time. What really worries me is wondering about how many of these episodes he has gotten away with and who knew about it. What worries me is not whether he’ll win more gold in 2015 or 2016, but what his life will be like in 2017+ if, in fact, he does have substance abuse problem. This guy has focused on nothing but swimming for 22 (?) years — he needs to get away. He has nothing to prove. Let someone else step to the plate and take over — if they can. He has a long productive life (hopefully) ahead of him; get help, now! USA swimming has way more to gain by helping and promoting the next generation, not Michael Phelps. As Lochte said: Dumb Decisions!

Carrie
Carrie
9 years ago

I couldn’t have said it better myself!

nikki
9 years ago

Agreed Leander!

danyboy
danyboy
9 years ago

An additional worry we come to see in all these top athletes gone bad, or with a bad choice is; they seem and are so lonely at the top. Why didn´t anyone convince (even force) Michael to take a taxi?, or offer to take him home?. Remember that commercial where a guy watches a drunk guy trying to open his car?, and he offers to take the keys, and when the drunk guy gives them, he throws them like a mile away?. I guess people just think these people are so, so high they can´t be touched, they are always right in their decisions, and would rather step aside, than lend a hard hand on their behavior. Hope he finds the right help soon.

Simon
Simon
9 years ago

Well he is sort of a rolemodel to me, by being the best swimmer in the world and human!
That being said, Phelps diden’t really have a choice in the matter of becomming whatever model he is or not. It is not like he had the choice of saying “I will not be a rolemodel” and still want to unfold my abilities as a swimmer – like thousands of other swimmers.
So lets not put people up on too high a pedistal, by calling them rolemodels and then exspect them to live up to a higher standard than the rest of us.
Let him take his punishment like anybody else, and then lets get back to our lives and he can get back to doing what he does best.

shaniqua
shaniqua
9 years ago

This man is dumb, period. Dumb and very lucky to have not killed someone. Why anyone considers him a role model is beyond me; aside from swimming fast, he has proven to be inarticulate and not very interesting at all. It is more a reflection of our culture to see all the sycophants flocking to his defense when the more rational response would be an outcry to have him serve time for his offense. When he’s not in the pool competing, he bores me. And now he scares me.

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