A COSTLY BONG HIT FOR PHELPS

Michael Phelps sucked on a bong, inhaling what most believe was smoke from pot.

Someone snapped a photo, which was published, and now he's the source
of scandal. The bong hit will cost him millions, as he has already
lost his lucrative Kellogs Co. sponsorship.

The response from USA Swimming was swift: Phelps is suspended from
competition for three months and won't receive his training stipend.

"This is not a situation where any anti-doping rule was violated, but
we decided to send a strong message to Michael because he
disappointed so many people, particularly the hundreds of thousands
of USA Swimming member kids who look up to him as a role model and a
hero," USA Swimming officials said in a statement.

Phelps promises to win back USA Swimming's trust.

But why has he lost it? Why did they trust him as a role model at
all? They pay him to swim, not to serve as a symbol of character. In
fact, it's unlikely that anyone that young -- who has focused his
life on one particular skill -- would have a perfect and stable vice-free life.

The publicity and scandal resulting from the bong hit has been severe
relative to Phelps' 2004 arrest, when he was charged with drunken
driving as a minor after the Athens Olympics. He pleaded pleaded
guilty and apologized. That alone should have dismissed any notion of
this great swimmer as role-model material for kids.

Children and young adults should not smoke pot. Life is best when
lived drug-free.

Drunken driving, of course, is far more serious than a bong hit.
Alcohol is arguably a more serious drug than marijuana, a weed that
has been known to kill approximately no one. Unlike some alcoholics,
pot addicts don't go through potentially lethal physical withdrawal.
The drug doesn't make users pugilistic and violent. It doesn't make
people fat, or malnourished, the way alcohol can.

The outrage over Phelps' bong hit has everything to do with the fact
that marijuana is illegal, and most Americans have tremendous respect
for laws -- even laws that make little sense. So it's fitting that
Phelps will pay a price for inhaling from a bong. It's appropriate
that Kellogs won't renew its contract with Phelps, because its
contract was based in a bizarre assumption that Phelps could be a
role model for kids. He can't be. The contract is a waste.

The lesson in this bong hit: Just because someone swims like a shark
doesn't mean that person has a life worth emulation. Fast swimming is
a very specific skill, and Phelps has honed it better than anyone on
Earth. That doesn't mean, necessarily, that he is smart. It doesn't
mean that he's automatically in control of his life. It doesn't mean
that he has no vice. It doesn't mean that he exudes good character.
It means he can swim, and all other character traits must stand on their own.

Children need great role models, and they aren't hard to find.
Introduce them to volunteers at soup kitchens and homeless shelters.
Tell them about the inventors who've made our world great. Teach them
about Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks -- people who won't
show up in tabloids with bongs in their mouths. Teach them that
heroes aren't always cool, young and hip. Teach them the difference
between character and fame.

Parents, swimming parents, cereal companies, and USA Swimming should
all come to grips with the fact that talent isn't the same as
character. Talent and character aren't even related.

Sports heroes, kind of like great rock stars, are seldom good role
models. Phelps isn't a role model for the way kids should live. He's
a model of how they should swim. If we leave it at that, he's quite
good enough.