05 August 2012 | Is the Michael Phelps Olympics Show Over Yet?

I don't want to be one of those guys who delights in putting others down, especially like this writer of Salon.com, who just needed to write an entire essay bemoaning that Gabrielle Douglas thanked God for her win. But seriously, I am tired of hearing about Michael Phelps.

I know that the media needs to find a narrative each Olympics, and Phelps fit the bill. Unfortunately for them, they preferred to depict him as a washout, close to retirement, why bother going, and focused their hyper-short attention spans on Ryan Lochte, who was supposed to be the big star, vanquishing Phelps in whatever event they would be in. Lochte graced the cover of several magazines like Men's Journal, to show that He Had Arrived.

I like to call him Bode Miller in Speedos, and that's obviously not a compliment.

Not that Lochte didn't win several medals himself. He thrilled everyone at the opening swimming event, if for anything because Phelps finished fourth place. It was then the media began their relentless countdown to an obituary, except Phelps didn't deliver. He has gone on to be the winningest Olympian in the modern games and all of the sudden, the media rekindled their love affair and started waxing poetic about him. Lochte seems to have virtually disappeared because it's now all Michael Phelps, all the time.

And that's why I've started avoiding news coverage. I don't want to hear about Michael Phelps anymore. He is not the American contingent at the Games. I don't want to hear about how he's now the comeback kid, or some such thing. The way the media globs onto certain people is understandable to a point (because that's what the media does), but seriously, must we hear about him all the time?

Although I do note with some relish how just a few days ago, Salon.com (them again!) saw fit to run an article titled "Michael Phelps is not the greatest."