Up In Smoke
Posted February 3, 2009, 7:54 AM ET

Would somebody explain to me what Michael Phelps is doing?

The star of the Beijing Olympics is making headlines again, for all the wrong reasons. Apparently, he was enjoying the good life while visiting some friends at the University of South Carolina. In the process, he was photographed taking a bong hit.

If it was some 23 year old kid hanging with some buddies, it would probably go unnoticed, but that is not the case with Phelps.

When you are a worldwide marketing star and pocketing millions on endorsement fees, you can't put yourself in those positions. Part of his charm is not only his ability to swim like a fish, but his All-American, "aw-shucks" persona.

Phelps immediately apologized for his behavior, stating it would never happen again. Ironically, he did the same thing as a 19 year old kid after a DUI incident.

It looks like Phelps is just as fast in the backstroke when he's in hot water, too. It also makes you wonder if Phelps was an NBA player, would he be getting treated with kid gloves?

In this day and age where image is everything, I will be hard pressed to believe that Phelps can afford to make another mistake outside of the pool. There are three years until the next Olympiad, and Phelps has a long way to go to keep his nose clean.

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The Super Bowl game was fabulous.

Some folks have debated if it was the best one ever played? I'm not sold on that argument, but what I can tell you is that we've witnessed the best back-to-back Super Bowls ever played.

The past two games (Giants-Patriots and Steelers-Cardinals) were simply fantastic. As I pointed out on radio and television, the games have been so good, that we don't even bother to talk about the commercials. For years, it was the exact opposite.

Speaking of the commercials, did the Ad Execs on Madison Avenue have a writers' strike? The commercials simply sucked. The suits in New York were so boring that two unemployed brothers created the Doritos commercial which was voted as the top spot in the Super Bowl.

There wasn't a single commercial that would be considered a classic. Considering NBC generated nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in ad revenue, you would figure one commercial would have grabbed your interest?

I thought The Boss was great during the halftime entertainment. Same goes for Jennifer Hudson's rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Al Michaels and John Madden provided a solid job in the booth and NBC's cast of thousands filled an endless pre-game show.

I could have done without Al Roker and the same goes for President Obama's take on a college football playoff. Somebody needs to get Roker and Ryan Seacrest together, and ship both of them a one-way ticket to somewhere else but my television set. While we're making requests, I thought President Obama was going to cut a deal with the creepy Matt Lauer. If he asked the President Obama one more question about his Blackberry I was going to scream. Hey, Barack, just hand him your number and kick him out of the White House.

But otherwise, it was a very enjoyable day of pro football. It also proves without a doubt that the NFL is the best thing going in pro sports.

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I was happy to see Jerry Richardson receive his heart transplant. Hopefully, there are no complications from the surgery and he can lead a normal life.

While Jerry received a new heart on Sunday, Mabel Paulus' heart gave out. You see, Mabel is my wife's
grandmother, and last month she turned 100 years old.

She was a marvelous lady with a quick wit...even at 100 years of age. She loved watching her Atlanta Braves, but there is no doubt she is in a better place.