MOVIE REVIEW "He's Just Not That Into You"  by Mike Smith
LA FLORIDIANA 2008 Was A Year to Forget, But--December was a Month to Remember! Part 2  by William Moriaty
RETRORAMA A Look Back in Wax  by ED Tucker
SPORTS TALK Byron Leftwich Has A Ring, How ‘bout You? .... The New Greatest Game Ever Played? .... Super Commercials? .... Can’t We All Just Get A Bong? .... Texans Violate Agreement .... Other Notes .... ....  by Chris Munger
MATT'S RAIL Bonggate .... Sponsor Loss .... Suspended .... Hang In There Dude  by Matt Drinnenberg
MIKE'S RANT Good Job Honey! .... What's In A Name .... Roy .... Passing On .... .... .... .... .... My Favorite Films, Part 2...  by Mike Smith
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BONGGATE
Boy, I tell ya. You just can't trust anybody anymore. Here poor Michael Phelps is, hanging at a party with his bro's, surrounded by what he assumes are true blue friends, and what happens.....he got Bonged.

Not just when he decided to grace the plastic cylinder to his waiting lips, but also when greed interceded and someone took a picture of him with their cell phone, doing the iconic act.

To be sure this was not the smartest thing Phelps could have done, but the fact is he's just a kid, at least to my standard of being who is discovering the realities of life. And he just discovered a big one.

SPONSOR LOSS
Now sponsors are bailing on the man from Atlantis. Big suprise there. I'm sure no one employed at Kellog has ever smoked pot. Or even more simply ever made a mistake.

UPDATE: Evidently Subway has the stones to be understanding and forgiving. Showing what Kellog lacks: traits that are applauded every day in this country! I'm sure Kellog was just affraid of losing consumers, but still.... can anyone show this poor kid some mercy? Maybe give the guy a break?

Subway can, who released the following statement:

"Like most Americans, and like Michael Phelps himself, we were disappointed in his behavior. Also like most Americans, we accept his apology. Moving forward, he remains in our plans."

Good for them. And while Kellog is no longer in my life plans, Subway will be moreso.

SUSPENDED
Naturally the swim association had to ban Phelps from competition for 3 months. Sure, they had to do something about it. I think this was appropriate considering Phelps had no dates to swim sans one during that span. A slap on the hand. Appropriate penalty for the offense. Good job by them.

HANG IN THERE DUDE
That's my best advice to the Gillman. It will all blow over eventually. And you'll be back on top of the world, loving life.

You also have gotten the gift of knowing who your real friends are. A great lesson, even if learned the hard way.

As for the guy who took the photo, who knows. You gotta wonder about the ethics and decency of someone willing to destroy another human being just for a profit. Shameful to say the least. It isn't like that photo was taken for some noble cause. Maybe those who know 'him' will find out it was him and finally know what he's all about. If they're lucky.

Take care and God Bless

Matthew