Phelps Falls from Grace

Olympic golden boy Michael Phelps was photographed smoking a bong at a South Carolina house party and negotiated to have the story buried, the New York Post reports. Phelps' handlers reportedly offered to have the gold medalist contribute a regular column for the British tabloid News of the World and put pressure on sponsors to advertise with the paper in exchange for killing the story, but clearly no such deal was struck. As for the technical merits of Phelps' bong-form: "He looked just as natural with a bong in his hands as he does swimming in the pool," a party-goer recalls. "He was the gold medal winner of bong hits."