Popping up all over the web this week like so many kernels of overheated corn where revelations that Mark Spitz, the great American swimmer, was overheard saying that he could out swim Michael Phelps.
With all due respect for his Olympic achievements, Mark Spitz has crossed the line of reason and reveals himself as an Arrogant Jerk. Perhaps even a Jealous Arrogant Jerk. Let’s discuss…
In an interview with The Daily News, Mark Spitz was recorded saying that he thinks there is a common thread among people of greatness (not us), and that great people somehow know how to beat their competitors. Having said this, Spitz went on to proclaim (and I quote): “I’d know everything about how to beat Michael,… He’d also know everything to beat me. We’d have to tie.”
Mark Spitz was implying that he could go head to head with Phelps if they both competed ‘in their prime’. I am pretty sure that anyone who competes in an Olympic event is ‘in their prime’, and that the best Spitz could do was recorded during his swim in the 1972 Olympics when he won seven gold medals.
Likewise, I think it is fair to say that Phelps is in his top shape right now, at the end of his run for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Let’s compare…
Phelps has not only become world famous for smashing Spitz’s record for the total number of golden nuggets on his mantle, but he also set seven new world records in the process. The records smashed by Phelps were once held by Mark Spitz. If we match them both head to head we can clearly surmise that Phelps would take him. To be clear: Phelps squashed all the records that Spitz set. Handily.
I don’t think it matters one drop that Spitz thinks he would be all over Phelp’s psychology; I did a little side-by-side comparison for sheer muscle mass and Phelps compares to Spitz’s Olympic physique like The Hulk compares to Bruce Banner. It’s ridiculous.
So, my note to Mark Spitz: Give me a break. I appreciate that you were a hero those 20 years ago, but don’t go trying to take the spotlight from the new guy who just smashed your records and left them to dry with the chamois back there on the platform; the numbers won’t allow it and it makes you look like a whiner. You could not beat him, because you didn’t. We have the ability to compare your performance to Phelps’, microsecond for microsecond, and he just kicked your Arrogant Jerk keester.
