PHELPS GETS THE BOOT

Gee, I thought Canada liked athletes who smoke dope. But I guess not.

Maybe it's the Harperization of Canada. Or maybe times have changed, but it's interesting that American swimmer/bong show boy Michael Phelps has been dropped as the keynote speaker at two events in Canada next week.

The promoter cited the Olympic champion swimmer's "widely publicized alleged use of marijuana," according to Associated Press.

Here's text from the AP story:

Power Within Inc. of Toronto, which organizes motivational speaking events, canceled Phelps' appearances at events in Calgary and Vancouver. Power Within initially stood by the swimmer, but has now booked actor Martin Sheen as its keynote speaker for the Calgary event. The Vancouver event will feature Mehmet Oz, a regular on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

"Due to widely publicized alleged use of marijuana by Michael Phelps, the decision has been made to present the program without Mr. Phelps' participation," the company said in statement released to several Canadian media outlets.

A British tabloid published a picture of Phelps smoking from a marijuana pipe at a party in Columbia, S.C., last November. Police said last week there was not enough evidence to charge Phelps, who won a record eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Phelps has apologized for his actions, acknowledging he used "bad judgment" after the photo appeared. Last Friday, IOC president Jacques Rogge said Phelps deserves a "second chance."

Guess the folks at Power Within don't agree.

Calgary we can understand. But Vancouver? Where you can shoot up legally on the street? Oh, I see. That's okay; you can light a crack pipe on the Downtown East Side or fill your arm with heroin, but you can't allow a guy who won EIGHT gold medals at the Beijing Olympics to speak in public because he might've taken a couple deep breaths on a bong filled with marijuana at a private party.

Yeah, that makes sense.

JUST IN TIME

It may not help, but you have to think the folks who are trying to get golf into the Olympics are thrilled to see Tiger Woods teeing it up on the PGA Tour in Arizona this week. Woods has suggested in the past that he wouldn't be keen on an Olympic tournament, but if someone could get him to change his mind it would be a huge boost to golf's chances.