He’s 23 years old and 23 year-olds make mistakes. However, when you’re earning millions of dollars to endorse kid-friendly products like Wheaties, you really ought to be very, very careful. So, when pictures surfaced of Olympic swimmer and eight-time Gold Medalist, Michael Phelps smoking a pipe generally used for smoking marijuana, he jumped to apologize. As well he should. Said Phelps to the “Baltimore Sun,” “It’s obviously bad judgment and it’s something I’m not proud of at all. I will say that with the mistakes that I’ve made in my life, I’ve learned from them. Every one of them. And I’ve become a better person. That’s what I plan to do from here. It’s definitely... [Read more]

More than 40 years since John Carlos and Tommie Smith made their silent, closed glove, “Black Power” salute at the Mexico City Games in 1968, ESPN has produced a documentary about the act that reverberated throughout the Olympic community and the world–”Return to Mexico City,” which will air on February 15 at 4pm and several more times throughout February. The film talks with Carlos and Smith and reviews the turmoil that followed them after Mexico City. The pair received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPY Awards in 2008. (© Newscom) [Read more]

Mark Johnson (pictured above, left), part of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” men’s Gold-Medal Olympic hockey team is going to share his experience this year as the coach of the 2010 women’s Olympic hockey team. Johnson, who played for Wisconsin during college and for 11 seasons in the NHL, is currently the head coach of the Wisconson women’s hockey team, a team he led to the NCAA title game for the last three seasons, winning twice. Johnson will be taking a year’s leave of absense from his regular coaching duties for this Olympic opportunity. “I just get goose pimples. I just get really excited,” Johnson told the “Associated Press” this week. “It’s going to be a lot of fun and... [Read more]

Glenn “Jeep” Davis, and eight-time Big Ten champion in hurdles with Ohio State and three-time Olympic Gold Medalist, died this week at the age of 74. Davis won Gold in the 400m hurdles in the 1956 Melbourne Games as well as the 400m hurdles and 1600m relay in Rome in 1960. He also holds the Ohio State records for the outdoor 50-yard hurdles (6.1 seconds). After the Olympics, Davis settled in Barberton, just outside of Akron, Ohio, where he was a high school teacher and coach for 33 years. (photo © Newscom) [Read more]

The temperature may be hovering below freezing in Cleveland, but the atmosphere in Quicken Loans Arena was anything but frosty Saturday night for the Championship Ladies Free Skate. A near-capacity crowd watched as 21-year-old, Ohio native, Alissa Czisny won the competition over two up-and-coming skaters—16-year-old Rachael Flatt and 15-year-old Caroline Zhang. Czisny wasn’t perfect. She won the short program and placed third in the free skate, but her elegant lines and graceful style won the appreciation of the well-versed spectators as did her stellar performance after finishing ninth in last year’s competition. Also impressive, if somewhat raw, was Flatt’s performance in the free skate. The long-legged teenager hasn’t... [Read more]