Michael Phelps Caught With Bong? From Poker to Pot?

The News of the World Sunday featured a photograph allegedly of 14-time Olympic gold medalist, Michael Phelps, smoking a cannabis (marijuana) bong.  The headline and caption of the photo read, cleverly enough, "What a Dope".

"THIS is the astonishing picture which could destroy the career of the greatest competitor in Olympic history," the paper proclaimed.

That's doubtful. 

Phelps has been sowing is oats ever since winning all those medals in Beijing this past summer.

His first stop:  Strippers in Vegas where the lad looked a little out of place (as if he had never been at a strip club). 

The main stop on his Vegas world wind tour was not the strip clubs or the STRIP for that matter, but rather a learning session with the legendary poker pro, Doyle Brunson, in order to help hone his own poker skills.

Phelps is looking to go pro on the poker circuit and there have been rumors he might eventually wind up as a celebrity poker player fo Doyles own poker room         .

Getting back to the bong...there is nothing to indicate Phelps was smoking anything out of it.  Sure, that's the general purpose of the pipes....but this is a curious kinda guy.  Maybe it was some sort of science experiment. The alleged photo does not even look like Michael Phelps.  But we do love our weekly dose of News of the World, so who knows?

What do you think?  Comment below.