Michael Phelps proved once again that it's almost always a bad idea to go to a college party after you've earned your degree. After photos emerged yesterday of Olympic record holder smoking from a bong while at a party in November at the University of South Carolina. Today Phelps released a statement saying, "I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again." Many are speculating what action may be taken by sponsors and the World Anti-Doping Agency which lists marijuana as one of its banned substances. Phelps pleaded guilty to drunk driving in 2004 at the age of 19 and was sentenced to 18 months probation. Phelps's diet once consisted of 12,000 calories a day and after the Olympics he admitted to not training and getting antsy looking for something to do. more ›

Ladies, gentlemen, Anderson Cooper: Olympic gold medalist and America's sweetheart Michael Phelps is in town. Sure, Phelps-mania was put on the back burner during that whole election thing, but it has re-arrived, and if you want to stand in his superhuman shadow then you best get yourself over to the Barnes & Noble at 5th Avenue and 46th Street by 12:30 today. He'll be there promoting his new book, No Limits: The Will to Succeed, which documents his entire life up through his big wins in Beijing. We suppose if he can swim at world record speeds, then it makes sense he wrote a memoir in three months. more ›

Last night Michael Phelps (aka World's Greatest Swimmer) faced off with Anderson Cooper (aka Middle-aged Mortal) in the pool, for what had to have been the most well-worth watching segment in 60 Minutes history. The race lasted seconds, but the memories will surely last forever. more ›

Saturday Night Live has returned, and their season opener featured Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, a now-pregnant Amy Poehler reprising her role as Hillary Clinton, Lil' Wayne as musical guest and Michael Phelps as the host (who didn't take his shirt off during one sketch, not one!). more ›

If Michael Phelps is feeling exhausted from his week preparing to host SNL tomorrow, maybe he'll be pepped up by news that hope is on the way: Barack Obama will be making his second cameo on the show's season premiere. The big question of the week though has been which SNL cast member will play Sarah Palin? While both the Phelps-fantasizing Kristen Wiig and newcomer Casey Wilson have been suggested, there's been a shocking third party mentioned: Tina Fey. However, Lorne Michaels is playing coy and only saying that there have been ongoing talks with Fey to appear tomorrow. Also tomorrow, keep an eye out for local comedian Bobby Moynihan making his debut as SNL's newest cast member. UPDATE: According to an NBC source, Tina Fey and Will Ferrell have "been around" the SNL studios. We're also told that James Franco will host the Sept. 20th show with Kings of Leon as the musical guest. more ›

Yesterday there was some excitement on the part of a certain Saturday Night LIve cast member about Michael Phelps hosting this weekend's season opener. However, the NY Times insinuates the athlete may be a bit too tuckered out from the excessive amount of travel he's been doing on a press tour, to deliver a 1st place performance. Oprah appearances! Touching strippers in Vegas! "Wooden introductions" at the VMAs! Ringing the opening bell at the NYSE! Oh my, oh my. Surely the shiny new eight gold medals and $1.6 million advance to write a book make it all worth it, but everyone is asking how he'll do on Saturday.

“I’m more excited than nervous,” said Phelps, who was hoping to squeeze in a three-hour nap before attending his first S.N.L. production meeting Tuesday afternoon. more ›

This Saturday night the Greatest Athlete of Our Time, Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps will host Saturday Night Live. He joins the ranks of many other athletes who have hosted the show before him, but will he be a fish out of water on the stage? (Sorry.) Since he's America's favorite son now, he'll be adored no matter what, and castmember Kristen Wiig is so excited for him to host that she told People: "He's gonna be naked in all the sketches I write, for sure." Maybe he won't be naked, but you know there will be some gratuitous ab shots in there. more ›

There are some really cute quotes from kids who got to swim with Michael Phelps at the McBurney YMCA yesterday. A little girl who told the Sun that Phelps is "the fastest swimmer in the world" said of her own speed, "I don't swim fast or slow — I'm just medium." The NY Times overheard children saying, “I want to ask him if he can make more medals, really" and “He was like a person who was as great at swimming as a shark" while an instructor said, “This made, like, all of our years.” Phelps himself informed reporters he had a snack before the press conference (he was presenting a check from Visa to the Y's youth swimming programs), "How much more American can you get than having a hot dog, drink and a pretzel?" more ›

Michael Phelps, 14-gold medal Olympian and future SNL host, was at the McBurney YMCA earlier today to encourage swimming at a young age. He helped present a $20,000 check from Visa to the YMCA of Greater New York. The money will go to expanding its aquatic facilities in Brooklyn and Queens as well as its 2nd Grade Swim program. more ›

The superstar athlete is tapped to host the season premiere of Saturday Night Live on September 13. Other athletes who have hosted SNL-- Peyton Manning, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Nancy Kerrigan, Jonny Moseley, Wayne Gretzky, and Lebron James to name a few--have had mixed luck.(but this Manning "United Way" commercial is great). And the musical guest is Lil Wayne, one of Phelps's favorite musicians. People writes, "No word yet on whether he will be wearing a Speedo." more ›

The end of the year is always overloaded with tributes to how great the past year has been. Luckily in 2008, we don’t have to wait. We can come right out and say that 2008 has been the greatest year in sports. more ›

Yes, Michael Phelps's quest to win eight gold medals has helped give NBC much higher than expected ratings for the Beijing Olympics. And his eighth gold medal on Saturday was a bonanza. According to Variety, "You have to go back to 1990 — when Phelps himself was 4 years old — to find the last time NBC drew a larger aud for a Saturday program. That was with an episode of 'Golden Girls' spinoff 'Empty Nest,' which averaged 31.4 million viewers." Viva Dreyfuss! You can watch Phelps' various races here or you can revel in the New Yorker's Nancy Franklin's complaints about the Olympics telecast (Gawker says the review is so curmudgeonly, it "sounds… very New Yorker circa 1990!"). more ›

Wow. Michael Phelps won his seventh gold medal in these Beijing Olympics with a 0.01 of a second edge over Serbia's Milorad Cavic in the 100 meter butterfly, with a time of 50.58 (not a world record, but an Olympic record and a personal best). Phelps is now tied with Mark Spitz for having won the the most gold medals--seven--in one Olympics. more ›

The U.S. Olympics team racked up the medals today. Edging Michael Phelps and his world record-setting ways briefly out of the spotlight were the American women's gymnasts Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson, who won the gold and silver medals respectively in the all-around competition. First-place was determined only after the final rotation--the floor exercise--and Liukin edged Johnson out. China's Yang Yilin won the bronze. Bela Karolyi described Liukin's and Johnson's differences, “Nastia has those long lines and grace, while Shawn is that little fireball constantly moving. They are so opposite, but their outcome and scores are just about the same.” For fun, here's video of Karolyi freaking out (in a good way) during Liukin's performance. more ›

After setting yet another world record last night in the 200m freestyle, swimmer Michael Phelps racked up his third gold medal at these Beijing Olympics. And he has two finals, the 200m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay, which will air tonight in the United States--the 200m fly at 10:18 p.m., the 4x200m relay at 11:16 p.m. more ›

At the National Aquatics Center in Beijing, the U.S. men's swimming team for the 4x100m freestyle relay provided a stirring, come-from-behind win over France in the final moments of the race. While Michael Phelps, who won the 400m individual medley already, is still on track to win eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the real story was the relay's anchor leg swimmer, Jason Lezak. more ›

Frances can not only move, it can remove. Hurricane Frances continues to slowly make her way toward Florida this morning. The hurricane has weakened a bit but is still a dangerous storm. more ›

Think the competition in the Olympics isn�t tough? Just ask Michael Phelps. Phelps swam the 200-meter freestyle yesterday, setting a new personal and American record and still finished third to winner Ian Thorpe (who set a new Olympic record with his 1:44.71 time) and runner up Pieter van den Hoogenband. Amazingly, Phelps third place finish would have been good enough to win the Gold in this event in any previous Olympics. Van den Hoogenband was the defending champion in this event and yesterday�s results could possibly set up the rubber match in Beijing in 2008. more ›

According to the Olympics site, shooting is very popular, "Shooting is considered one of the most popular sports internationally. It requires good physical and psychological condition, as well as technical perfection. It is open to men, women and children of all ages for recreation." more ›

In today's race, Phelps broke his own record in the 400 meter individual medley. The 400m IM, is a four discipline race where the swimmer completes one 100 meter lap in the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and finally freestyle. His time in the race was 4:08.26, .15 second faster than the world record that he set earlier this year. The record is more than three seconds better than Tom Dolan's record of 4:11.76 set four years ago at the Sydney Games. more ›