Caption this: Phelps at the White House

Very Funny from www.si.com

Welcome back to the latest edition of Caption This. That’s Michael Phelps on the top left shaking hands with President Bush today at the White House. Swimmer Garrett Weber-Gale looks on at the top right. Bush hosted U.S. Olympians and Paralympians today in Washington.

Here's a Sweet 16:

“Jenna wanted me to ask who does your bikini line.” (Finsterbaby)

“Mr. Caliendo, can you do your John Madden impersonation for us?” (Tim in NY)

“After engaging in the soul shake, President Bush realizes that once again he has no exit strategy.” (Marshall K.)

“Michael Phelps lends a drowning man a hand.” (Martel)

“President Bush was fined by Nike, now the Official Sponsor of the White House, for failing to appear in public in appropriate attire.” (CavemanHC6)

“So Michael, I've got this new strategery. It involves a lot of food and some hot chicks. Are you in?” (FGB)

“Gold-medal Olympian Michael Phelps greets President Bush as the Quadruplemint Quads look on.” (Kari)

“The Olympic team realizes that Bush really has been asleep the last seven years.” (kawalski)

“Michael Phelps thanks the president for his policies that led to the rise in the price of gold.” (ahegel)

“After stumbling through their handshake, President Bush finds out that Michael Phelps is actually a member of the Bloods.” (Munkcy)

“No Mr. President. YOU sink, I swim.” (Rickapolis)

“CinC or swim: you decide.” (Mr Adams)

“Michael subtly slips a medal for the dead man's float into Bush's jacket pocket.” (Tom, hopping along)

“The woman in front is clearly an Obama supporter.” (Barzhac)

“Yes, Mr. President, I can hold my breath for a long time, but not long enough to swim down and rescue your approval rating.” (jaxBears)

“No sir, you can't use my eight gold medals to save the economy.” (SeanNJ; many others mined a similar vein of gold including Tim in NY, CavemanHC6, Munkcy and Barzhac)

The Top 8 Olympic MOMENTS

Eight moments to remember By Alan Abrahamson, NBCOlympics.com

BEIJING -- The magic of the Olympics is in those moments that make memories. Here, in the spirit of the 2008 Olympics and the number that's said to be auspicious in Chinese culture, are eight to take away from these Beijing Games:


No. 1 Phelps' primal scream
Jason Lezak, swimming the anchor, turned in the fastest relay split of all time, 46.06, to give the American men's 4x100m relay team the gold medal over the French in the most exciting, harrowing, unbelievable relay race ever -- immediately and indisputably one of the greatest sports moment ever. The victory marked the second of the eight gold medals Phelps would win at the Beijing Olympics. And up on the deck, Phelps -- amid teammates Garrett Weber-Gale and Cullen Jones -- let loose with a scream of sheer exultation.

No. 2 Usain Bolt's 100m celebration
It's not supposed to be possible to win the glamour event of the Summer Games when, seven full strides from the finish line, you break form, lower your arms to your side, look around and then, as you cross, do a chest-bump thing to signify not only that you've won but done so in world-record time, 9.69 seconds. Usain Bolt of Jamaica did all of that -- the first of three finals, all gold medals, all world records.

No. 3 Kyle Bennett's gnarly crash
In a preliminary round BMX moto -- moto is what they call a heat in BMX, which made its Olympic debut in Beijing -- Bennett was involved in a five-rider pile-up at the first turn. That turn produced crashes in eight of the 12 semifinal heats. Bennett's wreck left him with a dislocated shoulder. He was down for a long time, then got up, waved off the doctors and, his arm out of the socket, rode the rest of the course, steering with one hand, finished the race.

No. 4 Dwyane Wade to Kobe Bryant
The U.S. men's basketball team, out for redemption, laid a 23-point preliminary-round beating on Greece -- retribution for a loss at the 2006 FIBA championships. The victory produced a play that underscored the athleticism, talent and bravado of the NBA stars on the U.S. team. In sequence: Dwyane Wade steals the ball. Wade's momentum carries him out of bounds along the wing edging toward halfcourt. He nonetheless has the quickness and court awareness to fire an alley-oop -- sideways, no less -- to Kobe Bryant. Who finishes with a monster slam.

No. 5 Roger Federer's joy
The Swiss tennis star, with Stan Wawrinka, won Olympic gold in men's doubles. After all the money, all the titles, the fame, the glory -- Federer fought tears during the medals presentation. "Here you have the man who is arguably, with Sampras, the best-ever tennis player in the world. He has won everything. But the medal, the gold medal, he didn't have," International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said.

No. 6 Alicia Sacramone falls off the balance beam
It was a move she had done countless times: up and onto the beam. This time, though, in the team finals, Alicia Sacramone went up and lost her balance and came right back down. She would go on to miss a tumbling pass as well. The U.S. team would ultimately win silver -- the Chinese took gold -- and while the Americans did not lose because of Sacramone, she said, "I think I would feel a little better with myself if I didn't make those two mistakes."

No. 7 Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor were all wet
Playing in a pelting rain, the two American beach volleyball stars repeated as Olympic champions, defeating a Chinese pair, Tang Jia and Wang Jie for the gold medal. On the medals stand, after the match that forever made plain that beach volleyball is athletic competition of the highest rank, way more than just sunglasses and cheerleaders, the two held hands while proudly singing The Star-Spangled Banner.

No. 8 Men's volleyball wins for country and coach
At the start of the Olympics, U.S. men's volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon's father-in-law was stabbed to death in Beijing. McCutcheon stepped away from his job to take care of his family. But his team, stirred by the tragedy, began an incredible run which ended with a 20-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-23 victory over defending champion Brazil -- a team that they were never expected to beat. "It hasn't been easy, not that it was ever going to be easy. But when you throw in the emotional load that the team has had to bear collectively, for them to come through and be this good is a wonderful achievement," McCutcheon said.

Will Michael Phelps Get Rich after these Olympics?

Phelps will get richer, at least in the short term
Companies will want to do deals, but swimming’s national appeal is limited


By extracting a record eight gold medals from the Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps has emerged as one of the most famous athletes in the world.
For days, stories of the U.S. swimmer’s successes were splashed on front pages from Asia to South America; he was the talk of network morning shows and innumerable blogs. At least 40 million in the U.S. watched Phelps nab two of his gold medals on television Aug. 12, millions more than turn on a World Series game.
Now that Phelps is the signature athlete of the Beijing Games, he faces another challenge — joining the ranks of sports’ marketing giants. Though his well-known name and affable personality will generate sizable endorsement pacts by year’s end, can the 23-year-old reach the heights of golfer Tiger Woods (more than $100 million in endorsement income in 2007, tops among U.S. athletes, according to Sports Illustrated ) or even Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (around $25 million."It is possible but unlikely for the simple reason that swimming commands our attention only once every four years, while Tiger and LeBron enjoy weekly, even daily coverage during their respective seasons," said John Davis, a professor of marketing at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at Singapore Management University. His book "The Olympic Games Effect — How Sports Marketing Builds Strong Brands" was published this month.
"Swimming is really not the topic of our typical sports conversations once the Olympics end, so sustained visibility will be a challenge for Phelps," Davis added. In fact, once the Olympic torch is extinguished, football — both college and pro — will dominate the national conversation.
At the same time, Davis notes, Phelps' accomplishments are so stupendous he will attract a slew of suitors.
"Companies that become sports sponsors, whether of athletes, teams or events, want to associate with greatness," he said. "We love good stories, and Michael Phelps is one of the best, so he is a natural attraction for companies."
Ironically, the firms who may get the biggest boost from Phelps could be the ones who signed him up before Beijing and his eight golds. Visa capitalized quickly by releasing a "Go World" ad after Phelps captured his 10th Olympic gold medal overall, and Speedo has likely received more than a million dollars in publicity from its stunt to give Phelps $1 million if he tied Mark Spitz' 1972 mark of seven gold medals.
According to Joyce Julius & Associates, only days into Phelps' record-setting run, his corporate backers such as Speedo and Nike had already received $9 million of exposure value during primetime NBC broadcasts (shots of his swim cap and other apparel constituted the majority of the publicity). Firms who ink a deal with him in the next few weeks will not see a payoff from swimming events for years — Phelps will rarely compete on national television until the London Olympics in 2012.
How long will Phelps last as a marketing phenomenon? Davis believes he will be attractive for at least a year, as long as he avoids controversy such as his DUI arrest after the Athens Games in 2004.
"For Phelps to have staying power his agent needs to work overtime to place Michael on the various shows (Letterman, Leno, and so on) while, at the same time, not saturating the market with Phelps," he pointed out. "It is a tough balancing act."
Phelps could try to go beyond endorsements into the world of Hollywood celebrity. That's the route his predecessor Spitz — who also earned millions by promoting Schick and other products — took after capturing seven golds in Munich. But Spitz was roundly panned for his spots on TV shows and the like, and Phelps may want to avoid an acting career he is not cut out for. Aside from endorsements, the Olympian may be best off collecting enormous appearance fees (probably $50,000 and up) and getting royalties from posters showing the eight golds draped around his neck (a la Spitz in the 1970s).
During eight races in China, from butterfly to freestyle, Phelps matched the pre-Olympics hype, an extraordinary feat. Had his talents been applied to a different sport, he might have ended up as one of the top 10 most marketable athletes in the U.S. No doubt Phelps will earn $10 million or so in the next year from his heroics — a record among swimmers — but stars like Woods and other athletes will remain the top medalists in the marketing game.

World's Greatest Athletes

World's Greatest All-Around Athletes
He did it, alright. After months of speculation, swimmer Michael Phelps managed to win eight gold medals in these Olympics, leading many to proclaim him the greatest Olympian of all time. Perhaps, but where does Phelps rank today among the greatest all-around athletes in the world? Here's my top five list of the world's best all-around athletes...

1. LeBron James: At 6'9" and close to 280 pounds, LeBron James has the size of an NFL lineman with the speed of a running back. He can jump over just about anything in his path, has terrific vision and an incredible set of hands for a guy his size.

2. Tiger Woods: OK, so put him on a baseball diamond or football field and he might not stand out, but hand him a club and put him front of millions of people and watch him shine.

3. Michael Phelps: I know, all he does is swim in a straight line. But he does it better than anyone else in the world ever has.

4. Roman Sebrle: I'd never heard of Sebrle before about ten minutes ago. Not only is he leading contender to take gold in the decathlon at the Olympics, but last year he was impaled by a javelin, which he ripped out himself, and then he won gold at the Worlds just months later.

5. Michael Vick: Yes, he's locked up at the moment, but I'm willing to bet that were he in great shape, he'd still be the best all-around athlete in the NFL.

Who do you think is the world's greatest all-around athlete?