Hats off to you, Missy Franklin
January 11, 2012 at 8:04 PM | Posted in Swimming | 2 CommentsTags: London Olympics, Missy Franklin, Scott Cacciola
Missy Franklin is 16 years old and one of the greatest swimmers in the world and currently number one in the 200-meter freestroke and the 200-meter backstroke.
It so happens that there is money to be made in swimming. Michael Phelps makes 5 mill a year and Missy, though no Phelps yet, could make hundreds of thousands of dollars — if she would declare herself a professional. And there lies the problem and why I’ve become such a big fan of hers. If she were to take the money – indeed, she has already turned down winnings – she could not swim for a college team.
As a nice feature in today’s Wall Street Journal by Scott Cassiola relates, she loves the spirit and comraderie of her high school team and she does not want to miss that experience in college. I just love this attitude. There will always be money and we know that it comes and goes. The world is not short of money but we have never had enough spirit.
I’ll be rooting my head off for her in London.
2 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a Reply
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Customized Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
Sounds like Little Miss Missy is stuck in the middle (and in a semantic loophole) between two of our most beloved corrupt organizations: the NCAA and the IOC.
Comment by Brendan— January 11, 2012 #
Perhaps because for me playing on college team was so far out of reach, it holds a great allure. I’d rather swimm for the Stanford or IU swim teams than have the money. Not a doubt about that.
Comment by tommackey— January 12, 2012 #