The news recently broke that NBC will likely lose money on the Winter Olympics. I don’t understand. Yes, it kind of makes sense that the country is in a bad place economically. But that cannot be the only reason why. I need to ask: Why the hate? I read an article for class earlier today that posed the following question: What kind of person would leave the television on with no one watching?

Hot is a matter of opinion, and in my opinion, Michael Phelps, while an amazing swimmer, is not hot.

Michael Phelps is hot. Now, when I tell people this, I’m always surprised about the negative reactions I get. Is it just me, or has Phelps suffered from fair-weather fans of his attractiveness? I didn’t hear anyone calling Phelps ugly when he was on the medal stand. What’s not to like about the greatest Olympian of all time?

So Michael Phelps apologized—and he got his sponsors back. Over break I had the pleasure of watching a commercial where Phelps got a solid 1.5 seconds of airtime, with nothing to say whatsoever about Phelps’ earlier pot scandal. Of course, all of the pretending in the world won’t fool anyone into thinking Phelps didn’t take a healthy rip from his bong, but the better question remains: Why do we still care? Perhaps the most reasonable answer is that we simply shouldn’t care.

The seemingly ubiquitous love affair with Michael Phelps doesn’t stop at his swimming capabilities—oh, no, that’s just the start. We are captivated by his every move—his boyish smile, his poised remarks and we can’t forget his eight-pack abs.