UNTIL NOW, when people said of Michael Phelps that he wanted it all, they meant he wanted seven gold medals or as much Olympic success as possible.
But it turns out he also wanted it all in a different way.
He wanted the money and adulation he surely deserved as a reward for his years of hard work, and he also wanted to cut loose a little without paying a price.
Sorry.
Phelps, at 19, can't have it both ways.
He can probably - probably - still have all or most of his spoils in the wake of his arrest on drunken driving charges last week, but he can't flout the laws that apply to everyone else.
He can't drink, because he is not of legal drinking age in this country, and he can't drink and drive, because, well, no one should, and those who do should be punished.
Although Phelps might enjoy having an alcoholic beverage now and then, as do a lot of college-age young men, he simply can't if he wants to continue being a star athlete in this country.
He has to be totally clean and sober, in public and private, until he is of legal age. And even after that, he can't drive after drinking, not that anyone should.
If he falls short, companies won't pay him to sell their products, and kids won't take him seriously when he suggests they live positively. The shine on his good name will fade faster than he glides through a pool.
The choice is his. He can have it one way and be a star, or he can have it the other way and cut loose. But he can't have it both ways.
His urges in this episode are easily understood. Phelps spent the past eight years in training, denied many of young life's pleasures, as he mercilessly worked toward lofty goals established when he was 11. Those goals were reached last summer largely because Phelps continued to live as if he were 11, letting his mother and coach control his life.
But now, Phelps is almost 20, old enough to make his own decisions rather than have others make them for him. And after eight years of being denied basic pleasures, he wants to have some fun. You can understand that.
It just so happened he made a particularly bad choice, a whopper, in his pursuit of pleasure. Underage drinking is a huge societal problem. Drunken driving is a deadly scourge.
Phelps was fortunate state troopers pulled him over. He is so young, he was bound to make a mistake, and when he did, neither he nor anyone else got hurt. Any parent of a young driver can relate to that bottom-line relief.
