Mark Spitz=Sour Grapes

It's not you - he's basically being a brat about the entire thing.

Sure, it has to hurt a little to see your records being broken, but you'd think he'd be a little excited for Phelps, cause it IS a big deal.  I get the impression that he doesn't think anyone should ever be able to break his record and this is just some sort of unfortunate fluke and everyone should feel sorry for him that Phelps is stealing his record.

Oh, Mark, even if you had showed up "anonymously" I'm quite sure you'd still be able to get some camera time and try to make it all about you...

omg is he serious????

"I never got invited. You don't go to the Olympics just to say, I am going to go. Especially because of who I am," Spitz told AFP in Hong Kong.

or the line about how he would have done it too if there was a 50m free. 

Well at least we can't say the guy isn't being honest but geez, shuddup! 

My... how he really humiliated himself with that interview.  With comments like that he will be quickly forgotten just as soon as Phelps breaks his record.  Who wants to listen to "sour grapes" like that?  It would have been a lot classier to just go and cheer Phelps on to the record.  That would have really impressed me.

Andi

I think my brother had the best observation:

"He's mad because he's about to become completely anonymous."

Guys like Spitz tend to have big egos.  Egos that served them well when they competed.  Probably similar to a guy like Phelps...

That said, doesn't sound like he has anything against Phelps.  The author of the article was clearly interested in one viewpoint of the situation and Spitz (perhaps rightly) feels slighted by not being invited to Beijing.  Read some other comments Spitz has made about Phelps before you start bashing him.  These are from July 2 this year:

"What do I project for Michael Phelps in Beijing?" Spitz said. "A success story for all times sake."

"You haven't seen nothing yet," Spitz said in a telephone interview, two days before he was scheduled to arrive at the trials himself. "He could break his arm before Beijing, but as long as they have some duct tape, they can just tape him back up and he'll swim - and win."

Doesn't sound like he's making it "all about him".

Spitz was in an interview today on the today show.  He seemed genuinely happy for Phelps and excited.  I'm not sure if the interviewer in the article had an "agenda" or if Spitz read the article(s) and didn't like how he came across.  Either way, he redeemed himself!  Definitely no sour grapes...

Andi

 It was almost as if he was tongue in cheek. Seemed scripted. Although he came across as a classy guy....I think he was sour.

yeah he kind of has a reputation for being a tool - even my mom remembered that from the 70s

and today's NYT:

link 

Didn't see the Today show, but did see the interview on ESPN that much of that article seems to come from and he came across as far from gracious.  I can't speak to how the interview may have been edited to potentially twist things around but the words "self-important windbag" popped into my mind.  In the very least he seems rather torn...

bts