Assuming you haven't been hidden in a cage over the last week and a half, Sports Illustrated's choice for cover shouldn't be much of a surprise.
That Michael Phelps guy had a pretty good week over in Beijing and galvanized our country unlike any one athlete has for some time. NBC's TV ratings for the first week shattered all of the previous games over the past 18 years, and that wasn't because we simply had to watch men's table tennis or women's handball -- although both are pretty damn intriguing in their own right.
It's also not very surprising that SI chose to go with an homage to the famous Mark Spitz image, showing off all his bling after a week of work in the pool.
Phelps lacks the mustachioed charm of Spitz, but that extra gold medal more than makes up for it. I'd like to think this is one cover person that has no chance of being jinxed, but you just never know.
Fourth-Place Medal also points out that Phelps is likely to be one of just five individuals to grace the cover of SI, Newsweek and Time in the same week.
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