With the Olympics now in his rear-view mirror, Michael Phelps is doing the most American thing of all: going on a reality show.
Thankfully for most fans of the greatest Olympian in history, Phelps won't be trying to secure a wife or bunking up with a bunch of tanning-machine-enhanced, hair-product-addled loons. Instead, Phelps will be the star of the latest installment of famed golf instructor Hank Haney's instructional series "The Haney Project."
''I'm excited about this project with Golf Channel," Phelps said in a statement, "and I'm looking forward to working with Hank and see what we can do together on the golf course."
Phelps thus joins Charles Barkley, Ray Romano and Rush Limbaugh as a student taking very public lessons on Haney's reality show. Haney is best known for coaching Tiger Woods, of course, and remains a visible presence in the golf world to this day.
The series will likely run into eight episodes, and will feature Phelps playing on the world's best courses. (Jealous that a rank amateur gets to play on some of the world's finest tracks? Go out and win 18 gold medals yourself. Doors will open.)
''He wants to win his club championship,'' Haney told the AP. ''He wants to play golf so bad. He'll be all right. It will take him a little while, but he should improve really fast." Heck, he couldn't be any worse than Barkley.
Jay Busbee, Fourth Place Medal