Pat Dollard | Young Americans

The food police are out in full riot gear here. They are chiding that with childhood obesity being so ‘epidemic’ that for a role model such as historic Olympian Michael Phelps to condone or promote a sugary cereal is sacrilegious!The fact is, IF given the full story, which, for some reason the media and the liberal-minded class seem to prefer NOT to do these days, kids would be given the information of the 8 time Gold Medal winner’s daily work-out routine, as opposed to just sitting around a TV, computer, or X-Box and downing a box of Frosted Flakes and chasing it with a six pack of Mt. Dew.But no … It is much easi—-, er, BETTER to insist only ONE thing contributes to the obesity problem kids have today … That being the evil cereal company that rakes in millions and millions of dollars every year, and has decided to pay some of that to the best swimmer in the world to advertise it for them …Me? I would rather see him on a box of Captain Crunch.

Breakfast of a champion? Frosted Flakes! Phelps signs with cereal

BY RICH SCHAPIRO - DAILY NEWS

You better eat your . . . Frosted Flakes?

Olympic legend Michael Phelps will appear on boxes of the Kellogg’s brand sugar cereal, drawing sharp criticism from health experts worried about the message he’ll be sending to children across America.

“I would not consider Frosted Flakes the food of an Olympian,” said nutritionist Rebecca Solomon of Mount Sinai Medical Center.

“I would rather see him promoting Fiber One. I would rather see him promoting oatmeal. I would even rather see him promoting Cheerios.”

The announcement yesterday that Phelps, 23, winner of a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, would grace Frosted Flakes and Corn Flakes boxes instead of the traditional athlete’s choice of Wheaties left many perplexed.

Frosted Flakes has three times the amount of sugar as Wheaties and 1/3rd the fiber.

This doesn’t matter much to a virtuoso swimmer who consumes 12,000 calories a day.

Still, in a country where childhood obesity is an alarming issue, Phelps’ iconic image sharing space with Tony the Tiger sends the wrong message, experts say.

“For a guy like Michael Phelps who isn’t worried about obesity because he’s burning thousands of calories as an athlete…eating Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes every so often is not an issue,” Solomon said.

The Phelps-emblazoned cereal boxes hit supermarket shelves in mid-September.

ON THE BACK OF THE CEREAL BOX:

Mark Spitz: Michael Phelps couldn’t have beaten me

BY RICH SCHAPIRO - DAILY NEWS

Mark Spitz thinks there’s only one man who Michael Phelps can’t beat.

His name is Mark Spitz.

Spitz, the American swimmer whose record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics Games was shattered by Phelps, said Wednesday that if the two legends squared off in their primes, it’d be a draw.

“I think that the relationship between people that are great is they have a common thread of knowing how to beat their competitors and they know how to constantly be in shape and in top form,” Spitz told the Daily News.

“If that’s the case, I’d know everything about how to beat Michael,” he said. “He’d also know everything to beat me. We’d have to tie.”

Spitz, 58, in town to promote a Hyatt Resorts vacation package, spoke graciously of the 23-year-old phenom from Baltimore who broke the record he set in the 1972 Munich Games.

Spitz even predicted that Phelps could bring in more golds in the next Olympics.

“I believe that he can go for nine,” Spitz said outside Grand Central terminal, noting that Phelps could add the 200 meter backstroke to his extraordinary repertoire.

“But they need to change the order in which it’s participated on that particular day . . . so that he would have more than 27 minutes of rest.”

As Spitz addressed the media in Manhattan, Phelps left China Wednesday on an overnight flight bound for London, the site of the 2012 Summer Games.

There, he’ll participate in the official torch handover before returning to the U.S. for a well-deserved vacation.

“I really want to spend as much time with my friends and family as I can,” Phelps told the Associated Press. “It’s coming up on two months on the road. I want to be able to see them and just relax.”

Phelps’ departure is bad news for NBC, whose ratings have dipped now that the human fish is gone from the Games.

Nearly 40 million people watched Phelps break Spitz’s historic record on Saturday night, raising the average for the day to 31.1 million.

On Sunday, the average number of viewers was 26.8 million. And on Monday, the number fell to 26.4 million.

I don’t know … I’m thinking maybe a higly publicized swim meet between these two to raise money for charity or some such … It could happen.