News of the World: Giant Balls of Steel

This is the picture that could kill Michael Phelps' sponsorship deals (and his Olympic aspirations, but hey):
Yes, it's the Boy Wonder smoking a bong. The full story is here.

The most amazing thing for me is this:

Phelps is represented by marketing giant Octagon, which works with huge brands such as Mastercard and HSBC. They admitted proven cannabis use would be “a major taint” on Phelps’ character.

Spokesman Clifford Bloxham offered us an extraordinary deal not to publish our story, saying Phelps would become our columnist for three years, host events and get his sponsors to advertise with us.

In return, he asked that we kill Phelps’ bong picture. Bloxham said: “It’s seeing if something potentially very negative for Michael could turn into something very positive for the News of the World.”

He stressed that the swimmer had taken 1,500 drug tests and never failed one.

Until now?

Wow!!! That is a pretty massive deal they've offered, so Phelps' management must be taking this very very seriously. Having a major, major star like Phelps write a column for you - for free - for the three years leading up to the London Olympics... man... that's a huge offer! And bringing sponsorship with him and hosting NOTW events?? London will be the Olympic City in 2012, so that sort of exposure could have been huge for the newspaper. Whoever made the decision to run with the pictures had to have balls of steel.