So apparently Amanda Beard isn’t allowed to express an opinion that she doesn’t want to date Michael Phelps? That’s the gist of what we’re getting from CNN’s panel discussion on Beard’s radio comments from a couple days back in which she basically said, “No thanks” when asked about a romance with Phelps. When we read about the bit on Deadspin, we assumed she said something much worse than what she actually said,  the worst of which was this: “Eww, that’s nasty. … Come on, I have really good taste. He’s really not my type.”

Burn!

But seriously, what is so bad about that? She’s supposed to be, what, falling all over Phelps? She’s supposed to say, “Oh my god he’s so hot!!! I love him!!!” It’s possible (picture from 2004, Beard and Phelps on left side) that there’s more to this story than we know. More than likely, though, we read it this way:

He’s rich, fairly muscular, a good swimmer and seems presentable in interviews. Like most elite athletes (see: Tiger, Federer, etc.), Phelps also seems like kind of a dork. That’s what happens when you spend 9 hours in the pool, 8 hours sleeping and 7 hours eating stacks of pancakes every day: you lose social skills. Beard is probably just not into dorks. It’s her right to not be shallow, rare as it might be in our entertainment-fueled culture. The only mistake Beard made was apologizing, which might give a shred of credibility to the sexist Z-list panel put forth by CNN’s way off base entertainment program.

/off soapbox we had no idea we were climbing onto.

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