The People's Republic of Phelps-istan

By Buddy Singer & Jeremy Blacklow BEIJING, China -- "Champ, we're trying in the media to find different ways of putting this," Access Hollywood's Billy Bush pontificated to the biggest star in Beijing right now. "And the latest we've heard is that if you were your own nation, the People's Republic of Phelps-istan, you'd be tied with Korea for gold medals in third." "I have no clue what to say," Phelps said, literally, almost speechless at Billy's analogy. "It's cool, I'm having fun and everything so far has gone as planned." With his mom and sisters cheering him on, Michael once again crushed the field, this time in the 200m individual medley. The victory was made even sweeter as his teammate and good friend, the very laid-back Ryan Lochte, brought home the bronze. And it wasn't a half-bad day for the rest of the U.S. swimming team; with huge victories also for Rebecca Soni & Natalie Coughlin. (link)