Hey Michael Phelps, America is transfixed by your endorsement deals for some reason! The golden fishboy should, by all rights, have fallen out of the spotlight by now. It's been what, like, four months since he won any Olympic medals? Old news. But by god people just love this goofy ass-grasper, so we and the rest of the media will continue to tell you exactly what he is formally recommending for public consumption. Today, the story of how one tiny company swindled the unsophisticated manchild into ongoing indentured servitude:

Before he earned his eight gold medals and became a global celebrity at the Beijing Olympics, Mr. Phelps and three teammates agreed to endorse PureSport, a protein mix made by a tiny Austin, Texas, company that didn't exist three years ago...

The foursome, introduced to the company while training in Austin last year, took a 5% stake in exchange for their endorsements

So now, in exchange for 1.7% of nothing and all the sugar-and-whey mix he can guzzle, Michael Phelps is obliged to plaster his face all over this product's packaging, and be dragged around the country to various promo events seven days a year, where hopefully he at least gets mad chicks. [WSJ]