Cliché watch: ‘___ is the Michael Phelps of ___’

“Young Jeezy: ‘Michael Phelps Is the Young Jeezy of the Swim World’ ”

Jeezy’s comment, in a Rolling Stone interview today, is brilliant in its own right. But intentionally or not, it’s also a subversion of what is fast becoming the most annoyingly overused cliché of 2008:

• “Aquaman is the Michael Phelps of sucking.”
• “Tim Tebow is the Michael Phelps of college football.”
• “Alex O’Loughlin is the Michael Phelps of vampire portrayers.”
• “Craig is the Michael Phelps of climbing down the fire escape.”
• “Ricky Carmichael is the Michael Phelps of motocross.”
• “Who is the Michael Phelps of the Oscars?”
• “Rob Riggle is the Michael Phelps of husky former Marines turned fake newscasters.”
• “Wang Hao is the Michael Phelps of ping-pong.”
• “[Bob Costas] is the Michael Phelps of his profession.”
• “The RIAA is the Michael Phelps of being a jerk! 8 jerk medals!”
• “Jonathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel is the Michael Phelps of [videogaming].”
• “[Liu Xiang] is the Michael Phelps of China.”
• “Michael Jordan is the Michael Phelps of basketball. Tiger Woods is the Michael Phelps of golf. Joe Montana is the Michael Phelps of QBS.”
• “Borghese Crema Saponette is the Michael Phelps of facial cleansers.”
• “Rachel Maddow, you see, is the Michael Phelps of punditry.”
• “I’ve seen Charlie write, and he is the Michael Phelps of writing about software architecture.”
• “Mike Pyke is the Michael Phelps of Rugby.”
• “John Edwards is the Michael Phelps of douchebags.”
• “Page Hamilton is the Michael Phelps of metal.”
• “Tow-mater, the Michael Phelps in the pig racing world.”
• “[Richard Allen] is the Michael Phelps of goldfish racing.”
• “[Kyle Busch] is the Michael Phelps of [auto] racing.”
• “Tony Schumacher is like the Michael Phelps of drag racing.”
• “[Ocean Blue Sushi Club] is the Michael Phelps of sushi in Sunnyvale.”
• “Pavement is the Michael Phelps of unnecessary and arbitrary song competitions.”
  
• “Mark Spitz was the Michael Phelps of 36 years ago.”
• “[Usain] Bolt has become the Michael Phelps of track.”
• “Appalachian State has been the Michael Phelps of the former I-AA.”
• “ ‘We are the ones we’ve been waiting for’ could be the Michael Phelps of political arrogance.”
• “If there were a gold medal for worst fashion display during an Olympics highlights show, Diane Dwyer would be the Michael Phelps of the sport.”
• “Dino in Cleveland Park is, like, the Michael Phelps of Restaurant Week.”
• “Natalie du Toit is a national icon, the Michael Phelps of South Africa.”
• “ ‘I could be the Michael Phelps of laser tag.’ ”