Keeping Score by Jon Saraceno USA Today

Apathetic attitude adds up to this: Bode Miller has blown it, badly
From my Winter Olympics couch potato position, I find myself doing
something very un-American.

I can't bring myself to root for one of our own.

Arrivederci, Bode.

My antipathy toward Bode Miller has far more to do with his palpable
apathy to the Olympic ideal - the undermining of the Games' inherent
spirit of competition - than with his penchant for triggering an
avalanche of criticism with his controversial opinions.

If he wants to ski "wasted," as he told 60 Minutes, fine with me -
just don't make it an anthem for young, impressionable minds. And I
really don't care that he prefers to sleep in his cushy RV rather than
in cramped village beds.

I can't cheer for an Olympian who doesn't have his heart and mind into
being the best, who doesn't appear to care if he wins or loses for his
country. I don't care how daring his skiing is or how sexy his story
line.

Entering the Games, the No. 1 Alpine skier in the world was expected to
contend for multiple medals. Bode's 0-for-3, and his coaches fret about
his stamina for today's giant slalom. Saturday, he veered off course in
the super-G and smashed into a gate.

It seems clear that Bode is disengaged. When he doesn't look bored, he
looks fatigued. When he should be resting and maintaining focus, he's
partying, according to the Associated Press.

It's easy to find yourself pulling for anyone other than Mr.
Indifferent - even non-Americans. Consider Austrian Hermann Maier -
at 33, five years older than Bode and in his first Olympics since
nearly losing a leg in a motorcycle crash. There's also Ambrosi
Hoffmann of Switzerland, a bricklayer by trade. And Eric Guay of
Canada, who recently bruised both calves yet ripped down the
mountainside. And Kjetil Andre Aamodt, the bearded Norwegian who won
the gold.

"It's better to have one gold than two silvers," Aamodt said, after
bypassing the combined event because of a bothersome knee.

Now that sounds like an Olympian.

Someone like Lindsey Jacobellis. Her showboating in the women's
snowboardcross cost her gold. The gutsy 20-year-old bravely
acknowledged to NBC's Bob Costas, "I just got caught up in the moment."

So why can't Bode?

He seems to have purposefully undermined his cause. Maybe he's turned
into just another pampered athlete. Or it's the cognitive dissonance of
trying to be radical while raking in the cash. Maybe he's getting worn
out dragging Nike's moneybags to the bank.

He sounds weary of dealing with the expectations, from all fronts. His
father, Woody Miller, told the AP his son's "drinking is a symptom of
(his unhappiness), not the problem," saying it was a "constant drain"
for Bode to do something he didn't like.

Worse than being a gate-straddler is being a fence-sitter when it comes
to attitude. Many athletes would give their limbs for a chance to ski
in the Olympics. Bode? Well, he greets every result the same - with a
shrug. His pseudo-intellectual lectures about athletic participation
being just as important as winning is, in theory, fine. But not for an
Olympian of his caliber and level of accomplishment. For my high-def
dollars, I'd like to see more effort and yes, some medals from
America's first World Cup champion in two decades.

Bode exudes an offensive, lofty detachment from these Games that
insults other athletes and disrespects the founding spirit of the
Olympics. Winning might not be everything, but is it anything for Bode?

By the bottom of the hill, the bottom line is this: Bode is a loser.
Not because he hasn't medaled but because his Olympic spirit seems so
irrepressibly weak. He appears to have fallen "victim" to the very
thing he rails against - the establishment.

Talent like his doesn't take the turns every day. When Bode crashed
through the gate, his skills took over as he maneuvered on one ski out
of potential danger. In one magnificent, acrobatic moment, Bode
inadvertently revealed to the world how he has squandered his
supernatural abilities. He trashes himself and the Greek concept of a
sound body and mind.

Rather than addressing his latest setback, he chose to ski off through
the woods. His studied iconoclasm is stale. We're weary of
Bode-the-rebel waxing philosophical for the marketing blitz launched by
the Big Swoosh.

It's all right there on his Nike-supported website. We have Bode on
winning. Bode on validation. Boding on finding your truth. Bode on the
road to happiness. And the Bode tree: "Each moment is a seed you plant
in the world. It's the sum of all you are, and what grows from it is up
to you."

Every message is there. Except one.

Just do it already.

"Youssef" wrote in message
oups.com...
avalanche of criticism with his controversial opinions.

If he wants to ski "wasted," as he told 60 Minutes, fine with me -
just don't make it an anthem for young, impressionable minds. And I
really don't care that he prefers to sleep in his cushy RV rather than
in cramped village beds.

Please point out a quote from Bode where he says he "wants to ski wasted".

You appear to be a fan of third-hand gossip columnists.

"Youssef" wrote in message
oups.com...

Apathetic attitude adds up to this: Bode Miller has blown it, badly
From my Winter Olympics couch potato position, I find myself doing
something very un-American.

I can't bring myself to root for one of our own.

Worse than being a gate-straddler is being a fence-sitter when it comes
to attitude. Many athletes would give their limbs for a chance to ski
in the Olympics. Bode? Well, he greets every result the same - with a
shrug. His pseudo-intellectual lectures about athletic participation
being just as important as winning is, in theory, fine. But not for an
Olympian of his caliber and level of accomplishment. For my high-def
dollars, I'd like to see more effort and yes, some medals from
America's first World Cup champion in two decades.


Youth sports in the US is troubled by the drop out rate in the adolescent
years when kids find themselves not good enough for the football, baseball,
basketball (etc.) teams. At this point the kids who aren't superstars leave
sports behind because they've been told they are not good enough to play.
Bode's commercial where he espouses participation being as important as
winning is a great message and should be carried out in practice, not just
lip service. I would rather see youth and adult sports programs in place
for all levels of talent, not just for the elite; some communities are
better at this than others. Bode's media image is giving a beating to his
words regarding participation. It's ok to just participate when it's a
recreational sport, but the olympics is not just recreational. Going for
the gold is the ideal and just showing up isn't good enough. Bode owes his
sponsors and his competitors the best he can offer; something more than just
showing up for the games.

I'm not Bode, so I have no idea if he's an alcoholic and it's catching up to
him, or if he's clinically depressed and needs treatment, or if he's just
tired of the whole thing and just wants out. Maybe he's doing his best and
is just having some bad days, only Bode knows what's going on. Still, a
persona of indifference is not what his sponsors are paying for and not what
his fellow olympian competitors deserve. It will be interesting to see how
this plays out with hindsight. For now, Bode's image is taking a hit and
most folks, it seems to me, are basically just a little disappointed (some
of us attach a little national pride to our countries representatives) and
curious as to why his performances are so far below expectations and past
performance history. I hope he does well in his last event (don't spoil the
results for me; I've got my eyes closed for the moment) for the sake of
lending some credence to his words about participation; you can't sell folks
on a mission statement if it's backed up with negative imagery.

Bryan wrote:
Bode owes his
sponsors and his competitors the best he can offer;

Haven't you been paying attention? The guy is skiing great - he's right
in the hunt in every race.

Something about the Olympics brings out lunacy, from the lunacy of
absolutely lousy TV coverage to the lunacy of common folk announcing to
the world on the internet that they have no clue but do have a specious
opinion...

"lal_truckee" wrote in message
. com...
Bryan wrote:
Bode owes his sponsors and his competitors the best he can offer;

Haven't you been paying attention? The guy is skiing great - he's right in
the hunt in every race.

Something about the Olympics brings out lunacy, from the lunacy of
absolutely lousy TV coverage to the lunacy of common folk announcing to
the world on the internet that they have no clue but do have a specious
opinion...

Specious
1. Having the ring of truth or plausibility but actually fallacious: a
specious argument.
2. Deceptively attractive.
I had to look up specious to be certain of your meaning.

Have I been paying attention. Yes.
Is he skiing great? Better than any of us can ski (even in my dreams), but
not as good as the medal winners.
Am I clueless? No. Unless anyone who sees thing differently than you is
clueless.

Do you disagree that Bode Miller owes his sponsors and competitors the best
he can offer?
The heart of my post addressed a Bode Miller message to our sporting
community and the failure of his image to support his message.
How do you feel about that part of my post?

"Bryan" wrote in message
. com...

"lal_truckee" wrote in message
. com...
Bryan wrote:
Bode owes his sponsors and his competitors the best he can offer;

Haven't you been paying attention? The guy is skiing great - he's right
in
the hunt in every race.

Something about the Olympics brings out lunacy, from the lunacy of
absolutely lousy TV coverage to the lunacy of common folk announcing to
the world on the internet that they have no clue but do have a specious
opinion...

Specious
1. Having the ring of truth or plausibility but actually fallacious: a
specious argument.
2. Deceptively attractive.
I had to look up specious to be certain of your meaning.

Have I been paying attention. Yes.
Is he skiing great? Better than any of us can ski (even in my dreams), but
not as good as the medal winners.
Am I clueless? No. Unless anyone who sees thing differently than you is
clueless.

Do you disagree that Bode Miller owes his sponsors and competitors the
best
he can offer?
The heart of my post addressed a Bode Miller message to our sporting
community and the failure of his image to support his message.
How do you feel about that part of my post?

Downhill: Bode finished 5th, 1.1 seconds back (about 1% of the winner's
time), and 0.1 seconds behind the bronze medalist.
Alpine combined: finished the downhill portion, and would have had almost a
1-second advantage after the first slalom run had he not straddled a gate
post so closely that the judges took several minutes of viewing the video
replay before disqualifying him.
Super-G: lost control on the course, apparently because he was running too
fast. I watched the slo-mo replay of that and decided I would have crashed
about 4 times in his process of staying on his feet.

So what's your complaint?

Bryan wrote:

Do you disagree that Bode Miller owes his sponsors and competitors the best
he can offer?

He is. He was handicapped in the DH due to wrong ski prep (if that
doesn't make sense to you, you've just demonstrated your cluelessness
about ski racing.) He led the Combined and hooked a SL gate - if you're
not in danger of hooking in SL you have no chance - watch a few dozen SL
races. Better yet, get on the slopes and be a gate judge for a few FIS
races. He blew out in the SG while pushing hard (Rahlves' best event
BTW, not Miller's.) So where is he letting anyone down? Where is he
offering anything but his best?

The heart of my post addressed a Bode Miller message to our sporting
community and the failure of his image to support his message.

His primary message has long been that participation is the goal; What
message is he failing to support?

How do you feel about that part of my post?

I still think you're clueless. Like I said, pay some close attention to
ski racing. IMO Miller is the best all around American ski racer ever;
his closet competitor for that title, Phil (and Steve,) Mahre were
technical specialists. On the other hand, we have no one that comes
close to Marc Ghiradelli; I'm sure you will agree - even the least
ski-clued know about Ghiradelli.

Bryan wrote:

I'm not Bode, so I have no idea if he's an alcoholic and it's catching up to
him, or if he's clinically depressed and needs treatment, or if he's just
tired of the whole thing and just wants out.

You're not Bode, but you _are_ completely over the top to suggest either
of your first two possibilities without evidence.

Maybe he's doing his best and
is just having some bad days, only Bode knows what's going on.

So why speculate? Because backbitey gossip is so much fun?

"Richard Henry" wrote in message
news:2csKf.265$Yq3.229@fed1read03...

Downhill: Bode finished 5th, 1.1 seconds back (about 1% of the winner's
time), and 0.1 seconds behind the bronze medalist.
Alpine combined: finished the downhill portion, and would have had almost
a
1-second advantage after the first slalom run had he not straddled a gate
post so closely that the judges took several minutes of viewing the video
replay before disqualifying him.
Super-G: lost control on the course, apparently because he was running
too
fast. I watched the slo-mo replay of that and decided I would have
crashed
about 4 times in his process of staying on his feet.

So what's your complaint?




None of the above. Read my post again, if you're bored enough. Obviously I
need to take another english class since the responses to my post are
addressing his skiing, not something I'm qualified to judge, nor which I
intended to address, instead of his public image, which I am qualified to
judge (as qualified as anyone).

"lal_truckee" wrote in message
. com...
Bryan wrote:

Do you disagree that Bode Miller owes his sponsors and competitors the
best he can offer?

He is. He was handicapped in the DH due to wrong ski prep (if that doesn't
make sense to you, you've just demonstrated your cluelessness about ski
racing.) He led the Combined and hooked a SL gate - if you're not in
danger of hooking in SL you have no chance - watch a few dozen SL races.
Better yet, get on the slopes and be a gate judge for a few FIS races. He
blew out in the SG while pushing hard (Rahlves' best event BTW, not
Miller's.) So where is he letting anyone down? Where is he offering
anything but his best?

The heart of my post addressed a Bode Miller message to our sporting
community and the failure of his image to support his message.

His primary message has long been that participation is the goal; What
message is he failing to support?

How do you feel about that part of my post?

I still think you're clueless. Like I said, pay some close attention to
ski racing. IMO Miller is the best all around American ski racer ever; his
closet competitor for that title, Phil (and Steve,) Mahre were technical
specialists. On the other hand, we have no one that comes close to Marc
Ghiradelli; I'm sure you will agree - even the least ski-clued know about
Ghiradelli.

Interesting comments, much more interesting than just calling me clueless.
Whether you agree with me or not his public image appears to have become one
of apathy or indifference. Participation is more than just showing up.
That's where his public image is failing to support his message; he needs
some spin control. Right now the public perception is that he is doing
little more than showing up for the races. Unfair? Possibly; however,
public opinion is what it is.