Bode Miller is everything that is great about America, and I say that without a hint of sarcasm. "My quality of life is the priority. I wanted to have fun here, to enjoy the Olympic experience, not be holed up in a closet and not ever leave your room," he said. "People said, 'Why can't you stay in for the two weeks, three weeks? You've got the rest of your life to experience the games the way everybody else does.' But I like the whole package. I always have."
He compared his Olympic experience to fellow American Daron Rahlves, who was a favorite in the downhill and a contender in the super-G but didn't come close to the podium.
"Look at what happened to Rahlves. He was holed up in his RV, he's probably the fittest guy out here and he made a point of talking about how important the Olympics were to him," Miller said. "And then look — a little bad luck and he's got nothing to show for the whole thing.
"Me, it's been an awesome two weeks," Miller said. "I got to party and socialize at an Olympic level."
(from Yahoo News)
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/olympics/2006/writers/02/26/layden.moment/index.html?cnn=yes
ReplyDeleteBode Miller is pretty much the opposite of the work hard / play hard ideal, and he gives it a bad name by pretending that it's what he's about.
He's one of those Americans that the rest of the world loves to see in last place. "I didn't care about winning anyway," coming from Bode Miller, is the excuse of a loser.
He's everything that's great about America because only America could produce an athlete like him. Miller is a symbol of the breadth of America's development.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe there are still people think Bode is a hero. I totally agree with the first anonymous said- what Bode said is the excuse of a loser. Bode showed “no” respect to hard work, sportsmanship, and humbleness is exactly why the rest of the world hate to see this type of American.
ReplyDelete^^ that wasn't really a sentence at the end there, but i feel you.
ReplyDeleteseal, you're off-base here. dome units like miller should stay in their fucking frathouses. if his supposed achievement is that he domed the olympics, i guess he did it, but did the olympics really need to be domed?
c'mon, let's be reasonable here. if bode were an engineer and he acted this way, i'd hate the sonuvabitch. but he's not. he's a winter athlete. we're complaining that a guy lets his country down because he didn't slide down a mountain quickly enough.
ReplyDeleteNow I was being purposely provocative, but, jesus christ, we're picking on a guy for wasting our time when the world has just sat through seventeen days of prohibitively expensive sports performed in environments most people don't have access to? Come the fuck on. I don't see any reason to condemn Bode Miller because he was unsuccessful and didn't care about it; I think there is infinitely more reason to condemn the athletes who devote enormous portions of their lives to ridiculous things like keeping one's balance on a thin blade of metal or sliding on a scooter down an iced pipe. All but three in each category have no vindication whatsoever. What could be more pointless? Bode's life at least has a point—a blunt one, but a point nevertheless.
A few rambling thoughts...
ReplyDeleteBode Miller can do whatever he wants.
I don't see the problem with labeling him as a loser when he acts like one. He doesn't have any responsibility to me personally or anything like that. He's just acted a certain way and that's given me a certain opinion of him. That's all.
On a related subject, I think it's retarded when sports commentators pretend that professional sports are some kind of elite order with a deeply-held moral code and a history of general classiness. Example: Terrell Owens' comments in the off-season weren't a mortal sin. They were a failed business move. The best player on his team belittles his teammates in the off-season and asks for more money, and he's portrayed as more of a villain than players who get caught with drugs, beat their wives, miss parts of seasons to serve prison time, etc. I'm not a fan of hypocritical "sports moralizing," and I don't think that that sort of thing should be foisted on Bode Miller.
On the other hand, the Olympics used to be all amateurs, and they're "supposed" to be about sportsmanship, cooperation for its own sake, and the idea that two countries can be in a vicious conflict, but their respective hockey/soccer teams can still play a civilized game together. Being an Olympic athlete is an honor from one's country in a way that being a professional athlete is not. Bode Miller has no duty to me to respect that honor, but I can judge him as a loser if he chooses not to.
Also, I think that Bode Miller is an indicator of some of the greatness of America. But he's an unfortunate by-product of the greatness, not an embodiment of it. Sort of like how conservationists would be happy if they were suddenly finding dodo bird poop everywhere in the woods, or how civil libertarians might be happy to see Nazis holding a parade in Illinois. It's not because conservationists love dodo poop or because civil libertarians love Nazis.
if anyone cares, I meant "competition for its own sake," not "cooperation for its own sake."
ReplyDeleteBode Miller is an indicator of some of the greatness of America. But he's an unfortunate by-product of the greatness, not an embodiment of it.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point. Noted.