<p>Whether the concept of the Olympics as a gathering of nations competing honorably to build international goodwill can continue to exist in today’s culture is an interesting question. Perhaps it is the Olympics that needs to be redefined. </p>
<p>As to anyone who says that a family difficulty, or growing up poor, is an excuse for irresponsible or selfish behavior, that is truly a frightening concept. To the extent that Mr. Miller does charitable work, actually he should be openly discussing that, not hiding it, so as to encourage others to do the same type of work.</p>
<p>When Bode went out to bars at night, he did not go alone (i.e. other athletes filled the bars in Sestriere). He did the second best of any US men’s alpine skier - Ted Liggety obviously did the best. Most athletes did not have cameras following them around 24/7 like Bode did. He has always been a maverick - that is who he is. He did not have a good Olympics - neither did Darren Rhalves who was the favorite to win the downhill. But everybody just wanted to bash Bode for not winning. He never said he was going to bring home medals - the press did. He is known as a highly inconsistent skier. He got famous in Europe for his unique style and approach. Like him or not, he brought world attention to US men’s skiing, something no one has done in over 20 years. He brought interest and revenue to the team. Now go bash people who beat their wives, not an athlete just because he didn’t win a medal for “you”. Get a life!</p>
<p>Sure. If Bode values partying and his “lifestyle” over training, competition, and winning, that’s great. He’s perfectly free to make that choice - at his own expense. But if he chooses to put “USA” on his chest and travel and compete on someone else’s dolllar, well then he’s taking on some obligations.</p>
<p>But I am all for Bode living whatever lifestyle appeals to him. And we can help him with that by making sure he never again is burdened by the rigors of competing on a US national team. I am the last person to want to ruin his fun or cramp his style with the demands and expectations of being on a national team. Once he’s off the US team he can party 24/7.</p>
<p>When you compare the deportment of Miller, Davis and Hedrick with that of Kwan, Kildow (?), Schleper and Derrick, the women certainly stepped up big time while those men acted like jerks. Anton Apolo Ohno was great though.</p>
<p>I wonder how Nike is feeling about that Miller contract now???</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone is, on the whole, bashing him for not winning. I think the negative feedback is provoked by his remarks about being their for “the experience” not how he does in the races.</p>
<p>Timothy posted that the idea of the quality of life is what is important, not results. I think we all agree on that on the surface, but maybe not what that really means. So here is my analogy:</p>
<p>My kids were fortunate to be able to attend very good schools which were pretty difficult to be admitted to. They worked really hard to be able to do that, and we worked hard to make it possible for them.</p>
<p>We, as I have frequently said, do not view those schools as steppingstones to jobs; they are attending them for the experience, not for a specific goal.</p>
<p>However, and this is a very big however, we, and they, expect them to do as well as they can academically while they are there–not to get a job, but because that is the core of the experience.</p>
<p>I don’t expect them to get straight A’s , but I do expect them to do their best. Being with their fellow students, taking part in outside activities, etc., are all part of the experience, but the academics have to come first.</p>
<p>The vast majority of athletes at the Olympics have no chance of winning, and they know it. Those who think they have a chance of winning know that the numbers are such that those chances are not particularly high. So I should hope they are ALL there for the experience.</p>
<p>Approaches to preparation have always varied (remember Billy Kidd?) There are some who overtrain and overthink so much that they basically set themselves up for failure (how many great Michelle Kwan Olympic moments can you remember, or Sasha Cohen competitions where she didn’t fall at least once?) Some (Tara Lipinski and Sarah Hughes) know to get out after lightning strikes and while the getting is good. Some look for easy ways out (was I the only person in the world to see Apollo Ohno try to put his hand on right skate of the Korean skater in front of him, only to have the Korean skater lift his foot, and Apollo go sprawling?)</p>
<p>Miller will go out on the circuit and likely continue to do well. He probably increased his pool of friends, he didn’t break a leg, and he had a great experience. We should all be so lucky.</p>
<p>RESPECT…It all comes down to this one word. Have respect for your country and represent it in the best light possible. I don’t care what the reasons, if you are not there to represent your country and not yourself then withdraw from this competition. This is the one time that it is NOT all about YOU. Sorry, to sound harsh but that’s how I see it.</p>
<p>While I respect your opinion I don’t recall that making the Olympic Team had the requirement of being more than the best athlete??? How do you assess for spirit???</p>
<p>I did not say that it should be an Olympic “requirement”, but I feel it should be a moral obligation to “withdraw” yourself if you don’t feel that it is about something bigger than you. If he was there just to “enjoy” himself than he should have funded the good times himself.</p>
<p>Bode had not been having a good season for all the months prior to the Olympics. He only won one race all year, and had 8 he did not finish or was disqualified. He lists these statistics on his own website for all to see, and always has. He didn’t just “stop trying” at the Olympics - it hasn’t been his year. He’s had knee problems, personal problems, and who knows what else. He was annointed “Golden Boy” by the press because there has to be someone, right? Bode never said he was going to win any medals - after all, he had not been skiing well. He was under tremendous pressure at the Olympics because he was supposed to win in all these events he had not been winning in all year, and the Olympic Sportscasters didn’t even bother to look at his record and inform the viewing audience of that.
The Olympic Committee and the US Ski Team were thrilled to have a poster boy because it brought much needed attention to men’s skiing - not a popular sport in America. Bode still did second best on the US team. I believe Bode kept talking about his “experience” at the Olympics because he knew he could never live up to the public’s expectations. In spite of having a bad year this year, he has done more than anyone to put the US men’s ski team on the map over the past five years. His maverick personality was also been refreshing in a sport where athletes spout platitudes - that is why he became so popular in Europe. You don’t have to like him (though you might be surprised in person) but don’t get mad at him for losing a medal by a couple of tenths of a second. Get mad at people who beat their wives, or whatever.
And for those of you that have kids that make straight As and study all night to do it, there may be a point in their lives when they don’t get an A. Hopefully they won’t be publicly ridiculed and tarred and feathered the way he has been. And your kids come from families who can afford college, or at least part of the tuition, unlike Bode’s who didn’t even have indoor plumbing until he started making money skiing. If you want a gold medal, learn to ski yourself.</p>
<p>Catherine–note that i didn’t say get straight A’s; I expect them to try to do their best. I am pretty sure that the athletes who get no acclaim, who don’t have a chance to win a medal, who are just happy to be there, are on the whole skiing or skating or sledding as hard as they can–and if they give it their all; they have won.</p>
<p>I’m not mad at Bode. It is just not my experience that highly competitive athletes “don’t care” about winning or at least giving a good performance. So I found his comments odd. But, the media insists on interviewing these people immediately after every event. I for one would not want to be interviewed by anyone immediately after blowing it. There’s a lot of pressure to always say “the right thing” which may be hard to do after having an “off” performance/season/year.</p>
<p>oh please, how come i didnt see those american flags people put on cars before 9/11? was i just not looking? how come people got an enormous amount of crap for disagreeing with american foreign politics and how the president handled the aftermath of 9/11? that didnt seem to happen to the extent it did before 9/11 happened. </p>
<p>and as i said before, if you (collective you) see fit to use blanket statements about bode miller, then i will just play by your rules and use them as well.</p>
<p>how the hell do you know he doesnt value training, competition, and winning?? please, i would absolutely LOVE to know how you came to this conclusion because you couldn’t be any farther from the truth. He can value both at the same time, you know. they arent mutually exclusive from my understanding (one of rationality). As was said before, and has been documented to great length over the years, Bode has an “all or nothing” attitude. Its go for gold, not go for silver or bronze. How can you fault a guy for giving his all, even if that means not finishing in the top 3? I certainly cant. I highly doubt he purposly skiied off course and purposly wanted to get disqualified. And if you think otherwise, youre being completely irational. </p>
<p>If you want the USA to get a gold medal so bad, get off the computer, put on a pair of skiis and start training. youve got a good 3 years to train before olympic trials. </p>
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<p>How can you say that you are “all for bode living whatever lifestyle appeals to him” after saying that he basically shouldnt be stealing money from the US olympic team? that makes no sense. If you were all for bode living his own lifestyle, we wouldnt be having this conversation. plain and simple. </p>
<p>As i said before, two people are never exactly the same. so why should someone have to conform to your standards?</p>
<p>are you somehow suggesting that Bode did not give his all? If so, id also love to know how you came to this conclusion. until you know the man, i would suggest you dont make such drastic and defaming comments.</p>
<p>Hey Timothy’s monster - thanks for chiming in on the other side of the Bode bashing. I’ve never seen a top athlete treated so badly simply because he didn’t win a medal. Over the past few years, by the way, he brought in lots of money for the team, so people shouldn’t accuse him of “taking money from the team”. You don’t have to like Bode - he has a unique personality - but he trained really hard for years, he put this US ski team on the map, and he’s invigorated the sport of skiing with his unique style over the past 5 years.
When I was staying up in New Hampshire where Bode happened to be, he couldn’t have been nicer to everybody, especially kids. You’d see him training all the time on the roads and running up the mountains, couldn’t miss him. If he’d won a medal, no one would be saying he shouldn’t have gone out for beer. Maybe he shouldn’t have, but he hasn’t hurt anybody, and he knows exactly what everyone is saying about him - worse than people say about criminals, crooked politicians, etc. Sure, he didn’t always say the right thing -he’s kinda known for that, and you might not have said the right thing, either, when the whole world was painting you out to be a complete loser and making fun of you on every talk show. Anyway, I’ve said my piece here. Now can we go back to bashing Bush for putting all these American young people in harm’s way in Iraq? Latest poll today says soldiers want out.</p>
<p>I’m all for Bode doing his own thing by himself and at his own expense. But putting a team uniform on implies certain obligations beyond merely living your own lifestyle. Bode’s public comments seem to suggest that he doesn’t understand that.</p>
<p>When Bode competed at the Olympics, what did it say on the front of his chest? I could have sworn it said USA and not BODE. I guess I was mistaken.</p>
<p>youre making a HUGE assumption here that bode did not compete to his highest level and you need to stop. you are making this assumption because youve become a by product of the media. you bought into all the hype the media put on bode, not the hype bode put on bode. the media got your hopes up, and you started to expect WAY too much. anything less than a couple of gold medals and it was a faliure. there were plenty of US athletes that did not win a medal, but also “partied 24/7”. so ask yourself “why am I not talking about them?” probably because you only talk about what the media prints and makes a story. </p>
<p>heres the difference between my argument and your argument; I deal within the realm of factual and tangible evidence, you deal within the realm of major assumptions on the personal character of individuals you have never met in your entire life.</p>
<p>i dont know how to make it anymore clear than this: stop assuming he didnt try his hardest because he didnt win a medal.</p>