<p>I think they should take the countries off the uniforms, and the jingoism out of the Olympics, altogther.</p>
<p>And I see no evidence that Bode didn’t train as hard as he could, or compete as best he could. Of course, he could have pulled a Sasha Cohen, and allow himself only be shown training himself to death, hiring and firing coaches, only to fall all over herself as usual.</p>
<p>Part of the evidence that he didn’t do his best is that he was partying into the late hours. Athletes in training don’t do that. Also, I think that people who are upset because their brother is ill don’t do that either, by the way. They are either by their side attending to them, or they are out dedicating their efforts to that sick family member’s honor.
Look at all the athletes who have gone out and done their personal best after the loss of a family member. Even Barry Bonds!</p>
<p>He took the spot of someone else who might have valued the experience and represented the country much more ably than he did. I think he is an example of the worst of spoiled, arrogant American youth. </p>
<p>I absolutely do NOT care that he didn’t win a medal; and your making that assumption about me, or anyone else, is just as egregious as your claim that we are wrong to think he didn’t try hard. If he did care, then why did he grin, swagger away from the course when he wiped out after 15 seconds? If he did care, why didn’t he take care of himself, refrain from alcohol, and conduct himself with dignity?</p>
<p>On the other hand, I do agree with those who say that Bode is just the sympton of our own sick obsession with celebrities and outrageous behavior, so I am just going to stop complaining and start focusing on those whose conduct I do admire. :D. Hope the USOC does someday too, but I won’t hold my breath…</p>
<p>“Part of the evidence that he didn’t do his best is that he was partying into the late hours.”</p>
<p>There have all kinds of athletes who party into the late hours as a way of relieving stress. They have discovered that if they spend their time by themselves, stressing about performances to happen the next day, they do significantly worse as a result. It is something each athlete learns through experience.</p>
<p>My d. competed this weekend in a major gymnastics meet in northern California. It was her first meet back after knee surgery (her third one) only 6 weeks ago. She stressed about it all week (and practiced hard!) The meet was early Sunday morning. The coach took her and a teammate to the Santa Cruz pier the day and evening before, to try to get them to relax. (No, not late hours, but she is only 15). </p>
<p>To make a long story short, she was the very first floor gymnast of the day - 45 followed. She won (it is almost unheard of for the first competitor to win an event.) After the first event, she basically fell apart (for her - she actually did quite well, but not nearly as well as she did on the first event.) Probably because she “tried too hard” and stressed too much. I guess she “pulled a Bode Miller”. ;)</p>
<p>Topflight athletes have to know themselves really well to get where they are.</p>
<p>So, Mini: the evidence that the partying really helped Bode was how well he performed, right? </p>
<p>There is a big difference between doing stress-reduction activities, whatever works for the athlete, and irresponsible partying with lots of alcohol. I guess the next thing you’re going to argue is that alcohol improves performance. Give me a break!</p>
<p>I have no evidence one way or the other. I do know that he performed very well at the Olympics this year, given his performance over the previous months, and the events in which he was entered.</p>
<p>As to what is irresponsible, I’ll leave that to the beholder. To me, alcohol would be a serious downer, but I am not an athlete, and am neither trained nor paid to know how my body is likely to respond to various stressors or stress-reduction activities. Clearly the latter have not stood Sasha Cohen or Michelle Kwan in very good stead.</p>
<p>I have to say, Mini, this is much more laissez-faire than your usual, extremely informative, posts on alcohol use and misuse.</p>
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<p>I’m not assuming anything. The only knowledge I have about Bode’s actions and attitudes come from what Bode himself said in his various interviews. And he made it perfectly clear that he was far more concerned with partying and his “lifestyle” than he was in the training and competition. I’m just taking Bode’s word for it.</p>
<p>His whole career Bode has been a “partyer”. No one complained at the 2002 Olympics when he won 2 silver medals for the US. He did not get into any bar flights, say anything rude to anyone we know of, etc. He’s also not an alcoholic, doesn’t have an DUI arrests or anything of that sort. Of course he tried hard at the Olympics. When he skied off course so did the frontrunner for that event, and others. Why not bash them, too? He has always said that he doesn’t like the way the Olympics have been commercialized and he doesn’t like all the jingoism. In spite of his “bad season” this year he is still ranked #3 in the world. If you were, you’d have been at the Olympics, too.
And hey - it’s not as if he had a drink and shot his friend in the face, is it? Methinks you all are going on little overboard on bashing the wrong person. No one word on a VP who KNOWS he’s out hunting with friends, one of them is not in eyesight, but you shoot anyway?</p>
<p>Catherine, well, you’re right, I haven’t much discussed the VP’s shortcomings on this thread, but I sure have elsewhere, as have many others. FWIW, I really don’t give a dang about Bode one way or another, and I really don’t care about the US medal count, and he could well be a different person than he wants to portray himself as.</p>
<p>Yes, the fact that the country is being led by clowns dismays me much, much more, and I have expressed that opinion over and over, I think. I just didn’t think this was the thread for that.</p>
<p>I’m trying to stay out of this string but can’t …</p>
<p>It seems to me that some of the negative reaction around Bode’s performance a the Olympics is around the apperance of someone not doing their best to fulfill their potential. The posters on CC certainly don’t know all the specifics but the word traveling out from the olympics, including many respected journalists, is that Bode did not train as hard this year as he has in the past and that his approach during the olympics was less serious than his approach in the past. We don’t know how his brother’s situation is effecting him or the specifics of the situation but it certainly looks like he could have had a better shot at better results if his approach to these olympics had been different. Which takes us back to maximizing potential … and in this case Bode’s reaction and comments have not come across very well either.</p>
<p>We have no idea what the 3rd US ski jumper was doing prepping for the olympics or at night … but that guy also didn’t have the potential for multiple medals and didn’t give a lot of flipant responses to the media. As someone who was proabably about 5000th in line to run the 1500 at the 1984 olympics for the life of me I can’t imagine not maximizong my shot for medals if that was a realistic possibility … so to me Bode’s approach and response is pretty hard to fathom … and no I do not walk in his shoes; but I’m having a darn hard time trying to understand them!</p>
<p>Or said another way … if there was a kid on CC who we all liked and knew had great potential and that kid said that quality of life was most important so they “partied” the night before all their SATs and AP exams how would we react. Would we all say s/he was just being themselves … or think, at least to ourselves, couldn’t s/he have held off those few nights to help maximize their chances for the college admissions? I’m guessing most of us would be thinking the later … and for me Bode’s behavior and words (as I understand them) have me thinking similar questions.</p>
<p>Catherine -</p>
<p>You keep bringing up issues that you consider to be worse: wife beating, crooked politicians, criminals, and now the VP shooting. I agree that those are certainly worse problems, but for the purposes of this discussion they are beside the point. </p>
<p>With the possible exception of discussions of genocide or nuclear war, one can always think of a worse problem. So if we are restricted to talking only about problems for which there is nothing worse, well, we are going to have a very limited list of topics. Currently, the topic on this thread is Bode Miller.</p>
<p>Okay, this will be my last post. I am defending Bode for two reasons. First, I seem to be the only person here who has ever met him and actually spent time with him. Has he worked hard in skiing? Yes, he has, for decades. Is he an individual who is not so good at speaking to media? Yes. He probably should be coached and polished in speaking to the press, but he isn’t. Has he contributed a lot to the ski world and the ski team? Absolutely.
Most of the people in this thread don’t seem to follow skiing - a sport which goes on in a grueling fashion for 6 months of every year - but instead tune in once every 4 years and only care about who wins at the Olympics. Was Bode the “squeaky clean Olympic ideal” at these Olympics? No. But in my whole life (which is longer than I care to admit) I have never seen a world class athlete bashed the way Bode has been after these Olympics. He didn’t hurt anybody, he didn’t do anything illegal (like maybe some of your college kids may have had a drink? illegal, sorry).
He’s always been a renegade, done things differently, and he has always had a difficult relationship with the press. There is nothing new at these Olympics except most people had never heard of him before. Then they projected he was supposed to win 5 medals - why did you think that? Bode never said it. He usually skis off course in the slalom, this is nothing new, so why expect it to be different in the Olympics? In his best events, he came in 5th and 6th. Not on the podium, but not “terrible” either, considering you are talking about differences of tenths of seconds.
He didn’t “blow off” the Olympics - he just didn’t win, and didn’t say the “right” things to the press. Funny how when he was winning last year - and had the best record of any male American skiier in 22 years -no one said he wasn’t “trying hard” just because he liked to go out with his friends the night before a race.
Anyway, so now everyone has crucified this skier and turned him into a late night talk show joke and a laughing stock. If you followed the sport of skiing instead of just the Olympics, you may or may not like him any better. But he did bring a whole new style of skiing to the sport and a whole new level of interest from ski fans who understand what he does and why it’s different from other skiiers, even when he loses.
I think the general level of “meanness” and “nastiness” to a world class athlete says more about the people saying it than about Bode.</p>
<p>I really haven’t seen the meanness and nastiness you are referring to.</p>
<p>But this is obviously a personal issue for you, so I can see why the discussion pains you.</p>
<p>“:I have to say, Mini, this is much more laissez-faire than your usual, extremely informative, posts on alcohol use and misuse.”</p>
<p>But I have no idea of how much he drank, or what he drank (if anything). Do you? I know MANY athletes (not well-spoken) who set up all kinds of excuses for themselves, in advance, in case they don’t perform up to someone’s else’s expectations. As to what some do to “ease stress”; nah, this list is rated PG.</p>
<p>I have no idea whether he drank, or whether it hurt or helped his performance. I do know that he had a darn good Olympics, and claims that it was a good experience for him, even if the jingoistic press decided to try to make it miserable. I frankly don’t think he needs any defense, though a Toastmaster’s class might be in order.</p>
<p>If you need to complain about anyone, why not try Apollo Ohno (and the attempted skate grab?)</p>
<p>
No I don’t have direct knowledge … but what I have read from journalists that I trust and respect (correctly?) is that Bode did not train as hard this year as in year’s past and pre-race behavior at the Olympics was different than his pre-race behavior in the past. </p>
<p>Bode is certainly one of the best alpine skiers ever from the US; which certainly rasied expectations. I can’t imagine the pressure from those expectations or having to deal with my preperation and performance being so visible to so many people either.</p>
<p>Catherine,
I have been interested in Bode for a long time… I get that he is doing things differently… he is about skiing as fast as he can, he is not about winning… I also believe he peaked for last years World Cup… I think he went along with the tsunami of publicity because it was just tooo strong for him to fight and still ski… But, the thing that made me think he was not truly skiing to win at this year’s Olympics was his stance in the starting gate… he just didn’t look as poised to explode out of the gate as some of the other skiers… </p>
<p>Please understand that our disappointment about his performance was because we had seen what he was capable of… it is only because our disappointment ran headfirst into his wall of “my way” that the sparks that flew off created such a firestorm…</p>
<p>5th and 6th are awesome… I agree with someone else’s suggestion that perhaps a Toastmaster’s class might be useful here if he had future desires to remain a public figure…like Nuke in Bull Durham when the Kevin Costner character taught Nuke a series of 10 replies to any reporter…Bode needed to have a few practiced comments to avoid the stream of consciousness that left such a bad impression in everyone’s mind. </p>
<p>I really hope that Bode can return… because he has pushed the envelope. And we all applaud that!</p>