Knowing more Bode

The day after the 2002 Olympics ended I did an interview on MSNBC with some yakker who had the temerity to ask me ... "Hey, Bode, you did a great job for America in Salt Lake City, two silver medals, but your teammates ... not a medal among them. What happened there?" ... It was like saying, "Hey, Bode, the dam broke and drowned all your neighbors, but you survived. What's up with those dopes - couldn't they swim?"
--Bode Miller (Bode: Go Fast, Be Good, Have Fun)

I unintentionally awoke at 5:43 am today, but with the first thought of finishing the last chapters of Bode: Go Fast, Be Good, Have Fun. It was a done deal 30 minutes later. A good book.

Of all the athletes from the 2006 Winter Olympics, Bode Miller retained the longest of my interest and has currently become the reference hero who continues to fuel my drive to be a better me. He may have disappointed many of his Olympic fans (although I seriously doubt the bitter ones were fans; more like one time watchers), but at least he stuck to his ideals of snobbing over the media's ever present medal count and gave us an in your face reminder of the Olympic creed of "not to win, but to take part." It figures he would stick to his guns. His 'hippie' upbringing, as I'd read, seemed to make him so.

Reiterating his viewpoints on life and competition at this year's Olympics, he said stuff that I certainly would tell to my kids as well, against the grain of what the sports announcers were saying like, "Bode finished a disappointing 5th and 6th in the men's Downhill and Giant Slalom," or "Bode gave such a lackluster performance in today's events." But hey, what's up with those negative adjectives? It turned out that he was the highest ranking American in those events; info you guys never told me that I had to dig out somewhere else. So how about a pat on the back and a "well done, Bode! you beat the shit out of your U.S. teammates" encouragement instead? But I heard none of that, and neither did my kids. So I thought it was unfortunate that they left it up to me to do the spin doctoring.

And what about that death-defying mishap in the Super-G when he clipped a gate and gracefully skiied out of disaster on only one leg! How many wrote about that instead of the more 'important' lack of a medal? The sports announcers weren't exactly bringing Bode and other athletes into the brightest of light. If I were in the negative, I suppose I'd have to say to my kids, "Hey look Tina, Bode messed up again and didn't get a medal. Let's make an L shape with our fingers and hold it up to our foreheads, just like the news guys on TV seem to be doing." Instead I preferred, "Y'know sweetie, Bode never holds back and he may have gone out so much faster than the other guys, as he loves to do, that he missed the gate and got DQF'd; but at least he gave it his all; f*ck the medal. And screw the media." Well, you get the gist.

Anyway, it's all water under the bridge now, isn't it? After all, he and Darren Rahlves just did an unprecedented respective 1st & 2nd place in the Super-G World Cup Finals in Aare, Sweden last week. It placed Bode 3rd overall in the World Cup final standings (the equivalent of the winning cumulative times in the Tour de France) as well. Again, he was the highest American finisher.

So perhaps the hate mail of the disappointed will now stop flowing. But if not, hopefully they'll read the book, cruise the sites, see the lifetime results, think beyond the media's comments, and get a bit of a bigger picture of the man Bode is. It might just bring about some positive fuel for their betterment.