And by the way, LBB, Happy Holidays. I look forward to more discussions in the New Year.
I have lots of reasons for disliking Nike. But that's not what I had a problem with in this case. It's that the Bode commercials were everywhere (what was the Slogan? Get Bodeized?) seemingly deifying him. I found that extremely annoying. To use a more contemporary example, my opinion of John Cougar Mellencamp has plummeted after seeing his "my country" song being played endlessly during games. As far as I'm concerned Mellencamp can take "my country" and shove it up his ass (and thanks for the opportunity to vent about that). Hey, I hear you. What I find annoying about it is...Nike? This is the Winter Olympics, forgodsakes. Since when does Nike make their crappy sweatshop shoes and apparel for winter sports? But they've got to brand their stupid swoosh all over everything even so. The Bode website they created was pretty damn cool, though, and more than a little surreal -- you kind of had to see it, but among other things there was a game where you could make an animated bear push a stone clay-court roller up a hill (one of Bode's favorite training regimens), and if you made the bear run fast enough, he'd puke. It was pretty funny. I watch very little football outside of the World Cup (men's and women's). Does that mean I don't get to opine about Zinedine Zidane's head butt? Look, everybody "gets to opine" about anything they want -- there's no law stopping you. What I was talking about is the quality of the opinions being influenced by how well-informed they are. I'm not about to opine about whether Zidane's headbutt is outrageous behavior unless I know that it is. If I don't know about the incidence of headbutting in football, or the kind of remarks that provoked it, I'm not in any position to say whether it was all that outrageous. I'm guessing in a sport where hundreths of a second can determine a victory that a hangover is not going to help. No, nor does stomach flu, or having missed your flight, or weeks of bad food, or having been unable to sleep due to getting stuck in a shitty European hotel with a bed that's half a foot too short for you (the latter two, BTW, are the main reasons why Bode started using that RV that everybody got so goddamn pissy about). The interesting thing, to me, is that very few of those who get their underwear knotted about Bode's "wasted" race know anything about it. Here are some facts to add some light to the heat. The race was the last race of the 2005 season, at the World Cup finals at Lenzerheide. The term "finals" is a deceptive one, since it implies in most sports that it's a championship race or match, but in the World Cup it simply means the last race series of the season. The day before, Bode secured the overall World Cup victory (the greatest achievement in ski racing, far above an Olympic medal) with a second-place finish in the GS. That night, he went out and partied. Everyone went out and partied, except those who were in the hospital -- winners and losers both went out and partied, to celebrate the end of one of the most grueling (and, for North American racers, lonely and difficult) sports circuits in the world. The next morning, Bode showed up at the start of the day's race with a hangover. Given that this was a race that could not influence the outcome of any championship, either the overall or the slalom cup, and given that World Cup racers are not given to celebrating with (in the words of David Feherty) "a nice glass of tea", it is fair to say that there were other racers who went out the start that day with hangovers. Had it been a downhill, it's unlikely that they would have done so -- but this was a slalom, a much lower speed race, where you might blow out a knee but are simply not going to get killed or critically injured no matter how badly you screw the pooch. And, to address the perennial American justification for sobriety at all times (the danger of harm to others), a ski race is held on a closed course. "Closed" means that the course is fenced off and other people are not allowed to be on the hill when a racer is on course. The possibility of innocents being struck down by a hungover out-of-control slalom racer is...well, I won't say it's nil, if they happened to be crowding the fence and the racer hit it very hard, but it's probably a good bit less than the danger of being hit by a flying puck at a hockey game. Finally, as painful as it is to depart from the realm of the hypothetical (it does provide such strong and scratchy rope to hang someone with), let's look at the skill of this particular racer, and at the actual results. Bode Miller, with hangover, came in sixth in that slalom, which ain't exactly a bad result. Bode Miller, with a hangover, was almost certainly less a danger to himself and others than your hypothetical teetotaling scrappy unknown with a 60 on his start bib (who, not having any World Cup points, wouldn't have been allowed in the finals anyway, but that's beside the point). In short...there just isn't anything to get outraged about. I might not remember their name now, but I certainly would have supported them then. I support the effort of all of the Olympic athletes, well, those that don't view the Olympics as their chance "to party and socialize on an Olympic level." No you don't. You don't even know they exist. Nor do you know their motivations. But these hypothetical Olympic athletes always say the right thing about the honor of competing and so on, and hypocrisy is easier to swallow than an unpleasant truth, I guess. Please. Regurgitate? Regurgitate, exactly so -- using the same phrasings the media fed you. Sorry, but it's true. There's something you need to understand. I don't follow Alpine Ski Racing outside of the Olympics. But I've been a major, major fan of the Olympics for 35 years. In particular a fan of Alpine Ski racing in the olympics, at least since 1976, when I saw Franz Klammer win the gold medal on a heartstopping downhill run. Oh, yeah, yawn, Klammer's run. Everybody's seen that one. And yet, despite your being a major, major fan of alpine ski racing at the Olympics, I'm guessing you don't remember the details of what Bode did in the combined at SLC. My opinions regarding Bode are a result of watching him (and his endless commercials) during the Olympics. You're right when you say I know nothing of his competitive career outside of the Olympics. But for those two weeks, he certainly seemed to make a mockery of representing his country. Give me a media outlet, and I can make you seem like a mother-raping axe murderer. Don't know a hatchet job when you see it? Maybe you should read this. I like the guy. I'm sure I wouldn't like everything about him, but what I see, I like. He is passionate about his sport in ways that casual viewers don't get, because he doesn't babble the party line. He's a woodchuck, from my part of the world, and it shows. He's not ashamed of his roots, and he's not looking to move to Vail to live in a resort-sponsored luxury condo. You hate the Nike commercials and you remember (or think you remember) some things from a 60 Minutes shit-stirring. I've heard from people who've had some live encounters with the guy, out of the media spotlight. I know who I believe. Welcome Yule and a blessed New Year to you,
I've seen threads involving the Boston Red Sox (or various Red Sox team members) go in some unpredictable directions, but I never thought I'd see the day it would turn into a discussion about downhill skiing.
I know nothing about downhill racing. Now, thanks to LLB. I've learned something new and that's why I enjoy Sport Filter.
I know nothing about downhill racing. Now, thanks to LLB. I've learned something new and that's why I enjoy Sport Filter. Don't forget to thank Papelbon's dog, too. Every time I refer to "Papelbon's Dog" it makes me think about "Pavlov's Dog." Strange.
It makes me think of Schrodinger's Cat.
Not sure how to thank a dog. Do dogs of millionaire ballplayers eat milk bones? Not sure Papelbon's dog is very good graces with pitcher (if story is true) and is probably in his dog house (pun intended).
LLB AND dyams-Guess you can't help yourself. Happy Holiday to you and all dog lovers on S.F.
Dog lovers who we know inhabit SpoFi thanks to a certain quarterback.
...but I never thought I'd see the day it would turn into a discussion about downhill skiing. dyams, you should know from your time on SpoFi how frequently our discussions head downhill. (or go to the dogs for that matter)
How true, Howard, how very true.
Thanks LBB, I appreciate the good wishes. And rather than debate you point for point, I'll try and sum up my opinion succintly (not that I don't appreciate the detail you bring to your posts.) 1. Before and during the Olympics, the Nike Bode commercials made him out to be the greatest thing to hit skiing since snow. 2. He underperformed in the Olympics, DQing or finishing out of the medal round in all five races. 3. When asked about this, he seemed not to care, claiming that he had "socialized and partied on an Olympic level." In retrospect, the commercials were what bothered me the most. If Bode wanted to be his own man, then he shouldn't have sold out to Nike. If I hadn't been beseiged by the commercials and all the other hype (though I do understand that, unlike the commercials, much of the hype was beyond his control ), it would have been easier to regard him as a free spirit who goes his own way. He may be a great guy and very successful outside of the Olympics but that doesn't make my opinion of his actions during the olympics invalid. Nor does it mean that the Media force fed me my opinions. My intense dislike of the commercials certainly not something media driven. This was a topic discussed amongst friends and colleagues. The phrase "word of mouth" seems to best describe how I recollect this issue, not something where I followed the lead of Bob Costas. And that's where I think you're really missing the boat here. I can certainly understand you disagreeing with me for all the reasons you state above. But when you say that I can't even form my opinions without the Media force feeding them to me, you're basically saying that I'm incapable of forming my own opinions. I think you're too smart to need to stoop to that. Whoops. Not quite as succint as I thought.
In retrospect, the commercials were what bothered me the most. If Bode wanted to be his own man, then he shouldn't have sold out to Nike. If I hadn't been beseiged by the commercials and all the other hype (though I do understand that, unlike the commercials, much of the hype was beyond his control ), it would have been easier to regard him as a free spirit who goes his own way. I'll go along with you on this. He's a very intelligent guy, but I think he was a bit of a babe in the woods re: the marketing machine, and how closely his every move would be scrutinized. Another possibility is that he thought he could handle it, since he had gotten a huge amount of attention in Europe since the Worlds in '03 -- we're talking a rock-star level of fame, "the king of St. Moritz". But Europeans are different about some things, alcohol among others, and one thing that went unnoticed in all the flap about Bode "skiing WASTED!!!" was the fact that the European media, racers and fans were pretty much scratching their heads in puzzlement, wondering what all the hysteria was about. I didn't see one quote in American media from a European racer, coach or fan condemning the "wasted" skiing; all I can recall is a couple of racer quotes (one was Beni Raich, don't remember the other) basically saying, "Um, well, I don't really see what the big deal is, excusemeIhavetogotrainnnow." So he had a fair amount of prior exposure to the European media machine, which didn't try to manufacture scandals about some things that American media love to jump on. In any case, yeah, Nike was a bad decision. He had to know they'd promote him as a likely winner of five gold medals, and the odds are so strongly against anyone ever doing that that it's not even funny -- and if someone promises five golds on your behalf, and you fail to deliver, there's no way you can come out of it looking good to an audience of casual observers. FWIW, I believe he may indeed be the best thing since skiing hit snow -- at least so far. Another generation comes along, and everything changes, but for now, he's got something that's often been imitated but never been duplicated. The overall World Cup looks like a knife fight in a phone booth this season, but I think he's the most balanced of the top contenders. A lot will become clear over the next month, anyway. Good chatting with you,
