Bode

This column originally ran in the Mountain Ear on February 25, 2010.


He now has every color of Olympic medals, along with World Championship medals, and a couple of those crystal globes they give to the skier who wins the overall World Cup. Bode Miller has gone from punch line to “redeemed” and while I’m happy for him I still feel like the mainstream media is missing it when it comes to Bode. Bode loves skiing at the limit more than he loves winning, and I don’t think that he’s kidding when he says that.

When I talk to friends or co-workers who think ski racing only takes place every four years they have a hard time understanding why “Bode doesn’t care about winning.” I find that perplexing considering the number of wins he has racked up in his decade and a half or racing at the highest level of the sport. But then, I have to remember that most casual ski racing fans don’t pay attention to the World Cup and the only time they get to hear Brian Williams mention a ski racers name it is during an Olympic year.

This got me thinking, Shaun White is lauded for “going for it” and for “progressing” the sport. He could have easily been in a situation where his second run mattered in the Olympics and been in a situation where he needed to throw down the double McTwist 1260 to win- and he’d have been celebrated regardless of if he blew up or stuck the landing- because he was pushing the sport. Yet Bode isn’t celebrated when he pushes so hard that he blows up.

I understand that there is a difference between a judged sport and a timed sport, Apollo Ohno won’t get any style points if he nails a triple axel in the 1500m short track race. I know that it is hard to compare progression in ski racing since we don’t have World Records for the athletes to beat, in terms of year over year comparisons on the exact same course. At that same time, the skiers are getting faster, technique is always being refined and even revamped, equipment is always evolving, and that takes athletes who are daring enough to push the envelope.

Bode pushes the limits to see how fast he can go, and when it all comes together, he is fast and he often wins. I also think he truly enjoys that sensation of putting down a run where he let it all hang out and that is more important to him than the time on the podium.

Personally, I’m glad Bode has gotten his gold, if for no other reason, that the casual fans can now say that he is a great ski racer. For myself, I will always enjoy watching a man from Franconia do whatever he thought needed to be done to go fast on a pair of skis, even when it meant that he might blow up. In my mind, Bode has progressed the sport- and for that I say thank you.