Bode Madness
I don’t know about you, but I completely ignored the Olympics. Actually, turns out most of you skipped them too. What with the anemic ratings. Actually, a bigger story than anybody winning a medal was what a loser that Bode Miller was. A partying jerk who couldn’t play by the rules of American society when everybody was watching.
America doesn’t give a shit about alpine skiing. America just likes to win. To dominate. To show everybody who’s boss. If we’re not winning, we’re not interested. And god forbid one of our hopefuls under-delivers. They’re scapegoated. For not living up to an inhuman nationalistic ideal?
Let’s delineate Bode’s crimes.
He skied hungover. What did Frank Zappa say so many years ago, "America drinks and goes home?" How hypocritical.
Bode had fun at the Olympics. He drank and partied. Turns out the world cup skiing circuit is alcoholia. It’s just that most times nobody is watching. As for having a good time…isn’t that what the Olympics are ABOUT? The EXPERIENCE? Hanging with athletes from other countries, competing, participation being paramount, not winning? Who’s got it right, Bode or the American press? Is it about going through this life having a good time or pure achievement? The kind of pressure that drives teenagers to suicide when they don’t deliver the grades their parents think THEY’RE entitled to. What did James Taylor say, "The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time?"
The Sex Pistols thumb their nose at convention and they’re admired. Bode Miller speaks his truth and he’s a pariah.
So, why didn’t Bode win?
It’s HARD! In one race, he hit a rock. He speaks of being pumped up on adrenaline, causing him to miss gates. He is skiing with a bad knee injury, which NOT ONCE did he trot out in the wake of his losses as an excuse, like crybabies in the government, in the American workplace and sports stadia. In ski circles the Olympics are seen as a fluke, on any given day anybody can win, which is why so often the best skiers DON’T win the medals. Furthermore, Bode didn’t do that badly. What about his fifth in the downhill? Daron Rahlves was another poster boy who completely tanked and HE wasn’t excoriated.
Still, for us Bodeites it was disappointing. We wanted him to deliver. As a giant middle finger to the establishment. Because Bode plays by nobody’s rules. Other than the one that says you’ve got to ski around every gate. And the reason he gets away with this is his TALENT! Oh, Daron’s got the work ethic, like all those boy bands, but it’s the pure INSPIRATION, the ability to reach down and extract something that no one else possesses and WOW us, that THRILLS us. It’s the difference between the Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers. Oh, the latter were good, but the former were TRANSCENDENT!
Now that the whole world is not watching. Now that Bode’s leg is atrophied and he’s got a ready-based excuse. He’s completely delivering. This week in Are, Sweden, on the final World Cup weekend, an affair that doubles as the World Championships in odd-numbered years, Bode is delivering the kind of performances NO ONE expected. Other than his fans. Who know that Bode is one of a kind. Not a Herminator, not a Tomba, but a skier who can win in EVERY discipline.
Yesterday Bode finished second in the downhill. Today he won the super-g. These are LEGENDARY performances. Along the lines of those he delivered last year at this time to clinch the world cup.
Oh, you’re not watching and you don’t care. He didn’t do it when he was SUPPOSED TO! Ain’t that America. It’s about doing it in front of those who aren’t really interested, who won’t give a shit about you in minutes, as opposed to those on your regular turf. Bode Miller is the biggest skier on the world cup circuit. The one with the biggest fans, the one who makes the most money. Because not only does he deliver Jordanesque performances, he does so without compromising his identity, without kowtowing to the system. Everybody in America must play the game, must play by the aforementioned rules. But then there’s the rare specimen who’s SO talented that he exists OUTSIDE the game. He sits above it. We call these people heroes.
