Well it’s all over for Bode, 0-for-5 in the Winter Games.

I have been very reluctant to dump on Bode as many have done. Typical of the media, he was unfairly oversold and when he fell short he was unfairly overpiledon. Most of these athletes train very hard, for very little and don’t normally get much recognition outside of their respective sports.

However, Ann Killion has an article in today’s San Jose Mercury News and makes a pretty good case for giving Bode the bums rush:

“As far as my own personal involvement, I would not change anything,'’ Miller told the Associated Press after straddling a gate and skiing off the course in Saturday’s slalom race. “I rocked here.'’

“Instead, he was churlish in a news conference when he first arrived. He has been, according to multiple blogs, nasty to fans when he’s out in the bars, which is every night. He has been foolhardy: he twisted his ankle playing pickup basketball last week.”

“In his interview with the AP, Miller made it sound like partying in Sestriere was far more important to him than being ready to win a medal for his country. Miller, 28 going on 12, even mocked teammate Daron Rahlves for caring about the Olympics and not spending his evenings drinking beer.”

“Look at what happened to Rahlves,'’ Miller said. “He was holed up in his RV; he’s probably the fittest guy out here and he made a point of talking about how important the Olympics were to him. . . . And he’s got nothing to show for the whole thing.'’

“In Saturday afternoon’s slalom, Miller lasted about 15 seconds. He straddled a gate and stopped, skiing off the course, ending his futile two weeks. When the camera caught him, he lifted his arms and stuck out his tongue in mock celebration. He skied off the course, chased by NBC cameramen on skis.”

Well, perhaps still a bit over done, but I won’t be missing ole Bode.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 26th, 2006 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Olympics 2006. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.