My Dislike of Bode Miller

The Sochi Winter Olympics have come and gone (unless you are like me and have them recorded on your DVR). They will be the last for American alpine skier Bode Miller, who ends his career as the most decorated American skier of all time. Overall he grabbed six medals in four Olympic Games.  

Miller's career will be remembered for his trademark style of skiing, where he constantly pushed the border of being in control, often with violent and catastrophic conclusions. It might be going too far to call him the Ricky Bobby of alpine skiing, but not by much, it was often first or last for Miller.

He will also be remembered, by many, for being an underachiever. He is widely considered one of the most naturally gifted skiers ever. However, he lacked commitment and concentration. Many think he didn't win as often as he should have, including his own coach. However, to me Miller is neither the champion or the underachiever. To me, Miller will be remembered as one of the only American Olympic athletes I rooted against.

As a general rule I always root for American athletes. The Olympics definitely bring out my national pride. If an American is in the event, whether they are the favorite, like Shaun White or major underdogs, like any cross country skier, I am rooting for them. If an American is not in the event, I generally pull for the other English speaking countries in this general order, Canada, Australia and the UK. I know that Canada is our rival, but it is more like a sibling rivalry. I always want to beat them, but when we aren't playing them or can’t win, I root for them. It feels like keeping it in the family.

Bode Miller makes me throw these rules out. My dislike for Bode Miller runs so deep that I would rather root for anyone else but him. If Russian or Chinese alpine skiers were a thing, I would root for them over Miller. He is the Tom Brady of my Olympic experience; I just want to watch him fail.

The beginning of this dislike dates back to 2006, the year of the Torino Olympics. Coming into those Olympic Games, Miller was the most visible and most hyped alpine skier and was widely considered the clear favorite in all five disciplines. He was coming off an overall World Cup title. Miller’s name and face were everywhere, which left me with a predisposition to dislike him. Generally I can’t stand athletes that the media tries to force on me.

Things went downhill fast (pun intended) for Miller. Just before the Olympics, Miller admitted that he has competed in alpine events while still drunk for the night before. Miller clearly showed that he didn’t regard ski racing seriously enough to forgo Saturday night parties at the ski lodge. He had no respect for the honor that it is to represent your country at the Olympics. Although that alone didn’t make me hate him. What an athlete chooses to do on their own time is their business. As long as they show some humility and perform at game time I don’t mind. Guys like Charles Barkley don’t draw my ire. They know what they are and they free admit it. They also don’t put themselves bigger than the game. The problem is that is the exact opposite of what Bode Miller did.

In Torino, Miller competed in all five men’s alpine skiing events. He didn’t medal in any of them. In fact he looked out of shape and disinterested. He only managed to finish in two and them. In interviews he just kinda shrugged it all off. He gave an overall negative view of himself to the world and general did a poor job of representing the United States. For me his failure at these games just cemented in my mind that he was an over-hyped out of touch skier. He basically had no chance of winning me over ever.

Since those Italian games, I haven’t been able to stand Bode Miller. His smile, his eyes, his interviews, everything about him rubs me the wrong way. Even with his utter failure in Torino, Miller appear dto have avoided picking up any sort of humility. He was still the smug, aloof and arrogant. The 2010 games were presented as his redemption story, but I wasn’t interested. The media coverage of him and his achievements just furthered my dislike. Miller continued to be a douche bag in every way and a douche bag that doesn’t win when it counts is just someone I can’t root for.

At the Sochi games, tried to show a reformed more mature side. He got married and dotes attention on his bride. He avoided interviews and tried to sound self-effacing. None of this is enough to undo the negative imagine of Miller burned into my mind. He will always be a combination of the drunk, loud disrespectful 2006 version and the corny, untrue and undeserving 2010 version of Bode Miller to me. 

Sources: The New York Times, The New York Daily News