Bode Miller is proud of his accomplishments. Oh, not his accomplishments of downhill skiing in the 2006 Olympics (of which there were none).
Nope, he is proud of partying in Torrin.
“I just did it my way. I’m not a martyr, and I’m not a do-gooder. I just want to go out and rock. And man, I rocked here,” Miller said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press soon after he skidded off the slalom course in his fifth and final race, completing an 0-for-the-Olympics.
Miller came to the Italian Alps cresting on a wave of expectations and was considered a medal threat in every Alpine event. But he failed to finish three of them and his best showing was fifth in the downhill — part of a games with few highlights for the U.S. Ski Team.
“The expectations were other people’s,” Miller said. “I’m comfortable with what I’ve accomplished, including at the Olympics. I came in here to race as hard as I could. That was my obligation to myself.”
Dude! He partied! What an inspiration. I remember a time when “I did it my way” meant achieving goals without going through conventional methods. Now it means not achieving goals because of not trying. Partying was more important. But that is OK. Better to party, than to try but lose, right Bode?
Miller said that while he might have prepared differently, he isn’t one to second guess and he started each race fully focused and determined to win.
Bode doesn’t know the difference between being determined to win and being prepared to win.
“Me, it’s been an awesome two weeks,” Miller said. “I got to party and socialize at an Olympic level.”
If there were a gold medal in underachievement, Bode would get it. But at least he has self-esteem. Which goes to show you self-esteem is worthless without accomplishment. I havent’ even trained for the Olympics and won just as many medals as he did. But that is all right because I was determined to win just like Bode was.
Bob Costas summed up it up best when talking about Bode Miller’s effort (or lack thereof):
If you don’t care enough to consistently give your best and at least sometimes do your best, then pretty soon nobody else will care either.