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... if the American media could find a way to 'package' elite athletes' stories for our consumption using some complexity and nuance, without painting the athletes' characters black or white, good or bad using some sob-story cliche.
I was so happy to see former speed skater Dan Jantzen very politely take an NBC TV analyst to task a couple of days ago - saying something to the effect of, 'don't push a mike into every American athlete's face after a race and ask them how they're feeling because they didn't win the gold. Not everyone is here to win the gold. One athlete's personal best may place them no better than Top Ten - and placing Top Ten may be the proudest achievement of that athlete's life.'
Bode doesn't play by the media's rules. They don't quite know what do with him, which 'preconceived media notion' box to slot him in. News alert: he's just a guy - a guy with some extraordinary skills. So, today he's wearing the media's black cowboy hat because he was only the FIFTH best skiier in the world today. Out of the medals by less than the amount of time it takes to quickly breathe in and out. Yeah, no pressure at all.
I'd be hoisting a beer too.
