... 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.

How can anyone object to Brokeback Mountain's "homosexual views"? I thought the cinematography was gorgeous; one amazing view after another. . . .

Bode Miller should make sports journalists take breathalyzer tests before they interview him, then he should publish the results on a blog where we can who else gets drunk at the Olympics besides Bode.

paris hilton as mother teresa may cause christians to riot and burn down indian embassies.

The fact that they dismiss out of hand a 5th place at the Olympics is a testament to how jaded (or clueless) these sportwriters are. And it also reveals their ridiculous puritanical streaks (Drinking a beer ? Good God, how could he ?). I thought sportwriters were supposed to inform and get us excited about sports, not handing out summary judgements and character assassinations. These guys are truly pathetic.

Sports history is filled with stories about the sleep-deprived and hung-over athlete who staggers into an event to deliver a great performance. See Max Magee in Super Bowl I.

If Bode Miller had won the Olympic Downhill, we would have been treated to more humorous features and columns about his late-and-liquid training program. Instead Miller finishes fifth in the Olympics (The Olympics!) and we are subjected to tiresome tongue clucking from the writers and producers who created the Legend of Bode in the first place.

Is it the tragedy that Miller's insistence on behaving non-professionally cost him his Olympic victory?

Or is it a victory that he came in fifth regardless of the fact that he treated a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to represent his country like he was a frat boy blowing off finals?

Miller doesn't respect his own performance, so why should anyone else? He doesn't care about the Olympics, so why should anyone care about him? And would any responsible adult really want their children to grow up to be just like Bode Miller?

Being able to defend irresponsible behavior is a guaranteed American freedom, but why on Earth would anyone want to exercise it? Is it really so difficult to hold anyone up to even the most minimal of standards, anymore? If Miller wants to be known as someone not worthy or respect or importance, that's fine with me. Not everybody's up to the responsiblity. No further excuses or explanation necessary.

I can not believe this man's idiocy! If I had been in his shoes, I would not have had a drink for at least a month before his big event on Sunday. If he had been totally sober on Sunday and come in fifth, I would have sympathized with him. Shit happens, even to Olympic athletes. If Bode can't take the Olympics more seriously than this, he should not even be over there.