Bode

There has been a lot of hype about Bode Miller's interview after his history-making medal performance in Sochi yesterday.  (Or was it the day before?)

Let's walk through this Redneck style, shall we?

Bode came down the hill and sealed his place in history as the most successful American alpine skier EVER.

Back story - Bode burst onto the world ski scene in 2002.  Bode (pronounced Bo-dee) was raised by his hippie parents in a house with no electricity and running water.  They didn't do it because they were poor, they did it because they wanted to and they loved to ski.  So, little Bode got on skis with his parents by the time he could walk.

Where else in the world could you live like that and produce one of the world's greatest athletes?  In what other country could the ultimate achiever in a sport be raised in this way?

Back to now- The interviewer in Sochi the other day, asked how Bode felt.  He mentioned that it had been a tough year.  The interviewer, a friend and fellow skier, mentioned, by name, Bode's brother who died this past year.

Now, I know a lot about Bode, but didn't know that his brother died.  The interviewer, gently, acknowledged something that Bode himself alluded to, but most viewers wouldn't understand.  Basically, she clarified the situation for viewers in a caring way by mentioning Bode's brother, by name.

Let me tell you this - when Bode started to cry, I started to cry.

Maybe I see something different than other people see.  I see an American success story.  I see a man who, just by falling in love with a sport, became the greatest skier our country has produced and in the most unusual of circumstances.

In the face of unbelievable hardship, the loss of his brother, Bode continued to train and perform at the top of his game and came out on top of the world.

Most people would have quit.  Most people would have taken a year off.

Not Bode.

How about you?