Bodie, Bonds, and the media

So Bodie Miller has failed yet again to be the best at a sport that i spend 47 months out of 48 nt caring about. So why do I care you ask, well I still don't, but a few things have happened to make this a story of note. First, he is a good skiier, it must be night to be privileged white guy who excels at a sport only the rich participate in, but he was american and he'd been winning world cup events, so when the olympics roll around, I know his name. In preparation for the attention he'd be getting he did an interview with 60 minutes where he said he has skiid drunk and would probably do it again. Once again privileged people doing things thye shouldn't under the influence bores me, but this obviously became a story, because of the ever impressionable children that can't wait to emulate their favorite skiier. Then Bodie throws himself on the cross about how the media doesn't like him and how he doesn't care what they think, yada yada yada, and it only gets him in the news more, because he hates the attention so. Finally competition starts and he has finished no higher then 5th and in the combined he was leading until he straddled a gate and was dq'd. Once again, I don't care, but he then says he doesn't care about winning, it's about taking in the olympic experience, which I believe means trying to have sex with the female ice dancers who don't speak english in the olympic village. OK, so the media is unfair to you and its not about winning, so what is this about, well money, but not even money, the image of money which has become so popular since Paris Hilton showed us that their is no shame in being rich. Bodie Miller wants attention, so he says something clearly controversal to a national outlet, then when he doesn't compete to his own standards, thus dissapointing everyone who expected more of him, he attempts to play it off thus infuriating all of those who believed in him. I'm sure when nike started joinbodie.com they expected to have a second half of the promotion where he had stuff hanging around his neck. So Bodie well done, you made me know your name and now I hate that I do, i would have rather never known and then been moderately interested when an american won, like that moe guy... ummm... Tommie Moe. Don't go away mad at the media Bodie, just go away, you and Darva Conger can get your life back together.

Barry Bonds announced his retirement, after next year, unless he doesn't retire, then he has announced nothing. I have no issue with this, except why is a guy who is old and have injury issues talking about what may or may not happen in a year a story. For all who do not like Bonds, it is a feeding frenzy, they get to release all of their anger and vitriol on the player they blame for ruining baseball, for whatever state of ruin it is or not in. For the people who like Bonds, it is one more time they have to engage in boring arguments of integrity, pureness, morality and head size, where people get mad at you simply for defending him with anything that might be confused with objectivity. So first the media blame. They are jealous bitter angry sportswriters who hate people that don't fit their story lines and make their life remotely difficult. They take this story and run with it as yet another example of his ego and his bad attitude. As for Bonds, if he doesn't like the media, then stop talking to reporters, on or off the record, you damn moron. I don't think Bonds is a bad or evil or dumb person, but his handeling of the media in the last few years has been ill-advised at best.

So in closing people who write about sports tend to be short sited angry people with an absurd moral compas that doesn't observe subtlety or nuance, and most athletes don't know how to handle that type of idiocy.

Hobbes