11/05/24
January 06, 2006
Miller: Skiing drunk 'not easy': Talk about a hard challenge right there. ... If you ever tried to ski when you're wasted, it's not easy."
That sounds so very much like a conversation you might hear from the Kennedys.
posted by igottheblues at 03:26 AM on January 06, 2006
We don't ski much in Atlanta. I do get the same feeling though. I got drunk one time and fell off my neighbor's porch. That has got to be like skiing drunk.
posted by Wrigley South at 07:01 AM on January 06, 2006
it's more like driving drunk, and having the brakes fail.
posted by garfield at 07:17 AM on January 06, 2006
Uh, Bode, it was called high school. Friday and Saturday nights at Shanty Creek was lousy with us scary, local white trash kids, drunk and high off our asses. That was some fun skiing!
posted by NoMich at 07:40 AM on January 06, 2006
I have never been skiing, but I have been drunk a lot, so I can kind of relate. Is it like being drunk and peeing in the snow at all?
posted by steelcityguy at 07:48 AM on January 06, 2006
Uh, Bode, it was called high school. Friday and Saturday nights at Shanty Creek was lousy with us scary, local white trash kids, drunk and high off our asses. That was some fun skiing! From my lifetime's experience among the dirtbags, I can tell you that it doesn't end after high school, it just becomes a little more discreet after a while. Usually. For all Bode Miller is a big glamorous international ski racing star, he's still also a boy from the woods of New Hampshire. With few exceptions, all ski racers are kids from some small town in the back of beyond, and they've all done stuff like skiing off the roof of the lodge, and they still love to do stuff like that, when nobody's looking. Bode just gets scrutinized more and cares less about getting caught than the others. (should I tell my brother's story about skateboarding on I-70 in Colorado near the Eisenhower Tunnel?)
posted by lil_brown_bat at 07:56 AM on January 06, 2006
he's still also a boy from the woods of New Hampshire We call 'em "grits" 'round here, and for the most part they use snowmobiles, not skis. Skis aren't dangerous enough.
posted by yerfatma at 08:16 AM on January 06, 2006
I don't know what it is about skis, snow and booze - but it all comes together so very nicely. We would take wineskins up to the top of the mountain with us. It was an integral part of the day. Of course, I did manage to slip two discs in my back hitting a tree, so, you know, uh, it happens.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:19 AM on January 06, 2006
I myself find skateboarding is more fun after I tie one on because it gives me the confidence to try stunts I would not try sober. I'm sure skiing is second nature to this guy, so it probably is not so difficult for him to ski drunk. If he wants to ski drunk, I say let him. Of course you are gonna have the conservatives that say he is a bad influence on kids and blah blah blah....
posted by njsk8r20 at 08:32 AM on January 06, 2006
...and they've all done stuff like skiing off the roof of the lodge... Oh man, this is making the ol' memory banks smoke trying to recall my days of skiing off the roof of our house (OK, so it was just a one story ranch house, no biggie) instead of shoveling it clear of snow like we were suppose to. We would take wineskins... Our poison was Yukon Jack and orange juice. *shudder* We must've been some sight for those GM/Ford/Chrysler middle managers (the real bosses of the Big 3 wouldn't have been caught dead at our shitty ski "resorts"): two thousand feet of snow and here comes a candy apple red '66 Impala SS, jacked up in the back, sporting some sweet as fuck Keystone rims, blasting 'Powerage' on a shitty car stereo, the doors open and it's like something out of a Cheech y Chong sketch. We got called "dirtbag" a lot by those folks, but these dirtbags were sure to make it to second base with their daughters a couple of hours later.
posted by NoMich at 09:09 AM on January 06, 2006
I've discovered that I fall over a lot, regardless of how drunk I am (or whether or not I'm skiing come to think of it), so drunk is clearly the better option. When I'm drunk, I bounce!
posted by JJ at 09:31 AM on January 06, 2006
Interesting discussion. I have never skiied before, but back in my drinking days, I took a few chances. I can only imagine! Would it be like tubing down a rapids after a few Jim Beam and water?
posted by daddisamm at 10:01 AM on January 06, 2006
I know nothing abut skiing but this bloke Miller is my kind of sportsman. Can he play cricket? He'd fit in well with the England cricket team.
posted by squealy at 10:04 AM on January 06, 2006
a candy apple red '66 Impala SS, jacked up in the back, sporting some sweet as fuck Keystone rims, blasting 'Powerage' on a shitty car stereo This could serve as the very definition of the word "grit", though I'd prefer a Monte Carlo and you didn't mention if the Impala had a Holly double-pumper.
posted by yerfatma at 10:51 AM on January 06, 2006
Was he drunk when he gave this interview?
posted by wfrazerjr at 01:33 PM on January 06, 2006
Is he a good drunk or mean drunk?
posted by njsk8r20 at 02:23 PM on January 06, 2006
Uh, Bode, it was called high school. Friday and Saturday nights at Shanty Creek was lousy with us scary, local white trash kids, drunk and high off our asses. That was some fun skiing! posted by NoMich at 7:40 AM CST on January 6 WOW - What year was that? I have been skiing once, I was wasted, I was at the local lodge (Shanty Creek) and I was in high school. NoMich you sure did bring back a memory. Thank You!!!!
posted by skydivemom at 02:45 PM on January 06, 2006
Early to mid '80s, skydivemom. What town are you from?
posted by NoMich at 02:53 PM on January 06, 2006
WOW - graduated from Bellaire in '85 - were you the drunk guy I ran into while I was skiing drunk? I still live in Michigan but not Bellaire any longer.
posted by skydivemom at 04:03 PM on January 06, 2006
This is too funny. I'm Mancetucky, class of '84. HA, the good ol' Blair Eagles of the mighty Ski-Valley Conference. For those that don't know: Mancelona (my hometown) == out and out craphole Bellaire (skydivemom's hometown) == pleasant and picturesque little village whose movie theater didn't get destroyed by a friend of mine freaking out one night and driving his car into it like he did to our movie theater that showed only third run films and NC-17 rated skin flicks but still let me in no matter what my age was at the time.
posted by NoMich at 04:38 PM on January 06, 2006
Wow Mancetucky! What do you know. I mostly ran around with people from Central Lake but that is really cool! Do you ever get back? Skydivedad and I go about 2-3 times a summer - Beautiful up there! Best lake in the world - Torch Lake!
posted by skydivemom at 04:56 PM on January 06, 2006
Get a room!
posted by wfrazerjr at 05:26 PM on January 06, 2006
Dude, no way. Not with some Bellaire chick! I prefer the Forest Area girls to the south. I hardly ever go back to Mancelona. No reason to anymore. My parents moved waaaay up to Dollar Bay up in the Copper Country and my brothers all scattered as well. Thank goodness.
posted by NoMich at 08:23 PM on January 06, 2006
Dude, no way. Not with some Bellaire chick! It would have to be in your dreams anyway! Sorry about sending this thread in the wrong direction. Back on subject, I don't think he is hurting anyone but himself and he doesn't seem to be doing much of that so let him be.
posted by skydivemom at 09:22 PM on January 06, 2006
Sorry about sending this thread in the wrong direction. Actually, I thought it was doing just fine. See, I knew if I posted that skiing-off-the-lodge thing, you all would start to come out of the woodwork and 'fess up. I'm starting to think I need to organize another SpoFi field trip for all my fellow dirtbags. I can get industry-rate lift tickets, y'all... Seriously, on the issue of drinking and skiing...I really don't do it, mostly because I don't trust my ability enough not to hurt somebody else. It's the same reason I never drink and drive. But I know people who will have a drink or two and go out and ski away from the general public, where the only other people around are those who know exactly what they're skiing with. No innocent bystanders there, hence to me, not a moral issue. I don't personally know anyone who drinks and skis with the general public. (p.s. yerfatma, in upstate New York the term was "woodchucks")
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:35 PM on January 06, 2006
There's something to the animal thing. My wife grew up in Concord, NH and they referred to 'em as "buzzards". I stole "grits" from Mayor Curley @ Metafilter-- he grew up in Maine, but the concept covered all of coastal New England in the 80s, kids in black t-shirts, denim jackets with metal band patches, driving a BMX at 18 because they already lost their license for drinking and driving, etc. God bless high school elitism. It never goes away, it just morphs.
posted by yerfatma at 09:08 AM on January 07, 2006
skiing sober aint so easy either....hurts less drunk