12/18/24
January 06, 2006
Nectar of the Gods: Is it OK for Bode to ski drunk? By sportsfilter's own JJ.
Nice Work JJ. Mickey Mantle played drunk pretty regularly as did Whitey Ford, Billy Martin and numerous others. Drugs and alcohol ruined and eventually killed Ken Caminiti. Favre had the pain pills issues a few years ago. Jon Matuzak was reputed to live on "Bagels and Vodka" Take NFL players for example. My father in law worked with the brother of former All Pro Tackle Fulton Kuykendall. His brother stated "Fulton made himself a nice retirement, but he killed himself doing it". Do we honestly think that these guys deal with this type of pain/pressure without self medicating in some way? I am ok with drinking, I plan to do some tonight and, yes, I have come to work hungover, but not actively drunk. Do I excuse Bode Miller for skiing drunk? Sure. As far as I am concerned he could have a bottle of Tangueray in one hand a ski pole in the other. I would be more worried about JJ injuring someone by drinking and darting than Bode drinking and skiing
posted by Wrigley South at 01:12 PM on January 06, 2006
I am a new snowboarder (this will be my third season) and I just assumed booze and the slopes went hand in hand. Every hill I've been to has a "lodge" that serves alcohol all day long. I find a couple of neat Wild Turkeys gets the 'ol courage up a bit and you may try things you never have before (on and off the slopes) and at the very least dull the pain of wiping out.
posted by HATER 187 at 01:16 PM on January 06, 2006
The reason I'm so drawn to sports in general is because they've become the modern equivalent of the morality plays of medieval times. Every story has in it an element of the human drama, boiled down to its essence, whether it's Mike Tyson (or even Terrell Owens or Kobe Bryant) fighting themselves so fiercely that it drives away the people they need most, or Ray Bourque & Dan Marino coming to different conclusions about whether loyalty to one's home is more important than some arbitrary definition of success, or Tedy Bruschi or Dave Duval having to overcome debilitating health issues to stay competent at activities at which they used to be worldbeaters. justgary, your point about being able to identify, on no matter how basic a level, with the athletes for whom we're cheering is an excellent one, and it's why Bode Miller isn't going to get pilloried for this. You don't have to be Sonny Bono for skiing drunk to be dangerous. You could be the best skiier in the world, and while you may be just fine, it becomes just another way to tempt fate. Which is in itself a very human desire. Now, if Bode finds some kind of misfortune on the slopes, there will be a lot of sad nodding heads and people making the drinky-drinky motion, but as long as he pushes whatever he sees as the envelope, he's providing a catharsis for the rest of us outeredgeophobes.
posted by chicobangs at 01:37 PM on January 06, 2006
It would be braver by far to risk finding out you weren’t good enough, even at your best, than to ski down that hill with a pocketful of excuses. Interesting point JJ. Growing up was frustrating because I was outdone in every athletic endeavor by my brother. Eventually I realized that... "If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down" Since I adopted that philosophy, I've been a much happier person.
posted by njsk8r20 at 03:17 PM on January 06, 2006
JJ Excellent column, Thanks. In the Sport of Skydiving alcohol is a major part of its appeal, but not how you would think. It's actually illegal and a violation of BARS which are our safety regs every licensed skydiver agrees to abide by when you earn your license from the United States Parachute Association as well as other countries because they all fall under the FAI. That said every milestone or event in Skydiving is accompied by "you owe beer" be it your 1st jump, 100th, 1,000th, 1st night jump, mistakes made etc. and those owing are obligated to pay up to the other skydivers on the drop zone. Alot of DZ,s actually have boards with names and amount of beer owed. It's common practice to initiate new skydivers in the sport buy having them pay for a huge DZ party. Alcohol consumtion during skydiving hours are usually cracked down on pretty hard at most DZ's because of the liabilities and who would want to be just a fraction of a second late in reactions when falling towards the Planet at speeds up to 250MPH (head down VRW) or doing 120 mph in the more common belly to earth position, thats 1000ft a second and we commonly deploy around 2500 ft. Not much time for trouble so its better to be sober. That said when the last aircraft for the day leaves the runway the DZ turns on the "Beer Light" and we light the bonfire and hit it hard. Chicobangs love your insight on tempting fate, certainly plays apart in the World of Skydiving We have gathering of skydivers called boogies and after a day of skydiving with several thousands or hundreds of others nothing says great like a cold one. It's party on for those of us who love the outeredge. Skydiving is the fastest non-motorized sport in the World. Cheers!
posted by skydivedad at 03:43 PM on January 06, 2006
oops meant 1000ft every 6 seconds. 12.5 sec to impact. Sorry my bad.
posted by skydivedad at 03:54 PM on January 06, 2006
1000 ft every six seconds makes 15 seconds to impact from 2500 ft, does it not? You bad? You drunk? I'm drunk, but I'm pleased to say the only thing hurt in the vicinity of the dartboard this evening was my pride. njsk8r20, I absolutely hear you there - sadly, I think we hold our sports stars to a stupidly high standard in terms of what they should do, particularly the ones with loads of talent. There's a notion that just because you have talent you owe it to the rest of us to ruin your own time on the planet for our amusement by dedicating yourself entirely to your sport. From the sport I know best, Colin Montgomery is a prime example - having won the European order of merit several times in a row, he was lambasted for not going to play in the states in order to improve his world ranking and increase his chances of winning a major. He didn't go because he liked the life he had in Europe. Time was, that would have annoyed me beyond description (suffering as I did under the illusion that in his position I'd have donee it all differently), but now, I understand better that there's a lot more to life than sport in general and golf in particular. I have a column in me somewhere about the psychological disfunction (in terms of being able to lead a normal life) that training your brain to be good at sport can cause, but I'll need to be more sober to write it. BLATANT SELF PUBLICISING - if you happen to be in the UK tomorrow lunchtime, check out Central News. They called me tonight to arrange an interview for tomorrow morning (to be aired at 12:40). It should be interesting given that it's in seven and a half hours and I only just got back from the pub! I suspect I may make headlines for the fastest ever lap of the Iffley Road track while puking. Night night!
posted by JJ at 07:02 PM on January 06, 2006
If you start deploying your canopy at 2500 feet you are still falling at a rapid rate and would be open around 2100-2250 or so depending on how you packed it to open otherwise you'd break your neck from the shock of opening, hence 12.5 sec. give or take a few tenths of seconds. Yup it's Friday eve hoisting a few myself.
posted by skydivedad at 08:03 PM on January 06, 2006
Now, waaaaaait a minute. Bode Miller has 'fessed up to taking a drink and going skiing. Unless I'm mistaken, though, he's never said that he raced while drunk. He's admitted to morning-after damage, which is not the same thing as inebriation. Also: If they win, we applaud them with extra vigour because they won despite being drunk the night before. If they fail, we know why, and they know why, and it doesn’t occur to anyone to accuse them of bottling it. In a way though, that’s exactly what they have done. Worse still, they have bottled it long before they have even lined up at the start. They have prepared themselves thoroughly, but only for failure. So, you think that Bode goes off and drinks in order to prepare an excuse for a poor performance? Then why has he never used that excuse in any of the many races where he dragged his butt on the snow or punched through a fence? Sorry, JJ, this doesn't hold water. What does hold water are Bode's claims to not care about the medals. Anyone remember the World Alpine Ski Championships in 2003, when Bode won the combined? Without going into details, it was a brilliant, come-from-behind performance, and he had to beat out two of the best combined racers of all time to get the win. After his final slalom run, Bode was standing in the finish area with the other contenders, with his skis off, leaning on them. When he knew he had the win, he didn't wave his arms or air-punch or cheer or anything like that. Instead, he crouched down in the finish area and rested his forehead against his upright skis, his eyes closed, for about ten seconds. I wish I had a link to a vid of this, because I can't do it justice, but that simple gesture was so full of emotion. It was very plain how much that win meant to him. But the medal? He doesn't have it any more. He used it to hold up a broken toilet seat in his apartment, and that's the last place he remembers seeing it. He didn't deliberately abandon it or treat it with contempt; it just didn't mean that much to him. The win mattered. Fact is, the attention is getting to Bode, but not in the usual way -- rather the opposite. He does not like the limelight. When ski season's over, he loves to go back to the States and be able to vanish, be able to walk down the streets in any city and have no one recognize him. He does not like appearances, dog-and-pony shows, or all the other hoopla that surrounds his current position. He loves to ski, he loves to race, he wants to be the best he can at it. But he's already won the highest award that the sport has to offer. When it stops being fun, when it's no longer worth the annoyance of the publicity, he'll simply quit. And I, for one, would not bet that that day couldn't come before the Torino Olympics.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:24 PM on January 06, 2006
In the Sport of Skydiving alcohol is a major part of its appeal, but not how you would think. It's actually illegal I would have to be drunk to jump out of a plane. I'm weak like that.
posted by justgary at 12:36 AM on January 07, 2006
I would have to be drunk to jump out of a plane. Naw, I believe in you jg, you can do it sober, you can get hammered once your back planetside! ;)
posted by skydivedad at 09:16 AM on January 07, 2006
I missed it JJ as I was down the pub watching Hull v Villa. Did Central say they'd be showing it again later?
posted by squealy at 09:31 AM on January 07, 2006
Hey squealy - you didn't miss much - they did it as the "and finally" throughout the day, but frankly they did a complete hatchet job on the footage, not even managing to work in anything that would have lead the casual observer to the website. Still, at least TV really does add pounds and I didn't look like quite as much of the lanky idiot I am while I was running around the track with a hangover trying not to barf. lbb - it's late, so I can't be arsed to formulate a reposte (and I'm also slowly learning that you could accuse a collander of not holding water), suffice it to say for now that when I said he professed to not care about medals I didn't mean the actual physical items themselves, I meant the titles. Your description of how much he cares about winning pretty much makes my point for me. He professes not to care, claims there are more important things in life and that he's here for a good time not a long time, but he can't hide it when he wins something - he does care, whether he wants to or not. As for the excuses (and everyone bear witneess now as I continue not to be arsed with a reposte), I could have made it clearer that the excuses I accused him of carrying around with him aren't excuses for us, or for TV, or for anyone other than for Bode Miller. None of us knows what he tells himself to get through the day, but I'm taking a punt that when he wins he congratulates himself, and when he doesn't he pulls out one of those excuses like his own sycophantic best friend.
posted by JJ at 06:10 PM on January 08, 2006
Eh, JJ -- he cares about doing well. 'snot quite the same thing as winning. How come you're so down on the guy, anyway?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 06:34 PM on January 08, 2006
JJ, nice op-ed on the week. Neat idea, and expertly executed. After seeing the interview in question, Bode apparently cares about the perfect run, being one with the mountain, leaving the world behind...or something. He also doesn't like drug testing. Dirty Hippy
posted by garfield at 10:55 PM on January 08, 2006
lbb - you can't have it both ways - you can't have him so filled with emotion about winning that he has to take a moment and then say that it's not the winning, it's the doing well. If he was happy enough to do well and the winning meant nothing, the reaction would come when he finished his own run, not when he watched the last man down the hill fail to beat his time. I'm not overly down on him - I think he has immense talent and admire him for it - but I just smell a bit of bullshit with him. I don't think it's deliberate or even conscious, but I think he isn't honest with himself and that he fears making the kind of commitment to his sport that could make him one of the all time greats. Again, on the one hand, that's actually fantastic and more power to him if he can really resist getting caught up in it all and "do it for the love of it". But, on the other hand, it smacks of waste and (worse) it smacks of fear - fear of failing. Without wanting to exactly jump on the couch here, I suppose if I sound down on him it's more to do with being down on myself for doing the same thing.
posted by JJ at 04:21 AM on January 09, 2006
NIce Article. Well thought out and some good points made.