Bode wins and the NY Times is there.

**sbbeckett** · 12-02-2006, 07:53 AM

Can you say 'breathless reporting'?

NY Times
December 2, 2006
Returning to Form, Miller Captures Downhill

By NATHANIEL VINTON
BEAVER CREEK, Colo., Dec. 1 — Bode Miller, who searches for every shred of speed he can find on rugged, icy mountainsides where normal skiers cannot even stay upright, displayed presence of mind while blazing to victory in the terrifying downhill course here Friday.

Miller was negotiating a crucial, icy turn at about 60 miles an hour when a Slovenian coach in a bright green coat lost footing and slid into his path a few hundred feet below — which at Miller’s rate of speed did not allow for much time to react.

Miller stayed aggressive and kept plowing through the snowstorm to win his first race of the new World Cup season in a time of 1 minute 46.15 seconds.

“I would have had good cause for a re-run had I wanted one, but I hadn’t made any big mistakes, and I didn’t feel like going up and starting over,” Miller said. “He was out of the way and I just kept racing.”

Asked if he felt a jolt of adrenaline when he looked ahead and saw the possibility of a collision, Miller grinned.

“If you’ve seen that course, I don’t think there’s much room for a jolt of adrenaline,” he said.

The victory was the 22nd of Miller’s World Cup career and his first victory in two years in a World Cup downhill event. He has said he wanted to win 14 races this year and surpass the single-season record of 13, shared by Hermann Maier of Austria and Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden.

It was also a payoff for the sponsors that adopted Miller, a 29-year-old American racer, after a brutal year where he all but destroyed his public image with undiplomatic statements and the failure to win any medals at the Winter Games in Turin, Italy.

Miller’s victory was sweetened by a chance to share the podium with his teammate Steven Nyman, a 24-year-old from Utah who had never scored a top-three finish on the circuit.

In four years on the team, Nyman has been Miller’s copycat on the hill (with a wild, out-of-kilter technique) and his antithesis off it.

A deliciously awkward moment ensued when organizers handed Miller a bottle of Champagne; the United States racers are chafing under a new team policy that does not allow them to consume alcohol in the presence of the team’s staff.

Miller sprayed photographers with the Champagne and raised the bottle to within a few inches of his lips before looking toward his coaches waiting in the wings. He then rolled his eyes before taking a long sip and passing the bottle around.

Also sharing the podium with Miller was Didier Cuche of Switzerland, who finished second, 15-hundredths of a second behind Miller and 18-hundredths ahead of Nyman.

In the postrace news conference, Miller was asked to describe what it was like to see a body sliding across the downhill course as he hurtled through the steepest section. His answer was intricate and self-deprecating, a generous glimpse into what it is like to be a nimble and fearless downhill racer.

“It’s pretty quick if you compress the whole thing into the time frame I was dealing with,” he said. “It’s about a second and a half or two seconds of actual stuff that that guy brought to the table today.”

Miller said he first saw the falling figure during a desperate glance down the hill while trying to shift his weight forward, having been thrown off balance by a bump.

“Just as a reference you always try to glance down at the angle you’re going to need coming out of the next gate to get into Johno’s double there,” he said, referring to the two bumps where his coach, John McBride, stands during every edition of this annual race, sending radio reports to the skiers at the start.

“That was where the guy slipped out, and he slipped out basically right as I was glancing in that direction out of my peripheral vision,” Miller said. “He was wearing an orange coat.”

Then Miller paused to reconsider.

“Or reddish-orange or whatever it was.”

Again, Miller stopped, and then asked what color the coat was.

“Green!” shouted the reporters assembled for the news conference.

“O.K.,” said Miller, feigning embarrassment, and adding that it looked orange to him. “By the time I made the next transition I wasn’t looking at him anymore at all. That next turn is a fallaway and it absorbs all your attention as you get there.”

Miller carved a sharp arc through the snow and it was there that he saw the fallen worker tumbling less than 20 feet to his left as Miller cruised by at freeway speeds.

“He was going right across the track in a big ball of snow,” Miller said. “He was just a little orange spot in the snow. I’m sticking with orange.”

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
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**truth** · 12-02-2006, 07:59 AM

Damn. That could have killed both of them. If he hit the guy it could have ripped his legs right off. Good for Bode swigging the bubbly. Fucking stupid rule.

**Trackhead** · 12-02-2006, 08:24 AM

Congrats Bode!

Kick some ass.

**Free Range Lobster** · 12-02-2006, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by sbbeckett

“He was going right across the track in a big ball of snow,” Miller said. “He was just a little orange spot in the snow. I’m sticking with orange.”

bwah

**jtran10** · 12-02-2006, 10:05 AM

Bode's the shit.

**str8line** · 12-02-2006, 10:29 AM

Fuck all the uptight flag waving armchair quarterbacks who were dissin on Bode last year during the Olympics.

I hope he gets wasted all year long AND breaks the record for victories in a season. And just to spite the ultra high-pressure douchenozzles at the USST he should leave the team and represent Jamaica while doing so as someone said in another thread.

Bode is the shit, pure and simple.

**Dexter Rutecki** · 12-02-2006, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by str8line

Fuck all the uptight, flag waving armchair quarterbacks who were dissin on Bode last year during the Olympics.

That's what I was saying--and you should see how worked up the Epic folks got about him last year.
If he can figure out how to finish SL's he should win the WC (again).

Oh yeah, no more spoilers in thread titles, Ok? Not sure if this is what OLN/VS is showing Sunday, but if it is I'd like to not know the results.

**Showtime06** · 12-02-2006, 11:05 AM

4 guys in the top 10?? awesome results... amazing how many calculations are going through his head at 60mph +... like you guys said he's the man

**iceman** · 12-02-2006, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by sbbeckett

A deliciously awkward moment ensued when organizers handed Miller a bottle of Champagne; the United States racers are chafing under a new team policy that does not allow them to consume alcohol in the presence of the team’s staff.

Miller sprayed photographers with the Champagne and raised the bottle to within a few inches of his lips before looking toward his coaches waiting in the wings. He then rolled his eyes before taking a long sip and passing the bottle around.

That's so great, he totally gave them the finger. He won, but he definitely also broke the rule, and with reporters and cameras right there. What are those assholes gonna do about it? Suspend him? If not, why not? He broke the rule, after all. Is there a rule or is there not a rule? Which is it, assholes? Is there a rule or is there not a rule?

HAHAHA, RIGHT ON, BODE!!!

**danimal's dead** · 12-02-2006, 11:43 AM

American badass rebel mutherphucker, let's send Bode to Iraq, err maybe not.

**vinnay** · 12-02-2006, 12:33 PM

bode is the shiz, that is all.

by the way, does he still have his nike deal?

**MrDirt** · 12-02-2006, 12:48 PM

Great story! I love hearing about people sticking it to the man over totally effing stupid rules. What a badass.

**freshies** · 12-02-2006, 12:59 PM

go Bode! He is in his 20's racing for a living, not curing cancer, etc. leave the guy alone and let him have fun, he's not hurting anyone with his antics that everyone gets theitr panties in a bunch about...

**4matic** · 12-02-2006, 02:04 PM

He was injured last year and never used that as an excuse.

**Benny Profane** · 12-02-2006, 03:41 PM

Bode rules. Glad to see him back.

Betcha he made a little brown spot under his tights when he saw that little orange spot in the snow.

**0BernhardFranz** · 12-02-2006, 03:52 PM

trick is pist crosser comes where bode would swing so he gets some fatsre losses some savety .. old trick this got me so fast in engelberg as always a chick came in when i neede to turn delaying my swing by say 100 yards - less swings more speed the guy walks so that bode goes a little faster a little steeper to dodge him

**BigDaddy** · 12-02-2006, 04:40 PM

That's my man!....

I'm drinking Champaigne all night tonight..... seriously, I am.

**velox** · 12-02-2006, 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by danimal's dead

American badass rebel mutherphucker, let's send Bode to Iraq, err maybe not.

Ours boy in Iraq can not drink also.

**doublediamond223** · 12-03-2006, 02:24 AM

Originally Posted by sbbeckett

It was also a payoff for the sponsors that adopted Miller, a 29-year-old American racer, after a brutal year where he all but destroyed his public image with undiplomatic statements and the failure to win any medals at the Winter Games in Turin, Italy.

In four years on the team, Nyman has been Miller’s copycat on the hill (with a wild, out-of-kilter technique) and his antithesis off it.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
Privacy Policy

Wow, I hate it when mainstream media tries to report on skiing. In regards to the first statement,

, that is all.

The second quoted one is pretty offensive and demeaning to Nyman, calling him a mere copycat of Bode. Let's see you go ski an icy DH, Mr. asshat reporter.

(btw, the steep part of golden eagle is pretty steep, and is still injected come March. I can't imagine going down that thing in a tuck.)

Originally Posted by str8line

Fuck all the uptight flag waving armchair quarterbacks who were dissin on Bode last year during the Olympics.

Damn right.

Originally Posted by vinnay

by the way, does he still have his nike deal?

No, it was a one-year deal. They wanted to build off of his olympic success, which didn't happen. Therefore, no renewal.