My agency reps a product with Bode Miller’s name attached, though I don’t work on that account directly. Yesterday Bode was on the Today Show in his first live interview since the Olympics. I think he was expected to apologize for something or defend himself, and he didn’t do that. Good for Bode. The whole brouhaha illustrates how weird we are about sports and sports “heroes:” they’d better win, by golly, or if they don’t they’d better be damn sorry and beg our forgiveness. Why? What exactly has it got to do with us?

In one of Bode’s ads for Nike he says he believes one of the main contributors to the obesity of American kids is all the emphasis on winning. If you can’t win at a sport, says conventional wisdom, don’t bother. He makes an excellent point. There’s an assumption that you can’t enjoy doing a sport unless you’re winning. That’s just nutty.

So here’s a guy who is really good at skiing, good enough that he sometimes wins races. In a ski race, only one guy wins. Sometimes Bode doesn’t win. But he still likes to ski and compete. What’s wrong with that? No one died as the result of Bode not winning. Some people say he didn’t behave like a “dedicated athlete” at the Games. I’m not sure what that means, but the only people who need to be concerned about it are Bode and his coaches. The rest of us should just sit back and take some inspiration from someone who just enjoys going down mountains really, really fast and thinks you should go find something you enjoy doing a lot, too.

Today’s Top 5:
1. Sudacare Shower Soothers
2. the self-serve coffee bar at 7-11
3. Jonathan Carroll
4. wandering pointlessly around Big Lots
5. Bathed & Infused