I love the headline:

Bode Miller, channeling Brett Favre, returns to skiing and U.S. ski team

Looks like he's going to train for a while, and miss the beginning of the World Cup, but it should be an interesting year.

Bode doesn't have an Olympic Gold.  That's probably all he wants from this relationship.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm thinking. He hasn't shown himself to be much of a team player.

Still, it makes for a fun media storm to hear his side of things, and he's a hell of an athelete. It makes you wonder what he would have been able to do if he could focus on a goal.

 Love Bode - I'm glad he's back.  If he can stay on target with his training, this could be a very good winter for him.

Damn, back on the USST... lame.

"It's not exactly a team sport, is it?"

- Downhill Racer

From Universal Sports:

http://www.universalsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&atclid=204800829&CFID=32581215&CFTOKEN=41638506&jsessionid=5030f031013175717065

 

What's funny about that quote is that DH is one of the disciplines in alpine that requires the most teamwork (via course reports, strategy, etc).

I think it's great that he's back at all, because he ain't no spring chicken and has been contemplating retirement on and off for some time.  I hope he has a great year.  I think what he's saying is that his independent effort worked then, but the US Team has evolved and it's now the right plan for him.  I think the team realizes it's also good for the Team.  Wish them both the best this year...

It all makes sense.  The USST has a new coach who Bode likes and has known for a decade or so.  The big honchos in Park City , the guys Bode never liked, have changed, too.  The US team knows Bode was the best skier in 2008 training his way, and they all want into whatever he was doing.  Bode doesn't have time anymore to worry about the details of running the Team America party bus through Europe.  He needs support in the US, and the USST will give him whatever he wants.  Plus, Bode can help the younger crop of racers.  He is getting older, and it is time to give something back.   This is a good deal for everybody.

Plus it's time to put more money into the retirement fund and less into running Team Bode.

The weird thing about this story is that Miller said he's not in very good shape, and will skip season-opening races. I guess what he's saying without saying it is that he's not really taking the World Cup seriously this season, and is just gonna try and peak for the Olympics. Maybe go hard in the classic downhills and not much else. I wonder if we've seen the last of Bode Miller racing World Cup GS, too.

I was also told by a good source (Ex-recent US ski Team member that Bode got married!?

Maybe he's just becoming more traditional?

Maybe the wheels did come off the party bus!!!!

You know he had a baby with his girlfriend last year, right? So getting married isn't much of a surprise.

If you're going to be in the Olympics, you can't make up your own country, right? Or is there another way?

Speaking of Brett Favre, will Bode make a commercial too?

+1
hope he stays healthy and rips it up it..  it will be fun to watch!

Lawdie.  I can see the commercial now ... Bode dressed up in one of those androsexual pirate get-ups .... one leg on an imaginary cask or wench or something ...... "Got a little Bode in you ??"

I think the sequence of the kid thing was .... anyhow it's mystery time on that one ..... the hottie that was prime suspect wasn't and the.

Riichie would be my top choice for the cover of the romance novel ..... nooooooooooooo doubt!

One of you guys or gals with computer talent just gotta do a Photo Shop number on Bode and his potential sponsors!

Remember the "Melk" .... milk thinge?  Imagine his DH suit with stuff from ....

KY Jelly ....

Trojan Condoms ..... they work (well most of the time) ... for the Bode Man

Capn' Morgan (Kut-Rate-Rum) ..... made in Hoboken Noo Jersey

I think he's gonna do something.  I haven't seen it yet, but I heard on his second run at Levi, he burned everybody by something ridiculous like almost two seconds.  After Soelden and Levi, I had this theory that this year, the guys who win are going to be the guys who ski the steep well, because everybody's going about the same on the flats...shows you how much I know...

Bode was pretty fast through the top of the second run at Levi. He didnt make it to the first interval, but you can compare his split time to the end of the flush right before he went out. To that point, he had a split of 19.65.  In comparison, Razzoli (who had the fastest official split to the first interval) had an unofficial split to the same gate of 19.24. So Bode wasnt the fastest at the top, but he was probably one of the five fastest.

Richr

I didn't see anything on Sunday to suggest that Bode's "back," except the fact that he suited up and raced. But I don't expect much if anything from him in slalom anymore, and don't think anyone else should. It's hard to see him being competitive in anything other than SG, DH and super Combi at this point. He looked fast in GS last year but was even more hit or miss than usual.

I don't get the feeling that Bode Miller is particularly committed to ski racing as a full-season pursuit at this point. That's not really a knock on him, I mean, there are many ways to attack the World Cup season beyond just going at it week in/week out in every discipline, which to his credit he's done for years (except the end of last season).

He'd probably be wise to concentrate on speed events and stay well rested, maybe grab the DH Cup and, who knows, maybe win one of those three events (DH, SG, K) at the Olympics.

I would have to agree that what you said is probably a very realistic estimate.  With Bode, however, you never know.  Remember that, by his own admission, he's not in shape yet.  I think you're right that his best shot appears to be in speed events and maybe Super Combi.  Let's see what happens in Lake Louise and BC...

 

 

 It's admittedly sketchy to make any judgements based on 20 seconds of a run, but I liked what I saw in Bode's 2nd run at Levi. It was conservative (for him), but kept more of his speed than his previous attempts at dialing things down. His first run was a bit of a stinker, although it was conservative, which is probably better for him than a fast one that he barely holds on to, at least for the moment. Apparently he was using an older model of ski for the the 1st run and switched to the new ones (which he claimed were a big improvement on his blog - although why didn't he pick those to start with...), so that may account for some of the difference.

Making predictions about what Bode Miller is going to do is a good way to end up wrong and look foolish, but I'm glad he's back. Always keeps things interesting, one way or another.

1.  He qualified for a second run, when slalom is his weakest event at this point, and he admittedly isn't in World Cup shape yet.

2.  He's a guy with high autonomy needs/low tolerance for hierarchy bullsnort.  After a couple of years when he actually had to manage an organization and meet payroll, I think it's great for him and for the USST that he can rejoin the team.

3.  He's Bode Miller, folks.  There's stuff he can do on skis that no one else on the planet can even approach.  Other guys look at Svindal and Raich and think they could ski like that, if only they were technically better, crisper, and made fewer mistakes.  The same guys look at Bode on the video and just say the saltier equivalent of "DANG..."

4.  All that said, I'd love to see the USST evolve to a system, with a plethora of top and up-and-coming atheletes, not just a few extraordinary stars (Miller, Vonn, Ligety) who are one off extraordinary athletes.  (Although, for the record, people at that level are all amazing, extraordinary athletes.  Kind of comes with the territory, and you don't see me doing a standing backflip or skipping rope on a slackline...)

SfDean

He's also not getting any younger. Look, I'd love to see Bode Miller finish off his career in style, but it doesn't look like he has plans to compete for the World Cup overall anymore. That's the big prize in skiing. He's won it twice, which not that many other skiers have done, and he's won a lot of races. But this jumping back onto the team and beginning the season admittedly out of shape all smacks a bit of a last-minute grab for cash or (hopefully) an Olympic medal. I'd be surprised if he contends for the Cup this year, and given the high standard he's set, that's a step back.

Smilin' Bode