Its time to put the record straight about the new cultural phenom known as Bode Miller. Does anyone know which USA skier is currently leading in World Cup points? Which skier has won the Kitzbhuel Downhill, the Daytona 500 of skiing? Can you name an American skier who has won gold at an Olympic Winter games? It may surprise you that Bode Miller is not the answer to any of these questions.

What you may not know is that Bode Miller won the overall World Cup title last year, which has only been accomplished once by an American in the history of the sport. (Phil Mahre 1981-83) Now, this may be a stretch, but achieving this goal is almost like winning the Super Bowl or World Series. It is not an easy task. With 5 seperate events in skiing (DH, SG, GS, SL and the Combined) only the athletes who ski multiple events have shots at winning the overall title. Bode skis all 5. One could equate this to Curt Shilling pitching 9 innings, going 4 for 4 with 2 singles, a double and a HR, and then coaching 3rd base in his free time. Well, that analogy may be a little bit of a stretch, but you get the idea. In summary, Bode does it all, and does it well.

Now that you have all the information, what is the common thought that springs to mind when you hear Bode Miller? If said skiing while intoxicated, you are 99.9% of the American population. After all the success and hard work that Bode has put in, and single handedly put American skiing back on the map, the only memory people have of this man is the 60 minutes interview where he admitted to skiing HUNGOVER (not drunk.) What people don't remember is that this race happened AFTER he had won the overall World Cup title. Thats right, the night after winning the Super Bowl of skiing, Bode had a couple of adult beverages. The only difference is, most Super Bowl athletes don't have to play another game the day after winning. Bode did, and he still showed up. He didn't have to, remember, he was already the champion.

After all of this, winning it all, skiing all the events, turning the sking world on its head, Bode is still thought of as the drunk skier. Its too bad. Kevin Millar and the rest of the Red Sox admitted that they were drinking before games DURING THE PLAYOFFS!!! What was our reaction? "Who cares, as long as they won!" Bode Miller drinks AFTER he won, and what is our reaction? "Oh my god, the US Ski Team is a bunch of booze hounds!" Its too bad.

And don't forget, this is a local athlete folks. Thats right, he grew up under the Old Man of the Mountain. You know, the symbol that is on all of the road signs in New Hampshire. Bode wins it all, and he doesn't even get a mention in The Boston Globe's Greatest Sports Moments, but Boston College's round of 32 loss in the NCAA Championship did. I wonder if the BC basketball team got drunk afterwards? Hey, it doesn't matter, as long as they got to the dance, right????

Awful.