Bode Miller, the Olympics, and golf

Some of us (you know who you are, Golf Chick) will be tuning in to the events in Torino simply to watch Bode Miller – U.S. downhill skiing maverick, mad scientist, and speed demon. Okay, maybe he makes Terrell Owens look like a team player, but he’s also the hottest athlete alive (sorry, Retief).

And, oh yeah, he’s a golfer, 10 handicap, started playing in his teens in New Hampshire during the state’s annual three months of bad skiing.

Considering his ability to read slopes better than anyone, it’s no wonder that he’s pretty good on the greens as well. In golf, you get a chance to play the course prior to competition. In the three slalom events, you get one inspection, so you’d better be able to spot the line before you go screaming down it at 60+ mph. “I have technique, but no one would call it style,” he says. “If you want to ski like me, you have to be me.” No one would ever complain that he lacks self-confidence.

After spending a week getting away from his latest media uproar, some minor thing about saying Lance Armstrong and doping in the same sentence, he took off to Dubai to play five rounds with his brother Chelone. We don’t know how he played, but at the World Cup on his first day back, he placed third. So it’s reasonable to assume that the fairways helped his focus. Maybe that should be required training for all of Team USA: 18 holes. And they don?t even have to go to Dubai.