Monday, February 17, 2014

Day 323: Olympic Interviewer Makes Bode Cry. Twitter Explodes. [SPOILER]

I'm not going to lie... the Olympics make me emotional. Normally sports in general don't make me cry (except for when the Red Sox win the World Series) but there's just something about the athletes competing for their country and the stories of how they got there that get me all choked up. Or maybe it's because those competing often get so emotional too. And forget a medal ceremony when an American wins gold, that just wrecks me.

But last night after the Men's Super G final I wasn't really emotional—more pissed off.

Bode Miller skied early in the competition and posted the fastest time so he had to stand there an watch skier after skier hurtle down the mountain attempting to knock him from the top of the podium. It wasn't until the last half dozen competitors that he finally fell in the standings. Skiers that were favorites for medals skied off the course or finished just hundredths slower than Miller. It was nerve wracking for me... I can only imagine what poor Bode was feeling.

When all was said and done, Bode Miller managed to hold on for the bronze medal becoming the oldest Alpine medalist in Olympic history at 36 year 127 days. It was fantastic to watch. What wasn't fantastic to watch was the post race interview done by former World Cup and Olympic alpine ski racer, Christin Cooper. This is what pissed me off.

Ten months ago, Bode's 29-year-old brother Chelone, an Olympic hopeful himself, died of a seizure in his van while in California. Bode was clearly emotional about his bronze medal win and interviewer Cooper just had to keep pushing the envelope with her line of questioning about his late brother. The interview ended quickly as Bode broke down in tears while the camera remained trained on the grieving skier. You can see the interview here but trust me, you're just going to smack Cooper.

The interview was uncomfortable to watch. She continued to ask what seemed to be the same question worded differently until she made Bode cry. And then Twitter exploded. Needless to say, the internet immediately jumped to @MillerBode's defense calling for Cooper's head on a platter. I was one of those tweeters and I may or may not have called her a bad word. But Bode came to her defense saying she was just doing her job. Well if that was my job, I would've quit.

Congratulations to Bode Miller for his bronze medal in the Super G and for being a bigger person than me when it comes to tolerating stupid people.

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