McThoughts: Will Bode race again?

Google “Bode Miller videos” and the results are numerically vast. About half of those videos will show a crash or stunning recovery. For the legacy of Bode Miller goes far beyond his record of achievement in ski sport. He’s currently sixth all-time in World Cup wins among men. He’s second on the men’s all-time list for alpine skiing Olympic medals. He once started 136 consecutive World Cup races, in all disciplines. But those things do not stand out about Miller’s racing career.

No, what sticks in the memory are the recoveries, the “holy wow” moments when he skis on the fencing, or, losing a ski, continues a difficult downhill course on one leg. These things amaze his peers as well as us.

Coach Phil McNichol well remembers that one-legged run down Bormio’s Stelvio track, among the toughest tests of ski racing in the world.

“The whole time I’m in awe just like everybody else, but I’ve got to yell at him for endangering himself. As spectacular and awe inspiring as that is, you just go ‘Wow’.”

Bode’s athletic prowess is undeniable. Ask any of the six NFL stars who went up against him in ABC’s 2002 Superstars event. Bode took a look at the obstacle course and ran up the wall rather than using the attached rope. That’s just the way he is. It did gray the hair of several coaches  along the way however.

“He changed the tactics of skiing forever in terms of how much you could push the line and still ski effectively. That created some pretty wild rides,” said McNichol. “On new tracks was where his magic was personified. Because he could come off the couch and in 30 minutes of inspection, pick a course apart and do things no one else could think of. It was far better to go along for the ride that to try to be his coach. I learned a lot because he pushed the boundries. (He is one of the) fantastic innovators is ski sport.”

Or, really, any sport. Remember his attempt at qualifying for the U.S. Open of tennis. Or playing minor league baseball. Or golf. “He can pick up any club – right or left – and hit an amazing drive,” added McNichol.

“We played golf in New Zealand,” said long time friend, teammate and coach Forest Carey. “This must have been ’99 or so. He’s coming off a hand injury and he’s playing with gloves on (ski gloves mind you). He never makes an excuse, just keeps his head in the game. He can’t feel the hand, but adapts his game. By the 18^th hole he’ still there and doing OK.”

Many of his teammates have seen things is the gym that left lasting impressions.

“Years ago at Mount Hutt, there was a high ceiling in the workout room, 18 feet or so. Bode just takes off and runs up the wall, then jumps up, touches the ceiling and lands on the ground,” noted Carey. “Last summer, he’s coming back from that knee injury, has a sore back, he’s in recovery mode. It’s raining cats and dogs and the rivers are at flood stage. And we needed to get across. He just up and leaps this thing. I don’t know it has to be 15 or 16 feet onto an uphill bank. For me there was no chance. It would have taken me three bounds to cross.”

Carey said one time he selected someone else first for a volleyball team. “Immediately I saw that was a bad move. He just owned everybody, slamming balls to the floorboards, because he had been slighted.”

“You had to be careful what you said to him,” reflected McNichol, because he could do it. “It you said to ski with his hands behind his back and both feet in one boot, he’d be able to do that.”

The coach also remembered a time when Miller was testing new equipment. After one run the tech rep told the coach, “Bode’s giving us the diagnostics on what we had built, and he wasn’t wrong.”

Said Carey, “He doesn’t let his mind give him limitations. … (On tour) He’s going to play basketball, hockey, tennis, or something every single day. In winter it’s time to man-up.”

“When I was coaching Europa Cup guys, he would often come down and ski with us. He’s 34, 35 and he would just go so hard, they had no excuse not to. It made a tangible difference in the guys.”

Carey also had a take on how long Bode Miller’s latest possible retirement might last. “He’s said it many times: ‘You won’t know (when I retire). I just won’t show up anymore’.”

We suspect Bode will race again. Maybe not this season, but as he said in a recent NBC Sports interview with Nick Zaccardi, “I certainly have the speed still to do it.”

Still, the chapters of Bode’s life have been drifting by. For Miller, his life is also his business, and he needs a plan now that will abuse his body less and provide for the family both now and well into the future. We’ll see more from Bode Miller. He’s not done amazing us.