Why it's okay to make Bode Miller cry

Oh, grow up. 

No, not you, Bode. You can feel free to cry, to be emotional, to do anything you want. You're an Olympic medalist - the oldest ever in alpine skiing. You suffered a loss this past year. You've had a rough go in other personal matters, as well. This is a cathartic moment for you. Let it all out. Let go. 

You know exactly what you're doing.

I'm writing to you, America. No, not even America. I'm writing to that unique breed of chameleon whose occupation on social media shifts fluidly - depending on the hot button issue at hand - from doctor to lawyer to, most recently, media critic. I'm writing to those whose sense of their own morality is only overshadowed by their eagerness for outrage. I'm writing to the ardent peckers. 

The flock gets sight of a spot of blood on some chicken and they all go to peckin' at it, see, till they rip the chicken to shreds, blood and bones and feathers. But usually a couple of the flock gets spotted in the fracas, then it's their turn. And a few more gets spots and gets pecked to death, and more and more. Oh, a peckin' party can wipe out the whole flock in a matter of a few hours, buddy, I seen it. A mighty awesome sight. The only way to prevent it - with chickens - is to clip blinders on them. So's they can't see.

- One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

On Sunday night, NBC aired the taped results of the men's super-G, in which American skier Bode Miller won a bronze medal. Following his run, NBC's Christin Cooper joined Miller for a post-race interview, and the following exchange occurred:

Cooper: For a guy who said the medals don't really matter, they aren't "the thing," you've amassed quite a collection. What does this one mean to you in terms of all the others?

Miller: This was a little different. With my brother passing away, I really wanted to come back here and race the way he sends it. So this was a little different.

Cooper: Bode, you're showing so much emotion down here. What's going through your mind?

Miller: A lot, obviously. Just a long struggle coming in here. Just a tough year.

Cooper: I know you wanted to be here with Chelly experiencing these games, how much does it mean to you to come up with a great performance for him? And was it for him?

Miller: I mean, I don't know if it's really for him. But I wanted to come here and...I don't know, I guess make myself proud.

Cooper: When you're looking up in the sky at the start, we see you there and it looks like you're talking to somebody. What's going on there?

Miller's brother died less than a year ago, before his 30th birthday. Several years earlier, a dirt bike collision left his brain in disrepair, and his death is believed to have had something to do with that previous injury.

It was an emotional moment of television.

The tenets of good taste were quick to react on Twitter, as if Cooper was a fame-motivated parent uploading video of herself provoking tears from a Bode Miller sized child to YouTube. A second wave of reaction was quick to form and promote more outrage from a sports television reporter daring to ask questions that actually elicited a response from her subject. How dare she!

The columns on Monday targeted NBC's coverage with similar vitriol, conveniently forgetting two important factors in the network's decision to air the interview: 1) For the most part, viewers of Olympic coverage aren't typical sports fans. The Winter Olympics are a cultural phenomenon, and they're watched by a far more casual audience than the typical sporting event. 2) If NBC's coverage was too intimate for the liking of some individuals, Bode Miller wasn't one of those individuals.

For many fans, sports media coverage can seem overwrought. For many, many, many, many more people, it offers a narrative connection between their own emotions and the competition they're watching. Personal interest stories, hyperbole and narrative forming around certain aspects of sports offer more casual fans an accelerant to the vicarious experience that we all crave.

For those of us who watch a lot of sports, we've already developed what might seem like an inherent understanding of the importance of competition. We can get to a point where it's meaningful for us right away. For everyone else - almost all with entirely healthier relationships with sports - they need something to connect them to the performance.

The emotion behind Miller's run, and his reaction at the bottom of the hill was great television. It brought us in, made us understand the stakes involved for a man most likely competing in his last Olympics. The questions that Cooper asked weren't overbearing or even emotionally incendiary. They were an attempt to frame a query that related to his emotion. 

She was was doing a service to the viewer by tying the performance back to a profile that NBC had featured earlier in the evening - a profile that Miller and his family had participated in without any qualms. In the segment that aired prior to Miller's run, NBC explored Miller's relationship with his wife, Morgan Miller, and told viewers about the death of his younger viewer. It included footage of tears falling from Morgan’s eyes as she spoke about her husband’s dead brother, and then there was a replay of Miller’s own emotional interview with Tom Brokaw, where he described how his brother's death affected him.

The Millers also allowed the network to mic Morgan during Bode's run, revealing the couple to perhaps understand sports television better than those complaining about the decisions NBC made in airing an emotional moment on which a reporter capitalized. However, there was no exploitation at play. This appears to be something that the skier and his wife embraced.

If that's not enough evidence to clear Cooper of any wrongdoing - while stressing that it was Miller himself who first brought up his brother in the post-race interview - then let the so-called wronged man persuade you toward acquittal.

The only thing distasteful emerging out of NBC's coverage is the red-spot-pecking of those for whom outrage is a first reaction. Chickens, all of them, sheltered in their own little coops, eager for something to peck apart.

We all don't live in the same coop. Some of us require more feed than others.

Perhaps most hilariously, several columns criticizing NBC, also suggested that the network should somehow focus on something more politically relevant than personal interest stories revolving around Bode Miller. The abundant lack of self-awareness in such advice comes across as the ultimate pot and kettle comparison, as the writers themselves are avoiding the topics they proclaim to value in order to devote column inches to television coverage.

Sometimes, the things you see and hear aren't about you, or made for you. That can be okay. 

Sorry, if this column made you cry.