Someone is going to have to explain a few things to me regarding this year’s Torino Olympics, mainly on the topic of the American competitive spirit. It is generally my understanding that athletes go to the Olympics to win gold medals. While it is certainly an enormous honor just to qualify and walk into the stadium for opening ceremonies, I have always felt that athletes participate in sports to win. This is especially the case when we are talking about world-class athletes who have spent the majority of their lives training day in and day out to reach the pinnacle of their sport, the Olympics, instead of participating in the everyday activities of normal people who were not so athletically blessed.

This brings me to two specific athletes, Bode Miller and Jeremy Bloom. These two men were tabbed as the “faces” of this year’s stellar American ski team. Miller for his unquestioned talent, rugged appearance and somewhat trivial dislike for society’s ideas of “the norm,” and Bloom for his dominance in the world moguls scene, unquestioned athletic talent, and the fact that he was an electric football player at the University of Colorado. Apparently, according to about 100 percent of the females I have spoken with, he is pretty easy on the eyes as well. It is great to have two athletes representing this country who have so much talent and promise. It is not great that these athletes have continually come out and stated that they really are not that concerned with winning.

While I understand that these comments can be considered an excellent fallback for failure, this is simply unacceptable in today’s American culture. Americans are winners. It is just what we do. Kids find their way onto travel teams and development programs by the time they are 10 or 11. Winning is why we play sports. If you are just playing for fun, get a basketball hoop in your yard and play by yourself. These Olympic athletes have literally been groomed to win. So why do they suddenly shun the idea of cut throat competition for a gold medal?

Nike released their new ad campaign on the opening night of the Winter Games involving their golden boy Miller. The commercials center around the so-called “Bodeist” way of living. This apparently is the term that Nike has coined to describe Miller’s outlook on life, which according to him, means living a rustic lifestyle, having a hateful attitude toward the press, and skiing while drunk. Believe it or not, none of these things are disturbing to me, though I honestly can not recommend skiing drunk if you enjoy your limbs and living. What irks me the most about these ads is Miller’s comments about how our society is wrong for wanting kids to play sports for the sole purpose of winning. I am all for encouraging all kids to play sports, but why not encourage them to win?

This brings me to Jeremy Bloom. Considered one of the top ranked moguls skiers in the world, Bloom said that just being at the Olympics was enough of an accomplishment for him….before the race. This comes across as a complete concession and it worked. Wednesday afternoon, Bloom had a below average run and finished eighth. There is no medal for eighth, something Bloom did not seem the least bit concerned about after his race. Good luck in the NFL draft in April Jeremy. Your real “go get ‘em” attitude should really get the scouts and coaches excited about your intangibles.

If our happy-with-mediocrity poster boys would like a lesson in competitive spirit, perhaps they can look at Lindsey Kildow. A woman who had to be airlifted on a stabilizing stretcher due to the horrific nature of a crash she had during a training run, Kildow fought through the pain and competed in her first scheduled race just two days later. While she finished out of the medals, her dedication and grit were nothing short of inspiring.

I hate to sound like a prototype jock, but honestly, saying it is wrong to play sports to win is something a loser says. We are Americans and winning is what we are supposed to do. To strive for anything less than excellence is well….un-American. Luckily, Miller’s Olympics are not finished, as he has a few more races to decide that winning a gold medal, or any medal for that matter, is what he has been working for all of these years. As the fantastically quotable former coach of the New York Jets, Herman Edwards, stated, “You play the game to win! Hello? You play each game to win.” I could not have put it better myself Herm.

You can reach Phil Mattingly at phil.mattingly@atomicsportsmedia.com