Bode Miller Wins Olympic Gold
Olympic Chat: U.S. Hockey Team's Winning Breakfast
Inuit Signpost Becomes Olympics Mascot
Olympics: Hockey Rivalry Heats Up at Winter Games
But now, after years of dominance on the World Cup circuit, he has the only prize that really eluded him. He can deny it, but the rebel finally found his cause. We're sure Hollywood's already at work on a Bode Miller screenplay, and Vince Vaughn is moving to Big Bear to train.
Truthfully, the whole Bode-the-insurgent idea was starting to feel overcooked. Age and fatherhood—not to mention a summer spent away from training—appeared to soften the 32-year-old, who grew up in Franconia, N.H. Back on better terms with the U.S. team, he'd already won a silver and bronze in these Games, and seemed to have happily fallen into the role of the wily, creaky veteran: Ed Asner with goggles. At times he could be found chatting amiably with reporters about his 2-year-old daughter's birthday or how inspired he was by Lindsey Vonn's performance. He wasn't about to turn into Ryan Seacrest, but that infamous Bode Smirk had been replaced by a smile.
Thirty years after the upset in Lake Placid, Mr. Miller provided a Miracle of Nice.
But after a rocky start, these Games are being saved by sweetness. The athletes who have been beguiling Vancouver and the world are soft, sweet, and—to steal one of Vince Lombardi's favorite terms—snuggletastic.
Take that yawning medal-hoarder, Apolo Ohno, who captivated our Saturday evening. If you ignore that pilose caterpillar he inexplicably adheres to his chin, he's cuter than a basket full of stray koalas. Or how about Ms. Vonn, America's newest ski heroine? She may have vamped it up for Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue, but she radiates more Aniston than Angelina.
Even our millionaire hockey players are likeable—and rolling, as they did in a stunning 5-3 victory Sunday over Canada, behind 42 saves from another Miller, goalie Ryan.
And the U.S. isn't providing the only endearing idols at these Games. There's the mop-haired gold-winning Dutch speed skater Mark Tuitert, who, as The Journal's Adam Thompson pointed out, could easily win a Robert Pattinson lookalike contest at a strip mall. There's the bespectacled, lanky Swiss Simon Ammann—a double-gold medalist in ski jumping—who's been nicknamed Harry Potter since he won two golds at Salt Lake City.
Cuteness also is sugar-coating the TV coverage of these Games, though you've probably picked that up from the 23,000 or so commercials NBC has run for the animated movie "How to Train Your Dragon."
On Sunday night, the Peacock marooned the U.S.-Canada hockey game—a stirring affair, as it turned out—on MSNBC in favor of showing ice dancing, a sport that remains illegal to show in a Canadian bar.
But the universe isn't run by hockey fans, especially not in 2010. The universe these days is run by 14-year-old girls—free-spending, trend-setting, social media-izing girls—and 14-year-old girls would rather see Mr. Pattinson's head shaved bald than watch two-plus hours of preliminary hockey.
They aren't totally wrong. But we can't let these Cute Olympics get too cute. We're OK with a friendly Bode Miller, and we have a feeling that Mr. Miller will be OK with his gold medal. But we're a little concerned about these 14-year-olds and their Facebook petition to replace Bob Costas with Justin Bieber, and Al Michaels with a really cute guinea pig named Snickers.
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