Online Public Relations Thoughts

By any standard, the US Olympic team is not doing that well in Torino. But that is not the point of this entry. The one US athlete who was hyped more than any other in advance of the games was a wild-child skier who has proved disappointing. Perhaps it is the way of the sports world to build up and tear down, but Bode Miller aided and abetted his come-down with loose talk and underperformance. It seems that Miller has not learned to be humble in the media, and reporters are going out of their way to teach him a lesson.

No one minds a boast, if one can back it up. Miller allowed himself to be set on a pedestal and then took his own hammer to it. From a PR perspective, it was a dumb move. He would have been far better off to have kept a lower profile and allowed his actions to catch up with the promotion. I'm not sure Miller had PR counsel. If he didn't, he needed it.