Being in Torino has been such a positive experience for me. There is so much to do here. I’ve been drinking fantastic coffee, soaking up the atmosphere, and going for walks in the Olympic Village. The women are great, the athletes are great, the scenery is great. It’s all like, really fucking great. When I have a free moment to myself, sometimes I think about skiing and sometimes I think about the World Baseball Classic that’s happening next month. But unlike a lot of the people back home in the US of A, I don’t think about who is going to win the WBC. I just think about the WBC.

Baseball finally has its own version of the Olympics. Players from all over the world will come together to represent their countries and compete against each other. I think those few weeks in March will be such an incredible time. Those players will experience things that they’ve never experienced before and probably never will again. After all, this is the first ever World Baseball Classic. You only get one chance to be the first ever to do something.

So does it really matter who finishes first, or who finishes second, or who finishes seventh? As long as we see some inspirational play from the members of the world baseball community — and I have a strong feeling that we will — then it doesn’t matter where your favorite team finishes. Hell, it doesn’t even matter if your team finishes. There are plenty of races that I haven’t finished in my ski career, and I’m fine with that. That’s because I’m not focused on winning, I’m focused on skiing with passion and inspiration. If people watch me ski and think to themselves “he makes me want to experience skiing” then I’ve accomplished all the goals I could have ever hoped for. I believe that David Ortiz doesn’t care if he hits a home run in the first inning or the ninth inning. Whether it’s an extra-inning thriller or a 13-2 blowout, he leaves his soul on the field and that’s the most important thing to him.

The players are tired of all that ugly competitiveness. They’ve heard the slogans. Nice guys finish last. Wait til next year. Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. Just do it. Do what, ffs? Why purge your soul to win a baseball tournament? All this talk of Venezuela’s pitching vs Japan’s hitting is draining and insulting. The stricter drug testing regulations are even more insulting. These guys have been peeing into cups for two years. It’s bad enough that they have to prove their innocence over and over during the MLB season — now they have to do it during international play. Barry Bonds has peed every time the commissioner’s office has asked him to, and he’s always been clean. He’s sick and tired of peeing for Bud Selig. I’m not surprised that he’d rather sit at home than pee just to make Cuba, South Korea, and Canada happy.

Still, I’m trying to be optimistic. The WBC tournament has the potential to lift the game of baseball to stratospheric heights. I hope that the players can respond to the challenge.

Bode Miller competes for the US National Ski Team