Media darling Lindsey Vonn: It's a win/win for her, and that's ridiculous

By Bob Herman

I've about had it with Lindsey Vonn, and I still have never seen her ski.

That is, until tomorrow, when she will finally have to hit the slopes and do the damn thing already.

This melodramatic hype around Vonn isn't completely her fault. ESPN, NBC, and all other sports journalism outlets have manically covered her godforsaken shin injury (which has been the most covered injury in the long span OF...two weeks. Sorry Dwight Freeney, maybe you should've been in a body cast, then we'd still be talking, tweeting, and texting about it). I couldn't care less that she's now treating her shin with cold cheese, but alas, here I am, talking about it and hating myself for it.

But in many ways, this hype was her fault. She did, after all, willingly pose for her infamous Sports Illustrated photoshoot, much to the outrage of feminists everywhere. She could've played things coyly, realized that yes, she is an attractive female athlete that happens to be one of the best in her sport, but no, she'll take the quiet road to publicity: by letting her skiing do the talking.

And now after this ridiculous shin injury (and Mother Nature postponing her premiere skiing event until tomorrow), all eyes will inevitably be on her. And the sad thing it, nothing can go wrong for her. There are two options, and I really don't see any middle ground between them:

1. She wins medals, hip-hip hooray, lives up to the hype, continues to be the media darling for the next four-odd years, more photoshoots, endorsements, everything that "America" wants to see her do, a Kerri Strug of sorts, except with more bikinis.

2. She fails miserably or performs mediocre/unimpressively, thus leading to the plethora of "What If" stories. "What if Vonn were healthy? Things would've been different!" "What if she used more cheese to help assuage the shin injury? Things would've been different!"

Either way, she'll come out of this Olympics as the ultimate female ski legend, or the media will turn her into the most annoying "What If" story. It's the recipe that has been used for sports journalism for far too long now--find a story, beat it to death, and continue to beat it to death because it makes headlines and consequently makes money.

Unfortunately, there's nothing I can change about the situation. What's done is done. But as far as I'm concerned, the U.S. hockey teams, the women's moguls, and the men's snowboarding have impressed me more thus far than anything Lindsey Vonn can do right tomorrow night.