It was 32 years ago today that a group of rag tag amateur American hockey players coached by Herb Brooks defeated a heavily favored Soviet team to advance to the Gold Medal round of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY.
I was 9 1/2 years old and it was Saturday night and I was ready to watch the game. If my memory serves me, my parents went out for the night (my sister had been for 4 months earlier so it might have been their 1st night out since her birth) and we had a sitter (I want to say Paula from down the street).
The story goes that the Soviets didn't want to move the start time from 5pm to 8pm to accommodate American viewers so ABC decided to show the game in prime time on tape delay. On a historic note, tape delay was something the networks used in those days because there was no internet, cable wasn't everywhere (we didn't get it in Marlborough, CT til around 1987) and satellite dishes were the size large pick up trucks. So there wasn't the gluttony of media outlets as there is now. Even the NBA went through a period when they showed playoff games on tape delay at 11pm or later on the east coast during the late 70's & early 80's!Also, since there was no cable, we had a giant antenna on the roof that was connected to a remote that you could move to get a better signal. It was kind of cool in those days (on a good day we could bet channel 38 out of Boston or channel 11 out of NYC, a big deal back then).
The US team was made up of amateurs (mostly collegiate players) but the Soviets (though considered "amateurs") were seasoned veterans of international play (as were most European players). The Soviet team was a juggernaut. They didn't lose. They coldly dismantled teams piece by piece in methodical fashion.The Soviets had taken the Gold Medal 5 times in 6 Winter Olympics (in 1960 the US defeated them in Squaw Valley) from 1956-1976. They didn't just win, they blew teams away.
As a 9 1/2 y/o I was excited to see the US team beat the Soviets. I had no idea of the political and social ramifications of the outcome. As years went by, I began to realize what a major event the victory was. America was going though tough times. There was still the Vietnam War issues lingering, gas shortages, urban decay, inflation and the hostage situation in Iran. In short, Americans had a bit of a self-esteem problem. President Carter would eventually boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow in protest to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. No one was expecting much but a victory over the Soviets would be HUGE!
I remember the major details of the game as the US came from behind to win. I won't go into the details of the game but I remember going crazy in our unfinished basement (my parents had the house remodeled in 1981 or so but the basement wasn't completed until 1988, but that's a story for another time) when the team won. It's all we talked about in school on Monday, everyone was stoked. When my friends & I skated on the lake for the rest of the winter and played hockey (probably for the next 2 winters as well), we pretended to be members of the US team reenacting the American victory. I didn't know it at the time but that feeling that I had was national pride, I was proud to be an American (as were a lot of people). Al Michaels did the play by play of the game for ABC. Al is a hall of fame broadcaster with excellent credentials. As a broadcaster on that stage, you're allegedly supposed to be neutral but even a professional like Al could not contain his excitement when he let out his famous, "do you believe in miracles...YES!" Final Minute of the "Miracle on Ice" Thanks to Kathy Nee Mears for posting this on FB.
In 1999 Sports Illustrated called the "Miracle on Ice" the top sports moment of the 20th Century. I would have to agree as I never saw any of Ali's famous moments, or the Jets beating the heavily favored Colts in Super Bowl III. When I was working on the 2002 Olympic Torch Relay, I got to go the the Opening Ceremonies (thanks to the generosity of Coc-Cola & Ignition, Inc.). The 1980 Men's Hockey team lit the the cauldron with the Olympic flame. It was a great moment (naturally I didn't bring a camera as it was a closely guarded secret as to who would light the cauldron) and I was honored to be there. The team will go down in history. Without looking it up (except to check spelling), I remember Mike Eruzione, Jim Craig, Mark Johnson (a future Hartford Whaler, '83-'85, who enjoyed his best year as a pro in 1984), Neal Broten, Dave Christian and Jack O'Callahan (not to be confused with Dan O'Callahan from the 1984 film Hot Dog, brilliantly played by David Naughton).
Does anyone out there remember where you where when this happened? Thanks for your time.
No comments:
Post a Comment