30 Years Since the Miracle

[jack_tors]

Thought I would throw this on the board since Posnanski has a good article on the Miracle upset of the USSR.

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2010/02/21/10-things-about-the-miracle-on-ice/

[waborat]

Still THE greatest sporting event of my lifetime...

It was great to see Al Michaels w/ Johnson, Craig & Eurz yesterday...

Interesting to hear that's probably where the U-S-A chants originated...

I never get tired of that old footage

[skatingtripods]

Most amazing moment in sports history.

I met Jim Craig about a month ago at the Lake Erie Monsters game. I only got to shake his hand and tell him that it was an honor. But, talk about being starstruck.

That said, 30 year anniversary and the assholes at ESPN Classic can't show the game. I've only seen it once in its entirety, and I think it was back in 2002 when the Olympics were in SLC.

[waborat]

That said, 30 year anniversary and the assholes at ESPN Classic can't show the game. I've only seen it once in its entirety, and I think it was back in 2002 when the Olympics were in SLC.

I've only seen it 3x Pods and twice was in that same weekend when it happened...

30 years ago, we still didn't have cable yet (it came a few months later)...we used to be able to get a station out of London, Ontario on our antenna and my father, uncles & g-father came over to watch it late in the afternoon...most of the game was in "snow", but we were able to hear it just fine...I didn't understand all of the political crap that went with it (I was 12) other than we wanted our hostages back and something about the Ruskies taking over Afganastan...I remember all of the males in my family jumping up and down and hugging one another afterwards (I've never seen that again)...

A little bit after the game, the live feed of the Olympics finally started and I can remember Jim McKay saying that if you didn't know the result, then he wasn't going to be the one to tell you and they went into the tape-delayed game...During it, my mother and aunts came home from shopping and were told to sit their asses down on the davenport (our old name for couch) and watch this game...they protested, but did it anyways not knowing why?

I'm sure this was the first hockey game that myself and my mother ever watched from end-to-end...For whatever reason, I still remember the cameras zooming in on Jamie Farr in the stands (guess he was the only celebrity there?)...After the game, we watched the Finland/Sweden game to see who we'd play and I remember it went past midnight...

30 friggin years ago!!! Wow, we didn't even have a remote control for our console box tv yet...hell, I didn't even get my Atari Pong game until the next XMas...seems like a long time ago, but some of the memories feel like yesterday

[Squints]

I've said before on these boards that I appreciate hockey, but not a fan of it except for the Olympics- only because I love the Olympics and I consider myself a ametuer historian of the '80 Olympic hockey team. I love the history of this event, althoug I was too young to remember it.

For those of you who want to know more- read the book "The Boys of Winter." It interweaves the game itself with the background of the team, coaching staff, the pre-Olympic and Olympic schedule. A great read. Despite some small historical inaccuracies, I love the movie too. However, if I was old enough to remember the actual event like Peek or Waborat, the movie may not do it justice. Thank you for sharing the memories, please tell us more if you want

Skating Tripods- a few years ago I bought DVDs of all the games off someone on ebay. Somebody had the intuition to tape all the games- prelims, Miracle and the Finland game and then convert them to DVDs. The prelims are just what ABC showed, not the enitre game. The last two are in its entirety. You might want to check ebay and see if they are still there.

Two years ago on vacation, we spent a night in Lake Placid for the main reason to go into the Olympic center/Herb Brooks Arena now. I sat there at got chills, just imagining what took place on the ice. I noticed the relatively small size of the arena and how loud it must of been over the last 10 minutes of the game. I will admit that I got more chills entering this building then I did entering The Shoe, The Jake, Yankee Stadium, Fenway, Wrigley, Baseball HOF for the first time. Walking the town was great as well.

I know last night's game was awesome and it is a remarkable upset, but let's not compare it to the Miracle. I haven't checked the rest of this board, so I apologize to anyone who has brought it up, I know that certain news media have. This game is on a whole other level. The only way I could compare it is to imagine an international American football tournament and a bunch of Canadian college football players beat the Saints. Not to open another can of worms or to redirect a thread, but if the US won the World Cup this year, I think that would even not be on this level.

[skatingtripods]

Squints, my fiance, my parents, and I went to Lake Placid for a vacation in January of '07. I was all excited to go into the arena and then I walk in and see all kinds of ads on the boards and a figure skating practice. It honestly cheapened the experience for me. I realize why the ads are there, but USA Hockey should find a way to preserve the arena without commercial bullshit like that. It's the site of the greatest sports moment in this country, and quite frankly, far and away the best moment in the history of USA Hockey. The '60 team at Squaw Valley being second.

I did get to skate on the speed skating oval one night, which was pretty cool. We were to the ski jump and went up to the top of Whiteface Mountain.

I've seen the DVDs on Amazon, just never bought them. It's something I will definitely do.


Great story, wabo. It's one of the few happy events that everyone seems to remember exactly where they were and what was around them. It's always shit like 9/11, JFK, the Challenger, that other shuttle early in the 2000s.

I know it's off-topic of the Miracle, but Squints brought up how some people are comparing the Miracle to last night. It is completely off-base. But, what I want to mention is how the USA Hockey program is moving forward at a tremendous pace right now. The US won the U18 and U20 World Junior Championship tournaments this year, and has a really good shot at picking up a medal in this Olympics, where most people (me included), picked them to finish no higher than 5th.

You'll never get the perfect storm like the Miracle again. But, the USA Hockey program should be producing a lot of good moments for hockey fans over the next 10-15 years.

[Squints]

I'll have to go back and look at the pictures, but I honestly don't remember any billboards, I was too much in awe and just sat there imagining 28 years ago, I was there in Aug. of '08 during the Beijing Olympics. The US women's team was practicing there and I substituted them for Jim Craig, Ruzzo, Johnson and the rest. By the way, as we are seeing in these Olympics, these chicks can play. But I do recall some local kids running through the arena, yelling and what not, and I wanted to go over there, pulling them each by their ear and asking them if they truly understood where they were.

As we walked thorugh the town, walked in the oval, I just thought to myself that this sleepy little town not only hosted two Olympics, but was the site of this great sporting event. How awesome it must of been for you ST, being a hockey player/fan and all. I still get chills thinking about it and I have worn ice skates 3 times in my life.


Took a glance at the Winter Olympics thread, no one comparing last night and 30 years ago

[peeker643]

I've said before on these boards that I appreciate hockey, but not a fan of it except for the Olympics- only because I love the Olympics and I consider myself a ametuer historian of the '80 Olympic hockey team. I love the history of this event, althoug I was too young to remember it.

For those of you who want to know more- read the book "The Boys of Winter." It interweaves the game itself with the background of the team, coaching staff, the pre-Olympic and Olympic schedule. A great read. Despite some small historical inaccuracies, I love the movie too. However, if I was old enough to remember the actual event like Peek or Waborat, the movie may not do it justice. Thank you for sharing the memories, please tell us more if you want

I know last night's game was awesome and it is a remarkable upset, but let's not compare it to the Miracle. I haven't checked the rest of this board, so I apologize to anyone who has brought it up, I know that certain news media have. This game is on a whole other level. The only way I could compare it is to imagine an international American football tournament and a bunch of Canadian college football players beat the Saints. Not to open another can of worms or to redirect a thread, but if the US won the World Cup this year, I think that would even not be on this level.

You see that Rob? Ouch.

Just kidding Squints. I guess age has some privileges. I remember the game vividly and, no, I didn't know the result at the time. Being only 13 myself I wasn't conscious of the political issues other than in very broad terms but my parents and most of that generation were brought up with (and instilled in us a healthy fear/mistrust) of the Russians.

Even in a home that wasn't a hockey home that game transcended a game. It was an historic event that night. I read all I could on that team and Herb Brooks including his almost barbaric teaching/coaching/discipline techniques but I never wanted to see the movie and I still haven't.

My mistrust of the Russians has been replaced by a mistrust of Hollywood and I simply don't believe they can convey the meaning of that event in film. I understand it's all some people have and I also have been told that they did a good job with it from a film perspective, but I remember it how I remember it.

I also remember walking into the Arena at BGSU and seeing the jersey and skates of Ken Morrow on display like they were holy items. 25 years later I can more fully understand why.

And no, as exciting as last night was it doesn't compare. The talent gap is nowhere near what it was in the 1980 Games. Not even close and that's with a nod to the talent gap that exists between Team Canada and Team USA now.

Exciting? Definitely.
Comparable? Not even close. Your Saints vs. college kids analogy isn't ridiculous.

[Squints]

Thank you for sharing your memories, Peek. And I am truly envious of everyone old enought to remember this great event.

I do remember the Sarajevo games and people calling for Miracle on Ice II. Not knowing at that time what it meant and asking my parents. That '84 hockey team had no shot even before the games started because of the shadow the Miracle casted. I recall the '92 squad, remember Ray LeBlanc?, making a stir, and people referencing the Miracle on Ice. By that time I was in 9th grade and our teachers let us watch the semifinals againts the Russians, but then it was the Unified Team and it just didn't have the same ring to it, Cold War ended, etc..

I am now watching the 3rd period of the Miracle on Ice in trubute, on tape, just like it was back in 1980.

[waborat]

You see that Rob? Ouch.

Damn Brian, we better not even start sharing our stories of when the government used to ration our hard bread & hominy

[peeker643]

You see that Rob? Ouch.

Damn Brian, we better not even start sharing our stories of when the government used to ration our hard bread & hominy

Still, some of the best times I can remember is you, me and the wives at the speakeasy in our suits and fedoras and you drunkenly riding those running boards alway the home.

Found a pic of you and Dawn back then (don't ask why it's in color, it just is):

[fundamentals]

IIRC, there was a "crawl" on Erie station, Channel 24 (ABC), during MASH rerun which was on at 7:30pm. Remember seeing that it said the US had beaten USSR and that game would be shown in its entirety. As was stated earlier by someone else, one of two games I ever watched in its entirety (gold medal game being the other) and we were mesmerized by what was going. I know as the second period was winding down, thinking they were going to lose and wondered if there wasn't a mistake.

[waborat]

You see that Rob? Ouch.

Damn Brian, we better not even start sharing our stories of when the government used to ration our hard bread & hominy

Still, some of the best times I can remember is you, me and the wives at the speakeasy in our suits and fedoras and you drunkenly riding those running boards alway the home.

Found a pic of you and Dawn back then (don't ask why it's in color, it just is):

Ah yes, my Adolph Chaplin days...

BTW, that's not Dawn!!!

She was passed out under George Gershwin's piano...

The chick with me is the one you kept calling Betty Boop until Lisa hit you with her saddle shoe

[Squints]

So as long as you guys are running with this- Was Jesse Owens four golds in the '36 Olympics reverberate then as much as it does now? Tommy Smith and John Carlos- Pawns of Harry Edwards, pioneers, or just plain misunderstood? US/CCCP '72 Munich, did you not just want to nuke that entire nation right then and there?

[waborat]

So as long as you guys are running with this- Was Jesse Owens four golds in the '36 Olympics reverberate then as much as it does now? Tommy Smith and John Carlos- Pawns of Harry Edwards, pioneers, or just plain misunderstood? US/CCCP '72 Munich, did you not just want to nuke that entire nation right then and there?

Peek used to hold all the track records at East Tech before Jesse came to town...

I've still got my OPHR patch jacket...

It was Peek once again who blew a horn from the upper deck with 3 seconds to go because he was trying to get Mark Spitz' attention in the front row

[peeker643]

It was Wabo's camera flash as Vinko Bogataj came down the ski jump hill that led directly to the Wide World of Sports 'Agony of Defeat' footage.

Although you kids may be too young to remember WWoS. But you can xtube it or whatever you guys do.

Earliest known picture of Wabo (far right) with his granddad proudly standing in the back:

[waborat]

The first known photo of Peek & me...

I begged him not to wear the dress



Ah, good times

[skatingtripods]

The first known photo of Peek & me...

I begged him not to wear the dress



Ah, good times

Looks like a hastily-done combover. Peek was already balding back then?

[waborat]

Looks like a hastily-done combover. Peek was already balding back then?

In the old day, we called it stark