30 for 30: Of Miracles and Men

[yimyammer]

I highly recommend this show about the Miracle on Ice from the Russian perspective.

If you're young and didn't grow up in that era, you would be hard pressed to understand the dynamic behind the game because of the politics and tension between the US and USSR. The US team had virtually no shot to beat the Russians and their victory was magnified immensely by the politics and tension between the two countries.

It would be like if Al Qaeda put together a football team and won the Super Bowl, it was that big of an upset. To have lived during that era and watched that game was the single greatest sporting victory I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying with the team I was rooting for.

It truly was a miracle.

 

[Bigdog]

Agree. I lived about 2 hours from Lake Placid and it is the greatest upset in sports history and nothing comes close. This Russian team won every international competition for the past twenty years, destroyed an NHL all-star team that featured 20 future Hall Famers (never has a team been assembled in any sport), and killed the Americans two weeks earlier. No one thought we had a chance but it just goes to show, that you have to play the game.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I've watched it twice now. Simply awesome. Loved the interviews with the former Russian players. They were so cocky and arrogent. All the 30 for 30 's are great but this one is a top 3 for me.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Great read.........

1980 US Olympic hockey team reunites in Lake Placid
By SANDY CALIGIORE
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — The ovation wasn't quite as deafening as it was 35 years ago. It was riveting, nonetheless, for Dave Christian and his old Olympic buddies, together again to celebrate their Miracle on Ice.

"It feels exactly the same," Christian said Saturday night as the members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team returned to the rink they made famous with their triumph over the Soviet Union. "You could feel the electricity in the (locker) room. It's still there."

The "Relive the Miracle" reunion at Herb Brooks Arena attracted more than 5,000 fans for a two-hour celebration of one of the most memorable upsets in sports history. Every surviving player from the team made the trip, including Mark Pavelich, who drove from his Oregon home with two dogs. It was the first time the team had all been together since that memorable night.

Read more: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/1980-us-olympic-hockey-team-reunites-lake-placid-084256869--spt.html

 

[PJTHEDOORS]

It would be like if Al Qaeda put together a football team and won the Super Bowl, it was that big of an upset.

Well, if Al Qaeda had some game experience. The US hockey team did at least know the game. And their teammates strengths. (I assume)

 

[yimyammer]

Well, if Al Qaeda had some game experience. The US hockey team did at least know the game. And their teammates strengths. (I assume)

I knew I'd get called out on that and rightly so, I should have been more specific, Al Qaeda winning a Super Bowl would be a bigger upset for sure but it was still a huge upset considering the Russians had dominated all pro Canadian teams and had just beaten the US team with ease a week before 10-3.

What I was hoping my analogy would convey was how the political dynamics and animosity between the US and AQ feels similar to how the climate was between the US & USSR at that time. That backdrop had a lot to do with the feelings associated around the game that amped up its intensity and magnitude.

 

[yimyammer]

PS..and I was also trying to convey how it must have felt to the Soviets. Imagine how you and the players would feel if somehow AQ put a team together, came to the US and then beat the Cowboys in a legit game.

 

[yimyammer]

Great read.........

1980 US Olympic hockey team reunites in Lake Placid
By SANDY CALIGIORE
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — The ovation wasn't quite as deafening as it was 35 years ago. It was riveting, nonetheless, for Dave Christian and his old Olympic buddies, together again to celebrate their Miracle on Ice.

"It feels exactly the same," Christian said Saturday night as the members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team returned to the rink they made famous with their triumph over the Soviet Union. "You could feel the electricity in the (locker) room. It's still there."

The "Relive the Miracle" reunion at Herb Brooks Arena attracted more than 5,000 fans for a two-hour celebration of one of the most memorable upsets in sports history. Every surviving player from the team made the trip, including Mark Pavelich, who drove from his Oregon home with two dogs. It was the first time the team had all been together since that memorable night.

Read more: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/1980-us-olympic-hockey-team-reunites-lake-placid-084256869--spt.html

I wonder how much Eruzione's goal made him over his lifetime? Amazing how a moment can resonate for years

 

[MapleLeaf]

This is the greatest sports game ever played in the history of sports.

For the first time real life was more incredulous than movies.

No insult to other great sporting moments, but to truly understand the world at the time this was unspeakable and unfathomable.

Fabulous moment in time.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Biggest fluke in hockey history. It ranks up there with Villanova over Georgetown for the biggest fluke of all time.

I still cannot figure out why Tikhonov took Tretiak out after the Johnson goal.

 

[Longboysfan]

I still cannot figure out why Tikhonov took Tretiak out after the Johnson goal.

Well. You could ask him. I think his maining address is somewhere in Siberia.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Hard to ask a dead guy but I will see what I can do.