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<\/p>\n27 years ago today, the US Olympic hockey team beat the “unbeatable” Russian hockey team at Lake Placid. The Miracle on Ice.<\/p>\n
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That famous photograph of the team FREAKING OUT features, in the foreground, defenseman Jack O’Callahan, straddling defenseman Mike Ramsey (in the HBO documentary Do You Believe In Miracles?<\/i> – Ramsey says, with this look on his face which brings a lump to my throat just mentioning it: “I’ll take that picture ……. to my grave with me.”) … with absolute MAYHEM behind them. I’ve looked at that photo so many times and yet – it still seems fresh to me. Their joy is still infectious, so many years later.<\/p>\n
Like most of us who were alive at that time, and at all aware of anything, I have vivid memories of the 1980 Winter Olympics, and of these college kids who came along and slayed the Russian dragon. I was particularly into the whole thing because of the Boston presence on the team. My family’s from Boston. There was a regional component to our triumph, as well as a national component.<\/p>\n
However, it is only in retrospect that I realize just how HUGE the whole thing actually was. I didn’t really get the context of it while it was happening – the Cold War context, and also the hockey context – just how huge a dynasty the Russians had, in terms of how they played the game, how they dominated international hockey, etc.<\/p>\n
I must say to EVERYONE out there who has televisions (speaking as a chick who had no TV for 2 years, I totally understand – and as someone who no longer has a TV, I get it) …Keep an eye open for the documentary I mentioned: “Do You Believe in Miracles<\/a>” – or perhaps it’s on Netflix. I own it, naturally, but I’m sure it is available otherwise. Even without the topic, which I love – it is one of my favorite documentaries ever made. I watch it so often that it’s embarrassing. But it NEVER. gets old.<\/p>\n Narrated beautifully and simply by Liev Schrieber – with interviews with Jim Craig, Herb Brooks, Jack O’Callahan, Craig Whitney, Eric Strobel, Dave Silk (who was my personal favorite, I admit it) – and many others – the documentary just GETS the big-ness of the event. It GETS the magnitude. I get goose-bumps watching it.<\/p>\n I remember having a discussion here on this blog about the greatest moment in sports history. The general consensus was that the miracle on ice HAD to be # 1. There were no other contenders, really.<\/p>\n Al Michaels, the dude who made the famous “Do you believe in miracles?” call (which – when you listen to it – in the moment – AS the game is going on – you just can FEEL the emotion, the amazement – the guy is absolutely flipping his lid – it’s awesome). But anyway, he is also interviewed quite a bit in the documentary – and he said at one point, in terms of how the game happened at 5 pm on a Friday night – and the network made the unprecedented decision to tape it and then re-play it that night at 8 pm – because by that point, everybody wanted to see this match-up – He said, “And so on Friday, you had this bizarre circumstance of people filing into the arena for what was, essentially, a matinee<\/i>. Little did any of those people know that they were about to witness one of the greatest sporting events of their lives.”<\/p>\n I’ve posted a bunch of stuff on the miracle on ice – mainly as a lead-up to the film coming out – which I was excited and anxious over … The story means so much to me, and I was terrified they would mess it up (I don’t feel they did – by the way – loved the movie – but it can’t hold a candle to that documentary, and seeing the real thing. MAN.)<\/p>\n Do you believe in miracles?<\/a><\/p>\n The greatest moments in sports history<\/a><\/p>\n The Russian side of the story<\/a><\/p>\n Herb Brooks<\/a><\/p>\n Happy place.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 27 years ago today, the US Olympic hockey team beat the “unbeatable” Russian hockey team at Lake Placid. The Miracle on Ice. That famous photograph of the team FREAKING OUT features, in the foreground, defenseman Jack O’Callahan, straddling defenseman Mike … Continue reading