Today is another “where were you when…?” day. While most “where were you when…?” days seem to be marked by tragedies (JFK’s assassination, the Challenger and Columbia disasters, 9/11/01), this day brings positive memories for many Americans. It is, of course, the 30th anniversary of the “Miracle on Ice,” when the US Men’s Hockey Team (amateur and collegiate players) stunned the world by defeating the Soviet team, 4-3, at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY. Although the event may not have been as spectacular as the first moon landing (July 20, 1969), it captured the imagination and rekindled American patriotism at a rather bleak time in American history.
While I was too young to understand the sense of patriotism, or even the greater picture of the events of those days, I am glad that I am old enough to have real memories of the event, even though I don’t follow hockey. As I mentioned in my “I LOVE the Olympics!” post, this game is my first real Olympic memory. My mother woke me—I was only 6 and had already gone to bed by the time that ABC, which broadcast the Olympics in the US in those days, began airing the tape-delayed game in prime time—to see the last few minutes of the game. All these years, I have treasured my memory of this game. All these years, I have heard Al Michaels’ now-classic “Do you believe in miracles?!” in my head whenever I thought or read about, or heard any reference to, what Sports Illustrated identified as the “greatest sports moment of the 20th century.” (And yes, I have thanked my mother for allowing me to witness the event as it aired.)
Yesterday, I watched the anniversary documentary that NBC aired during its coverage of the Vancouver Olympics, before the US/Canada hockey game—a stunning upset, yes, but NOT a miracle!—and relived, again, “one of the greatest sports upsets of all time.” Tears came to my eyes when Al Michaels called the US/USSR game—not even a medal-winning game, although it felt that way—“a sliver of the Cold War played out on a sheet of ice.” How many Americans, except diehard hockey and Olympics fans and sports history buffs, even remembered (before the recent reminders, in anticipation of the anniversary of the event) that the US later beat Finland to win the gold?
I just checked my local TV listings, and am disappointed that neither “Miracle on Ice” nor “Miracle,” movies based on the event, are airing today, or any time this week. That’s a shame, because it would only be fitting. I don’t have either movie in my collection; I need to rectify that. It’s also sad that Herb Brooks, the coach who made the miracle possible and “inspired a generation of Americans to pursue any and all dreams,” is no longer alive to celebrate the anniversary.
In the meantime, I will watch the second week of the Vancouver Olympics, treasuring the memories of these Games but knowing that these memories, and those that I have of other Olympics, do not compare to that first one of the event that restored the nation’s pride. Sadly, we need another event like that now. We need to remember 1980, and remember that when all else is gone, there is always hope.
