The Miracle on Ice
With An Article by Ray Ratto

On Sunday Evening, I was watching ESPN and I saw a special “Pardon the Interruption” (PTI) episode with Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser. This special tried to mark a special ESPN classic showing of the “Miracle on Ice.”

Background

Many readers might not know what the game the “Miracle on Ice” means. This special game was played in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. The Cold War between the Soviet Union (Russia) and the US had still been heated up thanks to a US governmental program nicknamed “STAR WARS” concerning the nuclear war between the 2 countries.
On that fateful day, the US faced the Soviet Union in a game of ice hockey during the round-robin part of the hockey tournament. This became the ultimate battle of “David v. Goliath.” The United States Olympic Hockey Team consisted of college hockey players (ages 19-23) who had only played ice hockey as a team for about a year. The USSR Olympic team, consisted of a team who faced the best in the world, such as the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers (both teams form the NHL). And guess who won…The Soviet team soundly defeated the NHL teams and all-comers from other countries.
To be honest, this sporting event did not have that much hype leading to it. The game was broadcasted on ABC in a four hour tape-delay from Lake Placid. But still, many Americans still listened to the game broadcasted live on the radio. Once the game officially ended, ABC and radio listeners knew something historic had just happened. Instead of just hearing the results, many Americans wanted to view the results through the TV screens.

The Miracle on Ice

At 5:30 PM. I watched the hour long broadcast of this great hockey game (actually the game lasted about 2 and 1/2 hrs with limited commercial interruption and no cuts in-between breaks). Of course, legendary sports commentator Al Michaels was calling the play-by-play of the game at Lake Placid.
In the 1st period…the Soviets scored mid-way through the 1st period; however, with two seconds left in the first period, the Americans scored a goal to have the game tied at 1-1. In the 2nd period, both teams score one goal leaving the game tied at 2-2 at the end of 2 periods.
After both teams exchange goals with only 13 minutes left in the 3rd period and/or regulation, team captain Mike Eruzione scored the 4th goal with ten minutes remaining in the game. After ten minutes ticked off the clock…the game ended, and history changed.
I cried in joy once I saw the US win. I shouted in my living room, “USA…USA…USA!” I knew the result, but that moment still has great magic behind it esp. with a bunch of college kids defeating the best team in the world at the time.
This game helped to change the tide for America by becoming a stronger, united nation at the time the country needed it the most.

“Perfect Time for a Miracle” By: Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle and ESPN.com

“We know the phrase that turned Al Michaels into Al Michaels -- "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" It was the perfect sentence for the moment, a professional coming up with the felicitous phrase hoping that the events of the evening would warrant its use…
They were the dominant national team in the sport at a time when few people bothered to care about such things. They almost never lost, and as winners they won by large margins. They were the perfect foe, and the perfect foil.
And therein lies the real truth. The Russians didn't make the Miracle On Ice, as good as they were. Neither did the American team, as many of the virtues we hold dear in sports they showed us.
We made it a miracle because we wanted one so badly. After nearly two decades of social roil -- cultural, political, economic -- we sought out a miracle for ourselves. The U.S hockey team happened to be available for just such an occasion.
Nobody in America remembers that Soviet coach Viktor Tikhonov benched Vladislav Tretiak, still considered one of the two or three greatest goalies in history, for giving up a goal with one second left in the first period. Nobody in America says, "Boy, if Tretiak had stayed in the game, we'd have been screwed."
Nor should they. The U.S. team played the game of its life, and that alone should be enough. In fact, the U.S. played the game of its life again two days later against the Finns. That should be enough, it really should.
Of course, it isn't. Without the geopolitical realities of the day, the Miracle On Ice still would have been a great game. Without the dangerous lurchings of the previous 20 years or so, from manic highs to profound lows, the Miracle On Ice would still have changed the face of hockey.
No, it took all those extraneous events to make us care about the Miracle On Ice as we have. To remember it 20 years later with such fondness, even with such electric passion, supercedes the fact that for all the people inspired to take up hockey by the game, there were five times as many who remember it without ever having watched another hockey game in their lives.
It was a great game on its own. It was a Miracle because we wanted it to be, and because we figured we had one coming.
And what, in the end, is so bad about that?”
(Ray Ratto—“Perfect Time for a Miracle” http://espn.go.com/gen/miracle/ratto.html 22. Feb. 2005).