Posted on 02/21/2020 7:09:25 PM PST by Alberta's Child
Maybe the defining point in American sports history for a passionate hockey fan who remembers that era well as it fades into the past. May the memories live forever, boys.
I’m hearing glowing reviews of this book.
There are only memories left. Gone are the days of amateur athletics. I suppose all good things come to an end. I won’t even watch pro hockey anymore since Philadelphia tore down Kate Smith’s statue. F’n liberals ruin everything.
As a kid I watched Bobby Orr with my Dad.
One day I brought home a bad note from school. I waited until AFTER the hockey game to show Dad. haha
Phila. is a DISGRACE.
The only city in the NHL that DOES NOT PLAY THE ANTHEM before a game. Curse that city.
I was in Austria, and watched the game live, it started at ~1am.
So glad I stayed up.
Greatest game ever played.
Some readers give it a poor rating online because they find it hard to follow, but that's a deliberate result of the book's layout. The author goes through almost a moment-by-moment review of the USA-USSR game sequentially, and then intersperses sections of varying lengths that are profiles of the players and coaches, a history of the months leading up to the game, etc. It's very well researched, and I learned quite a few things about the game and that group of players and coaches that I had never known before.
What an amazing piece. It made my heart swell. Thank you.
You’re very welcome. I get chills reading it — especially the paragraph I highlighted. It’s the sentimental old hockey player in me. :-)
When I was a kid, Kate Smith would sing God Bless America before some games, and then in the '74 playoffs she became a lucky charm of sorts, with the Flyers winning when she sang. I distinctly remember being disappointed when she was not available to sing, and those times the national anthem was sung. God Bless America is plenty patriotic, and honestly a hell of a lot easier to sing than the anthem.
The really isn't a long history of the Anthem being sung at sporting events or anywhere. The United States didn't have an Anthem until 1931. It took sports to make the anthem popular, but that happened much later than 1931. There's plenty of people around that recall going to sporting events and there was no anthem played. I'm not that old, but I recognize history before me. Pro football is celebrating 100 years and college football 150. I'm not going to call either a disgrace because they didn't play the anthem until relatively recently. However, there's plenty of real reasons to curse both.
I’d never heard of this book until today. The author was on the local sports talker.
I’m going to find it tomorrow.
That was such a great time. We almost all got caught up in the moment and viewed it as the thrashing we had wanted to give Russia for so long. It was a great time.
It’s been out for years. The 2005 publication date tells me it was done for the 25th anniversary of the 1980 Olympics.
That's the Jim Craig from the Disney movie "Miracle."
It's the scene after they clinched the gold medal on February 24th against Finland. I only know that because they're wearing blue jerseys, not white. :-)
I was 17 years old at that time. I lived near Winthrop, MA at the time and went to see the victory parade for Mike Eruzione. Even though Ronald Reagan’s election was still months away, this was the moment that it became acceptable to be patriotic again and put American flags outside your front door. Prior to that time, the liberals had control and they made it so toxic to be patriotic that members of the active military were actually ordered to wear civilian clothing when out in public.
I just watched the team with Trump on stage in Las Vegas today. It was great and the players chanted “four more years”. Herb ‘s daughter Kelly said you just knew her dad would have been a Trump supporter. Trump talked to Mike E. about playing golf with him,
Damn. Fooled by Disney!!
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