Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- You can't watch television these days without seeing a story about Kobe Bryant and the allegations that he sexually assaulted a 19-year old woman in a Colorado hotel. Bryant is yet another in a long list of athletes who can't seem to keep themselves out of trouble and who have contributed to the demise of professional and amateur athletics. It is a sad commentary that the most admired athlete in America today is Seabiscuit -- a horse that has been dead for 56 years. Last week's untimely death of hockey coach Herb Brooks is a reminder of...

<p>'Do you believe in miracles?" Al Michaels shouted from Lake Placid one February afternoon in 1980. And millions of Americans had become believers.</p> <p>For the unimaginable had happened: The United States Olympic hockey team - 20 young amateurs - had stunningly upset the prohibitively favored Soviet national team, hardened pros to a man.</p>

As the time ticked off the clock, the tension in the building became unbearable. The flickering green lights on the scoreboard counted down the seconds ever-so slowly. 9:59 ... 9:58 ... 9:57. Mike Eruzione had just scored a goal for the Americans on a 30-foot shot, putting them ahead of the Soviet Union 4-3 in the semifinals of the Olympic hockey tournament in Lake Placid, N.Y., on Feb. 22, 1980. The young U.S. team skated with urgency in every stride, furiously protecting the unlikely lead against the world's best hockey team. Every second seemed like a minute. Every minute seemed...

Herb Brooks, 66, former University of Minnesota hockey coach, was killing this afternoon in car crash near Forest Lake, Minn., on Interstate 35.....

Brooks was a miracle worker on ice but a regular guy back home. The bad news hit Vogel's Lounge on Arcade Street even before it was on TV, as the telephones started ringing on the East Side of St. Paul on Monday, spreading the word the old-fashioned way, person to person, block by block: Herbie was dead, in a wreck on the highway. You never needed a last name with Herb Brooks, not on the East Side or anywhere in St. Paul or Minnesota or beyond, wherever hockey is played with passion. Herb Brooks was probably the most famous guy...

Rich Brooks, the coach of the 1980 Winter Olympic "Miracle on ICE" was killed in a car accident. He was 66. Last summer, Coach Brooks turned down a multimillion dollar contract with the New York Rangers to be with his family.

<p>February 22nd, 2000 LAKE PLACID, N.Y. -- It may just be the single most indelible moment in all of U.S. sports history. One that sent an entire nation into a frenzy. Even now, two decades later, it remains as clear as if it were yesterday. Against such incredible odds, the Americans went about winning the 1980 Olympic hockey gold medal. And with that most of them became instant heroes. But like all team sports, some were much larger than others.....</p>