Miracle Monday: The Best Parts of Miracle

It has recently come to my attention that I complain about Miracle a lot. It feels like whenever I mention it I'm pointing out something that's incorrect, and I wrote an entire post about things I wish it had included. How ironic, right? I have this whole series about the Miracle on Ice, yet do nothing but nitpick the movie that was my gateway into the whole thing. Shame on me!

Today I'm going to fix this. Because for all of my griping, Miracle did a whole lot of things phenomenally well. I mean, obviously -- if it hadn't, there's a good chance I wouldn't be 10 months deep into Miracle Monday. ;) (Side note: oh god, this is the first time I've put a number on how long I've been doing this series, and 10 months is insane. What.)

1. The Christmas party. This is absolutely my favorite scene in the movie. As talented as this team was, its real strength was how much all the guys loved each other, and this scene is where that dynamic really gets to shine. It's part ridiculous and part touching, and most of the details are spot on. In real life this part took place in a hotel in Lake Placid, not Doc's house in Minnesota, but that's neither here nor there. A good bunch of the gag gifts the guys have are correct (among them are Jack O'Callahan's cigar and Phil Verchota's bull horns), and the real whip given to Herb Brooks is on display at the Olympic museum in Lake Placid. So stellar. :)

2. Little moments of characterization. I didn't notice aaaaaany of these until after I read Boys of Winter, but once I knew what to look for I was blown away by some of the details that were included to subtly show the guys' personalities. Rob McClanahan was shown taping his stick with agonizing perfectionism (and then ripping the tape off when it wasn't to his liking); Phil Verchota finished Herb's psychology test before any of his teammates; Jim Craig was almost always separate from the rest of the group; John Harrington was not shy with the sass... you get the idea. Pay attention to the little stuff and you actually get a great idea of what these guys were like.

3. The Coneheads. In the narrative the movie took, the Coneheads (Buzz Schneider, John Harrington and Mark Pavelich, for any newbies around these parts) ended up playing a very small role; their only real contribution that the movie showed was Buzz's goal against the Soviets. But in real life, the Coneheads were so incredibly important to how well the team performed. I mean, they were the highest-scoring line during the Olympics! So I'm thrilled that Miracle took the time to single them out for their creative style of play and wonderfully weird personalities. They're the only line that got this treatment, and it was well-deserved!

4. "Because we're a family." Oh gosh. If the Christmas party is my favorite scene, "because we're a family" is definitely my favorite line. I love the whole scene, with four guys who used to dislike each other arguing to keep the team intact. But this one line in particular just gets right to the crux of the matter. And I have no idea if this was ever said in real life, or if Mark Johnson was part of this discussion at all, but I love that this was his line and I love how everyone else reacted to it. Mark's a quiet person, but when he does speak it's always something wise or otherwise profound. So it's incredibly fitting that his character dropped this truth bomb, and that it made everyone else stop and listen.

5. Herbies in the dark. I don't really know if this incident was as significant in real life as the movie made it out to be. A bunch of the Minnesotans have said that this was like just another day of practice with Herb. But a good number of guys that did have to skate wear that punishment like a badge of honor, and the guys that didn't have to skate (because they were thrown out of the game or otherwise didn't play) are still hugely relieved that they managed to escape it, even 35 years later. It's pretty hilarious, and I'm not sure this moment would be discussed as much as it is if Miracle hadn't turned it into the stuff of legend. :) And cinematically, it was a great way to get more of a sense of what Herb was like as a coach and watch the team begin to gel.

6. Ralph Cox. Honestly, Miracle would've been just as good a movie had it left out Ralph's storyline. And as much as I hate watching him get cut, I'm so glad that we get to. Ralph is such a great person with such a great attitude and, thanks to Miracle, he has a whole new generation of fans that he completely deserves. Without Miracle he would've just been a footnote. But instead we have "wherever's not gonna get me hit," and aren't our lives so much better for it? :)

Miracle Monday: 7 Players Cast Perfectly in Miracle

Happy Monday! Before we get started, is that picture not the cutest thing you've ever seen? Look at those happy faces. :)

Anywho, I was recently digging through my computer and came across something I'd made almost two years ago, when my Miracle fandom was still fresh and new: side-by-side comparisons of the real team and the guys cast to play them in Miracle. And, I gotta tell you, some of them blew my mind a little bit. I hadn't been aware that the casting directors, y'know, used a cloning machine. So in light of my re-discovering my discovery, I thought I'd post some of my favorites. Because, really, it's amazing.

I'll give Patrick O'Brien Demsey and Mike Eruzione an honorable mention. ;)

Nathan West / Rob McClanahan

I'm convinced that these two are secretly related, because they really look like twins. But they have matching personalities too; when Nathan was cast, he sent Mac an extensive questionnaire to learn every minute detail about him, and threatened to move in with him if he didn't fill it out. If that's not the most Mac thing I've ever heard, I don't know what is!

Michael Mantenuto / Jack O'Callahan

Again, do these two share genes or something? They've got the same crooked smile, and they were both the first guy to drop his gloves; OC led the Olympic team in penalty minutes, and Michael got into a fight with another player during auditions. Talk about accurate.

Eddie Cahill / Jim Craig

Gavin O'Connor, the director of Miracle, has actually commented on how uncanny the resemblance is between Eddie and Jim, and had Eddie pegged for Jim immediately because of it. (Eddie had never played goalie before, but that was neither here nor there.) And do you want to hear something cute? These two still keep in touch and tweet at each other occasionally. :)

Kris Wilson / Phil Verchota

Extra bonus points to the casting directors for finding Phil's doppelganger despite his relatively small part in the movie. Kris has both Phil's scary intense face and joyful smile (and we know how important Phil's smile is). And while Phil wasn't the goon he was believed to be, he certainly wasn't afraid to get into it… and Kris is the all-time leader in penalty minutes at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Too excellent.

Nick Postle / Bill Baker

I can't find any information about Nick as a person. But between that smile and that beautiful blonde flow, I'm totally here for him as Bill.

Sam Skoryna / Steve Janaszak

Again, I couldn't tell you a single thing about Sam. Except that he's a complete dead ringer for Janny. (Excellent stache, my friend.)

Billy Schneider / Buzz Schneider

I don't even think Billy and Buzz look all that much alike. But casting a player's son to play him? You can't really get more accurate than that!

Miracle Monday: Things I Wish Miracle Had Included

Hellooooo, and happy Monday! Not as happy as last Monday, but I doubt any Monday will ever be quite as happy as last Monday. And y'know, I'm okay with that! :)

Today we're going to talk about Miracle again. I watched a bunch of player interviews on YouTube this weekend (one huge unforeseen benefit of the 35th anniversary reunion? Lots of new interviews!), and a bunch of them talked about how Miracle is what this generation knows of the event. And while I obviously adore Miracle, I do think there are some details it should've included, but didn't. The general consensus among the players seems to be that the movie was about 75% accurate; though I appreciate that, I do wish that number could've been a bit higher!

1. Ken Morrow's beard. This isn't as strange a thing to nitpick as it sounds, I promise. Herb Brooks had a strict no beard policy for his teams, but he modified it to allow Ken to keep his beard. He wanted Ken on the Olympic team THAT badly. I mean, look at the picture at the top of this post; tell me you can't pick Ken out of the lineup. And really, how hard is it to tell Casey Burnette (the actor) not to shave for a few weeks? This would've been the most painless detail to include, and I don't see any reason for it to have been gotten wrong. For shame.

2. More screen time for more players. Interestingly, Miracle on Ice (the original movie, made in 1981) did this really well, and I was so beyond thrilled that guys like Dave Christian, Mark Pavelich, Dave Silk, Bill Baker, Steve Christoff and Ken Morrow actually had speaking roles. That meant slightly smaller parts for the guys that were the big stars of Miracle (Jack O'Callahan, Rob McClanahan, etc.), but I think that's a tradeoff that's more than fair. After all, this team was a team without stars, and it would've been great to have had a more even spread of screen time. In a similar vein...

3. The full roster announced. If you pay attention to when Craig Patrick is reading off the names of the guys who made the first cut, he announces every name except Neal Broten and Mark Wells. What. the. heck???? Including the guys that ended up not making the final roster, but leaving out two guys who did? Where is the logic? What in the world? Explain yourself, Gavin O'Connor! And again, in a similar vein...

4. Neal Broten. Why are there two movies about this team that essentially act as though Neal didn't exist? In his own words, blink and you miss him. But he was a child prodigy of a hockey player, his teammates (and Herb!) all adored him, and he went on to a 17-year NHL career. Honestly, they could make a whole movie just about Neal, and I'd watch the hell out of it. End the injustice that is the under-appreciation of Neal Broten.

5. The game against Czechoslovakia. Going into the Olympics, the Czechs were widely considered the second best team in the world, and the U.S. beat them 7-3. This was their best game of the tournament and it was really the moment they realized they could absolutely contend for a medal. While I'm thrilled Miracle included Bill Baker's goal against Sweden, I really wish the Czech game had gotten some attention too!

6. The post-Olympic trip to The White House. Of course, I understand why Miracle ended where it did; the medal ceremony wrapped everything up in a nice bow. But the players have said that they didn't realize the impact of what they'd done until they arrived in Washington, and people lined the streets for miles to cheer them. The movie started with that great montage of what was happening in the country at the time, and seeing the way people reacted to the team would've been an AWESOME way to bring that full circle. Sure, we had a Kurt Russell voiceover talking about how they taught the nation to believe, but "show, don't tell" is a thing for a reason. Showing it would've been way cooler than telling it.

In conclusion... Miracle, thank you so much for existing. I nitpick you because I care. :)

Miracle Monday: Myth Busting Edition

Happy last Monday before Lake Placid! :) I'm excited to the point of bursting, especially because it was announced this morning that the entire team is going to be at the reunion. The entire team, including one reclusive type in particular that I'm a rather large fan of. Honestly, it's a wonder I managed to get anything done today.

But it's Monday, so Miracle Monday must be posted! Today I thought it'd be a good time to talk about Miracle, as it's something of a gateway drug for a new generation of fans. And, while I'm forever grateful for the curiosity this movie sparked in me, it's this same curiosity that led me to realize that the movie isn't ALL accurate. So right now, we're going to go all MythBusters and prove/disprove some of it!

Myth: Tryouts for the Olympic team were only a day long because Herb had already decided the roster on his own.
Verdict: BUSTED!
The Story: This basically couldn't be any more false. Tryouts were held during the 1979 National Sports Festival and were actually several weeks long, complete with four teams playing a round-robin tournament for evaluation purposes. Herb did go into tryouts with a pretty solid idea of who he wanted for a good chunk of the roster (Mark Johnson, Ken Morrow, Buzz Schneider, Jack O'Callahan and Jim Craig among them), but there were a few guys who were total surprises and earned their spot solely based on their performance at tryouts (Bob Suter, Mark Wells, John Harrington). In addition, Herb brought in esteemed coaches from around the country to act as advisors as he put the team together; he wanted to make sure that nobody could criticize him for being biased towards Minnesotan players, so he got input from everybody. The bottom line was that Herb was going to do what Herb wanted to do regardless (which is what the movie's version got across accurately), but this was a way of allaying some criticism and getting feedback on his opinions.

Myth: Jack O'Callahan and Rob McClanahan fought in one of the team's first practices.
Verdict: BUSTED!
The Story: According to Jack O'Callahan himself, Rob was "too smart" to fight him. ;) In all seriousness, while everyone did have to get over all the deep regional differences and various college rivalries, there was no physical fighting once the team was formed. If you're looking for fighting though, there's a story from tryouts that involves Bob Suter nailing Neal Broten and triggering a fight that found him going at it with Phil Verchota. And don't worry, at the 1978 National Sports Festival, OC did apparently fight Steve Christoff, so he doesn't get off totally scot free!

Myth: The "Herbies in the dark" incident ended when Mike Eruzione yelled "I play for the United States of America."
Verdict: BUSTED!
The Story: Sorry, friends. I really wish this one was true, because it's just so perfect. But alas, it's not how it really happened. The Herbies in the dark really did happen like that, but in real life, normally mild-mannered Mark Johnson smashed his stick over the boards in frustration. Herb decided to end it, but not before threatening to skate them until they die if anyone else ever broke a stick like that. Significantly less warm-fuzzy, yes? lol. But apparently this whole incident really was a big team bonding moment, and the movie's version portrays that really well.

Myth: Herb brought in Tim Harrer for a tryout late in the year, which the rest of the players were up in arms about.
Verdict: CONFIRMED! However...
The Story: Tim Harrer wasn't the only guy brought in for a late look. Aaron Broten, another Minnesota Gopher and the younger brother of Neal Broten, was brought in as well. Otherwise, though, the movie was pretty accurate. The team really did pull Herb aside and tell him to cut it out, and Herb decided his new additions weren't valuable enough to risk losing the team chemistry he'd worked so hard to build.

Myth: After the first period of the game against Sweden, Herb ripped into an injured Rob McClanahan, triggering a bit of a yelling match and spurring Rob to play even though the medical staff told him not to.
Verdict: CONFIRMED!
The Story: This one's true all around, folks. Rob got a bad bone bruise during the first period and was told to sit out the rest of the game. But Herb couldn't afford to lose another player and also needed a way to motivate the rest of the team after a lackluster period, so Rob became a means to an end. By all accounts, though, what happened in real life was significantly worse than what Miracle showed (it IS a Disney movie, after all!). There was screaming that spilled out into the hallway, punches were almost thrown, and it left some players worried that the team had imploded only 20 minutes into the Olympics.

Myth: Herb's amazing pre-game locker room speech.
Verdict: CONFIRMED!
The Story: While there's some embellishment, it's accuracy is almost word-for-word. "You were born to be a player. You were meant to be here. This moment is yours." That's all the real Herb Brooks. (Honestly, who needs a script writer?)

The Olympics Go Hollywood

How on EARTH is it May already? What the heck? Pretty sure we skipped March and April, and mother nature still seems to think it's January; it's currently snowing. But either way, the calendar tells me we're now five months into 2014, and I'm still doing pretty well with my New Year's resolutions. I got a job (for the time being), I'm working out more, I'm reading regularly, I get up in the morning like a grown-up, and I've flossed every single day (woop woop for no gum disease!). But for the longest time, I was majorly slacking on #7 - "put leisure time to good use."

After the Olympics and Paralympics ended I had plenty of leisure time... but what was I doing with it? Not watching sports movies like I said I was going to, that's what. But then I happened to mention my desire to expand my Olympic movie repertoire to Brandon, my boss (the same one I called dude, if that gives you an idea of our relationship), and suddenly he's showing up to work with DVDs for me to borrow! Seriously, only one of the movies below belongs to me. So basically, this post could be called "Darci raids Brandon's Olympic movie collection." And it just so happens that they all divided nicely into two weekends, and two Olympics. :)

Munich: I knew going in that Munich is NOT the kind of movie I seek out and enjoy. Call me crazy, but I tend not to like watching people get killed in various violent ways. However, this movie is very highly regarded, and while I can't say I'll watch it again, I can say that it was really good. Avner and his crew were secret agents assigned to kill the people responsible for the massacre of the Israeli Olympic team, and the longer they were under cover and killing people, the more and more paranoid they got. By the end, Avner had spiraled so far into his paranoia that he could barely function. And as the movie ended, I found myself sitting in my otherwise empty apartment and wondering if someone wanted to kill me. They get into your head, these psychological thrillers!

While seeing the Israeli athletes get taken hostage and murdered was a wee bit traumatizing, I did like learning a bit about the aftermath. Munich is not entirely factual, but everything I know about the Munich Massacre is about the day itself. I knew basically nothing about what happened next, or if Israel retaliated at all. So learning that much was pretty interesting, even if I do have to take everything else with a grain of salt. But if it's good enough for Cool Runnings, it's good enough for Munich.

Without Limits: I had zero expectations going into this movie. I knew nothing about it other than its subject, and judging by the DVD cover I figured it would be pretty bad (I mean, look at it!). But I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it! It follows distance runner Steve Prefontaine from his high school days up through his death. I didn't know all that much about Pre beforehand, other than that he (spoiler alert?) finished fourth in Munich and (spoiler alert?) died really young, so it was really cool getting to hear about the kind of impact he ended up having on track and field in the U.S. He also seems like a pretty interesting character. Considering his final record didn't fall until 2012 (holy craaap), I have to wonder what he could've accomplished had he not died so young. There was, of course, a love story subplot, but I didn't totally hate it. They really loved each other but it was far from all sunshine and rainbows. The girl actually had a personality! It was refreshing.

My main complaint is the fact that the movie didn't make clear the passage of time. You know that time has gone by, but the only indication of that is Pre's slightly longer hair and the sudden appearance of a mustache. Have we just skipped ahead several months? A year? And then, unfortunately, there was the utter predictability of Pre's death. Even if I hadn't known it was coming, the absolutely heinous foreshadowing all but told me it was going to happen. He was literally counting down to his death. Alas.

Uh, hi, my name is Darci and I'm obsessed with Lake Placid 1980. Is there a support group for this? (Also, Miracle is obviously mine. And it is not new. But if you thought I'd have a Lake Placid movie weekend and wasn't going to include Miracle...)

Lake Placid, An Olympic History: This baby both started and ended with a song from the Miracle soundtrack. ;) I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who isn't psychopathically in love with Lake Placid and/or the Olympics (like myself), because it's very much a documentary; lots of history. But considering I own a book on the very same subject, it was right up my alley. Anything that talks about Eric Heiden and the Miracle on Ice is a winner in my book. It was also cool to hear about all the Olympians from Lake Placid; apparently there's been at least one at every single Winter Olympics. Pretty impressive. OH, and I learned that the bobsled track I took a ride on was the exact one used at the 1932 Olympics!

Miracle On Ice: Do I even need to explain how excited I was to watch this? I randomly found it for sale on the same website that gave me DVDs of the actual 1980 Olympic hockey games (aka a veritable wonderland of glorious things). I'd read conflicting things about this movie -- which was, by the way, a made-for-TV movie released in 1981 with a limited budget and production schedule. Some said it's better than Miracle, some said it's crap, but what really got my attention were the reviews that said they wished it could be combined with Miracle. That it showed a ton of what Miracle left out, and the two together would've been the perfect movie.

After seeing it for myself -- and cringing, flailing, and cackling -- I totally agree. Miracle On Ice + Miracle = pretty perfect.

Most of my reaction comes from the fact that I know a whole heck of a lot about this team and its stories, and there's a TON that Miracle doesn't even touch. Miracle On Ice shows the guys getting their invitations to training camp, arriving at the Colorado Springs OTC (YAY!!! And it looks like it was actually filmed here!), finding out that they made the team, etc. So that was pretty glorious. We also got to see how the players' agents and lawyers factored in, and more of Jim Craig's relationship with his father, and more Mike Eruzione storylines than I ever thought I wanted. And more players got slightly bigger roles in Miracle On Ice than they did in Miracle, which was awesome. But with all that came stuff that Miracle included that Miracle On Ice (very, very unfortunately) left out. There's actually surprisingly little from before the Olympics that directly overlapped.

Most of my other complaints are related to the rushed production and the fact that it's a typical cheesy '80s movie. The hockey was slow and clunky (and when they used real game footage, they didn't make it blend in very well), the Boston accents were really thick and really fake, Karl Malden was 20 years too old to play Herb Brooks (and Steve Guttenberg as Jim Craig? Really?), and some of the writing/dialogue/acting was just... yikes. Holy bad.

However, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and this boils down to the little details that were included that only an... uh, slightly overzealous fan such as myself would appreciate. I mean, Rob McClanahan talking about geopolitical absorption (and Jack O'Callahan responding with total snark)? Hello, flawless. Mark Pavelich wearing flannel, playing guitar and being late because he was fishing? Be still, my fangirl heart! The vote for team captain coming down to Mike Eruzione and Buzz Schneider? Yes, thank you. Dave Christian getting called Koho? A+. But MOST IMPORTANTLY... Ken Morrow had a beard. *standing ovation*

It's glaringly obvious why Disney wanted to make Miracle despite the previous existence of Miracle On Ice, and I myself see Miracle On Ice as more of a supplement than a stand-alone. Kind of like fanfiction; oftentimes questionably executed, but gives you stuff you wish the original had included. So, yes, if you smush Miracle On Ice and Miracle together, you'd have one fantabulous movie.

So this was a good first step in my endeavor to watch more sports movies! I do still need to see Chariots of Fire, though. Whoops. Are there any others that you think are must-sees? Recommendations are always appreciated! :)