Miracle Monday: Of Miracles and Men

We're shaking things up a little bit today, friends! In case you're unaware -- and missed my copious amount of tweets about it -- last night ESPN premiered a new 30 for 30 movie called Of Miracles and Men. And you know I'm not going to pass up an opportunity to talk about it, right? ;)

Full disclosure: ever since I found out about this movie, I was very unhappy that it was about the Soviets instead of the Americans. It was billed as being about the Miracle on Ice but from the Soviet perspective, and my reaction was that, well, have we really heard the American perspective? I mean, the "ragtag bunch of misfits who overachieved" narrative has been absolutely beaten to death, and we essentially ignore the individual players behind it. So it felt as though this film was just playing into that; even though the Americans won, we still overlook them in lieu of the Soviets. So I was pretty pissed.

However, after watching the movie, I'm convinced that they advertised it wrong. The Miracle on Ice certainly factored into the story arc (how could it not?), but it was certainly not a movie about the Miracle on Ice. It was about the development of hockey in the Soviet Union, and the men that figured prominently in making it all happen. So it didn't take long for my bitterness to give way to enjoyment.

Guys, this movie is good. The director has said that his goal was to humanize the team that everyone saw as a machine, and if the all feelings I have now are any indication, that was certainly accomplished.

Of Miracles and Men is about Slava Fetisov in the way that Miracle is, essentially, about Herb Brooks. Everything was essentially framed around his experiences and, post-Lake Placid, followed his journey that eventually led him to become the first Russian player allowed to come play in the NHL. And holy cow, did he earn my respect.

I'd read several reviews before the movie premiered, and one of them criticized the director for bringing Slava back to Lake Placid to have him reminisce because it took up time that they could've used to show more archival footage. But honestly, seeing him standing solemnly on the ice in the empty Herb Brooks Arena with audio of the Americans' post-win celebration dubbed over it? That was hands down one of my favorite moments of the whole film. It was so personal, and so poignant, and I think it did more to humanize him than just about anything else. He and his daughter also visited the locker room, and you could almost physically see the ghosts of 1980 there with them. And I dare you not to feel something when he says, "Thirty years later, I can blame myself."

It was really great to get the reactions of individual players to that loss. As much as they say it was only one loss, that it ended up meaning very little in the grand scheme of things, it still clearly cuts very deep with them. Boris Mikhailov in particular got progressively more agitated the more he spoke about it, and had a little bit of an outburst when he was asked if he'd ever seen Miracle. ("Why would I watch it? I'll watch a good movie! One where I win. Let the American team watch what they did!") And while they were all pretty devastated to not get gold, I wanted to stand up and cheer when Vladimir Petrov said, "To me, that silver medal is still worth a lot. I sacrificed blood for it."

My favorite quote, though, goes to Vladimir Myshkin: "Maybe the gods deemed that day that the Americans deserved their Miracle on Ice." I think this is the first time that I've heard any of the Soviets tip his hat to the U.S. team without a trace of bitterness or "we really should've won, though" in his voice.

That was probably the biggest takeaway: that these guys may have looked big and cold and intimidating, but they were good people. They essentially sacrificed their whole lives to play hockey (to the tune of living in army barracks away from their families for 11 months out of the year), only to retire in their early 30s because they were burnt out and no longer getting enjoyment from playing for the national team. They became an incredibly tight-knit family, rallying around each other and, when Slava was cut from the team in the late '80s, refusing to play at the world championships unless he was reinstated. Slava had opportunities to defect to America so he could play in the NHL, but he insisted on coming over the right way so he could open the door for other players to get there as well. (Seriously, what a stand-up human being.)

Gosh, there's so much more I haven't even touched on, but I need to cut myself off before I go on for a million words, as we all know I'm capable of doing. I do, however, need to mention the word "miracle." Right at the beginning of the movie, Slava says, "In America, people always ask me to talk about the Miracle on Ice. But we made our own miracles. And that's what I want to talk about." I was pretty skeptical about this -- mostly because the overuse of that word does a major disservice to what the U.S. team actually accomplished in Lake Placid -- but honestly? Hearing everything that Slava went through with his coach and his government to try and get out of the Soviet Union and into the NHL, watching him hoist the Stanley Cup in Red Square in Moscow did feel pretty miraculous.

(...I still want a 30 for 30 about the U.S. team, though.)

Olympic Bat Mitzvah

Guess what today is!

If you said it's the one year anniversary of the opening of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, you would be correct. However, it's also the 11th anniversary of my Bat Mitzvah.

For those that may not know much about Judaism, kids have their Bar/Bat Mitzvahs when they turn 13 to symbolize their entrance into adulthood. (So the anniversary of my Bat Mitzvah is almost old enough to have a Bat Mitzvah. How terrifying is that? I'm old. Let's not talk about it.) I got up in front of my temple's congregation and my entire family and all of my friends to read (i.e. sing) from the Torah. And then everyone threw candy at me, and suddenly I was technically a grown-up. Looking back, 13 is an absurdly early age to consider someone an "adult," but nonetheless.

But everyone knows that the most important part of a Bat Mitzvah is the party. Every kid (or, uh, adult?) picks a theme for his or her party, and mine was the Olympics. I mean, obviously. Were you expecting else of me? So today I thought we'd take a stroll down memory lane and revisit this Olympic-themed shindig... and cringe at what I looked like in middle school. (Though I'm very thankful for whoever did my makeup that day. A few days prior, I'd developed a stye on one of my lower eyelids and in pictures it looked like I'd been punched in the face. But on the day of my Bat Mitzvah, you couldn't even tell!)

My favors were these string backpacks, featuring each Games since I was born, leading up to Darci 2004 (for obvious reasons). This led to several years of jokes that my name is an Olympic city. I didn't hate it. 

Each table was a different country (and the kids' area was the Olympic village). And why just give out cards for seating arrangements when you can wrap it around a Hershey bar? Exactly. We did things right. 

How 'bout those centerpieces? Completely homemade by my awesome (and thrifty) parents. 

Did I mention that my party was on a boat? Because my part was on a boat. 

More homemade decorations. :) 

How pretty is this?! I still have a bunch of these flags, actually. 

I spy an American flag bandana. 

Why is my caricature holding the flag upside down? Riddle me that!

My dad was in charge of deciding what to write on the cake. #flawless

Now... you didn't think I'd end this post without some hilarious and/or embarrassing pictures, did you? 

Just clutching an American flag, as you do. 

Stylin' and profilin'. 

These centerpieces were the best idea ever. 

 Honestly.

We had the whole world in our hands! (Hah.)

Why did nobody tell me how awkward I was?!?! OH MY GOSH. But hey, notice that sweatshirt?

Eleven years later, I'm still awkward and still wearing the same sweatshirt.

I also still have the Olympic flag I got for the occasion!

It's crazy to look back and think about how much things have changed since 2004. I mean, now I actually am an adult, by all religious and legal definitions. But I still love the Olympics to the same degree, and have my own cubicle inside United States Olympic Committee headquarters. So if anyone ever tells you you're too obsessed with something, don't listen to them. A little obsession is a good thing. ;)

Wanderlust Tag

Guys, I really miss traveling. I miss living in London and having scholarship money so I could travel easily and without worrying about going broke. And I really miss being able to come up with Travel Tuesday topics at the drop of a hat! I really need to get better at exploring Colorado, and not look at travel as just something involving different countries and long plane rides. Do any fellow trapped travelers have any tips?

Anyway, a few weeks ago I stumbled across a post featuring the wanderlust tag, and I was inspired. I do love rehashing some of my past trips! Nobody tagged me to do it, but hey, I won't tell if you won't. ;)

Where was your first plane to? 
I actually have no idea. Florida, maybe? I have grandparents down there and I know we visited them when I was really young. So Florida's my best guess.

Where have you traveled to that you would love to travel again?
LONDON. Was that answer obvious enough? ;) London shouldn't even count, honestly, since it's in a category all it's own. So if we exclude London from this category, my answer is Germany. I absolutely fell in love with both Munich and Berlin, and am dying to go back, revisit those cities and see some more of the country.

You're leaving tomorrow. Money is no object. Where do you go?
LONDON. Hm, I'm getting this strange sense of deja vu... hah. Again, if we exclude London, this question gets much trickier. I've been dying to go to Greece since the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, so that has to be near the top of the list. But I also have a little bit of an obsession with crumbling, abandoned Olympic venues, and for that reason I'd love to go to Sarajevo, the site of the 1984 Olympic Winter Games. The venues were all either ravaged by war or simply left to deteriorate, and I'm itching to go before anything is either removed or restored.

Preferred method of travel: planes, trains or cars?
I like planes for the sole reason that they can take you the farthest in the shortest time. I mean, I certainly wouldn't want to take a train from Colorado to New York. However, I really do love traveling by train. There's something really special about taking the Eurail from city to city around Europe, and settling into a compartment with couchettes (aka makeshift beds) for an overnight ride and waking up in an entirely different country is incredibly cool. Depending on the location, you also get some incredible views of the countries you're traveling through! Trains are also my favorite form of public transportation, having grown up with the Long Island Railroad and the New York City subway system. So yeah, give me a train any day!

Remember that time I registered for classes for my senior year of college on a train through Switzerland?

Favorite travel website?
I don't really use a ton of travel websites, though ones that have treated me well are STA Travel, Expedia and HostelBookers.

Where would you travel just to eat the food?
Surprisingly enough, I fell head over heels for German food while I was there. Pretzels, currywurst, spaetzle, potato salad... oh man, holy delicious. But I also need to mention Italy in this category, because pasta. And pizza. And gelato. And tiramisu. And basically everything else you could ever want to eat in that country.

Oh, Germany. I love ya.

Is there a place you would never go again?
I'm pretty lucky in that I've never been horrifically disappointed by a destination. Well, I was kind of disappointed by Paris, but a good chunk of that was due to travel issues that weren't really Paris's fault. So while Paris isn't first on my list of cities to revisit, if someone offered me a trip there, I wouldn't say no.

Can you recite your passport number from memory if asked?
HAH, absolutely not.

Do you prefer window, aisle or middle seat?
Window, all day every day. I like being able to rest against something while I (attempt to) sleep. And one of the perks of being short and having little legs is not needing the extra leg room of the aisle; I can curl up in my seat and be A-OK. ;)

How do you pass the time on the airplane?
My iPod, always. I'll usually attempt to sleep, or sometimes I'll bring a book and do some reading, and I've even been known to break out my computer and get some writing/blogging done (or watch a movie or a few episodes of Castle). But yeah, generally just some music and maybe a nap.

Now, I'm pretty sure when you do a tag you're supposed to tag people to do it after you... but I don't know how this one works, and even if I did, I've already broken the rules. So if you feel like doing it, go for it and say I sent ya! :)

Miracle Monday: By the Numbers

I'm not a numbers person. Like, at all. Math classes used to be the bane of my academic existence, and when it comes to sports, I could honestly take or leave a player's stats... for the most part. But sometimes, numbers can tell a pretty cool story. Such is the case here. So today, we're going to let the stats do the talking!

+ The top five overall scorers during the pre-Olympic season were: Mark Johnson (33 goals, 48 assists, 81 points), Rob McClanahan (29-33--62), Steve Christoff (35-26--61), Neal Broten (25-30--55), and Mark Pavelich (15-30--45). The top five overall scorers during the Olympic tournament were: Mark Johnson (5-6--11), Buzz Schneider (5-3--8), Rob McClanahan (5-3--8), Dave Christian (0-8--8) and Mark Pavelich (1-6--7). What's super interesting about that is that Neal Broten and Steve Christoff weren't even in the top 10 in scoring during the Olympics, and Buzz Schneider and Dave Christian weren't even in the top 10 in scoring during the pre-Olympic season. (But Mark Johnson, guys. Mark Johnson. Look at those numbers, holy cow.)

+ Bill Baker, who scored the tying goal against Sweden -- potentially the most important goal scored in the entire Olympics, which got Bill called a hero on national television over a dozen times -- had only scored four goals in 52 pre-Olympic games. Four goals in 52 games. Yet in his first 60 minutes on Olympic ice, he puts one in the back of the net. Talk about phenomenal timing!

+ Goals and assists aren't the only numbers we should look at; let's talk about penalty minutes. The overall team leader? None other than Jack O'Callahan (are we surprised?), with 85 penalty minutes in 55 total games (Olympics and pre-Olympics). However, if you look at the ratio of penalty minutes to games played, the real leader is Bob Suter (again, are we surprised?), with 67 penalty minutes in 38 games played. And shout-out to third place, Bill Baker (this time I actually am surprised!) with 74 penalty minutes in 60 games. Gotta love those guys that go to war for their teammates, right? :)

+ Ready for some math that underscores the importance of Herb's crazy conditioning drills? I've mentioned before that the team got stronger as the game went on, but how's this for a stat: in the last two periods, the U.S. outscored opponents 27-6 and outshot them 137-119. In addition, 63.6% of U.S. goals were scored in the first or last five minutes of a period; they were strongest right out of the gate, and freshest at the end. Kind of insane! (Also, please note that I got these numbers from a book. I did not sit here poring over a calculator. I'm dedicated, but I'm not THAT dedicated!)

While I did get some of this information from a book and therefore can't link it for you, if you happen to be interested in seeing more stats, you can find 'em here!