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. :)

My Favorite Baseball Memory Is... Volleyball?

You want to hear something super exciting? Kasey and Jessa have started a BASEBALL link-up to help us count down to opening day! I may not talk about baseball much in this corner of the Internet, but suffice it to say that I have more Mets shirseys than I care to admit. (Almost all of them are gigantic, though, and only one of those players is actually on the team anymore. Let's not talk about it.) So Thursdays this month will be dedicated to talkin' baseball. :) Today's prompt is your favorite baseball memory, and mine is... rather different. I mean, hello, I'm a Mets fan. It's not like I've had anything to celebrate since 1986 (which was, oh, FIVE YEARS BEFORE I WAS BORN. No I'm not bitter, what are you talking about?).

I went to school at the University of Miami, where I double majored in sport administration and journalism. During my last semester I took a sports reporting class, which was every bit as amazing as you'd imagine it to be. The professor that teaches the class is a sports writer for the Miami Herald (Michelle Kaufman. Look her up, she's awesome), which means she has all sorts of connections in the sports world, which means she gets her classes some really cool assignments. Not only did we cover Miami Hurricanes teams for class assignments, but we also covered a Miami Heat game, the Sony Open tennis tournament, and a Miami Marlins game.

At the Marlins game, someone from the PR department spoke with our class about getting jobs in the industry, and that talk completely freaked me out. At that point I was still looking for a job after graduation, and hadn't had any interviews or anything, so I was already in panic mode. As we made our way up to the press box to get settled in for the game, it felt like there was an elephant sitting on my chest. But lo and behold, when I opened my laptop, I discovered I had an email from someone at USA Volleyball; they wanted to interview me for the post-grad internship I'd applied for.

Needless to say, I was over the moon. The rest of that evening was fantastic: the Marlins won, I kicked butt on my story, and all was well.

In fact, I did so well on that story that when MLB.com needed a writer to cover a Cubs vs. Marlins series a few weeks later, the job ended up in my lap. Seriously. And funnily enough, the first game I covered was on the same day as my USA Volleyball job interview. Both were entirely awesome, but I'm surprised I didn't develop an ulcer from the stress.

Not long after, I found myself back at Marlins Park yet again, this time as a spectator with my friend Christina. They were playing the Mets, and Christina (who covers the Marlins for all sorts of news outlets) was friendly with the Mets' new catcher, John Buck, from the time he spent with the Marlins. The Mets had acquired Buck in the same trade that sent R.A. Dickey to the Blue Jays, which I was still completely bitter about. Long story short, Christina had told him about my bitterness, he joked that he'd have to prove his worth to me, and then went on an unbelievable hitting tear. So we went to this game in an attempt to introduce me to John Buck. Christina caught his attention while he was warming up in the outfield, and we actually did chat briefly! He pointed out that I wasn't wearing a Mets shirt -- the only one I had with me in Miami was Dickey's, and it would've just been too painful -- and said he guessed he'd just have to do more! (And he did. Got a few big hits in that game, if I remember correctly. LOL, the dude was magical, I swear.)

Anyway, while we were at the game, I checked my phone and noticed that I had a missed call and voicemail from a number with the Colorado Springs area code. It had to be USA Volleyball. Internally, I cursed a massive blue streak and put my phone away; if it was bad news, I didn't want to get upset in a public place. And it's not like I'd be returning their call from a baseball game either way!

As soon as I got home that afternoon, I listened to that voicemail. It was USA Volleyball offering me the internship. And I sat down on the floor and cried a little bit.

So, baseball may not be why this is my favorite baseball memory (ironic), but I will always associate my volleyball internship (and, therefore, the start of my career) with baseball. And I've definitely got some really good juju going on in Marlins Park. :)

Things I (Still) Need to Do in Lake Placid

(Miss any of my Lake Placid trip recaps? Here's my first visit, and then my trip last week-ish: part one, part two and part three!)

Lake Placid is a town with a population of 2,500 people. I've been there twice. You'd think I'd have done everything there possibly is to do... but alas, I haven't. (Hopefully this says more about Lake Placid than it does about me but, y'know, jury's still out on that one.) But I refuse to go there a third time and leave with a list of things "to do next time"! So this is what I still need to accomplish there. Hopefully if you go before I do, you can be a little more efficient. :)

+ Skate at the speed skating oval. To be fair, the first time I went was in August and the second time I went it was about zero degrees every day, so this activity was barely an option on both of my visits. But I flat out refuse to leave this box unchecked. Eric Heiden winning five gold medals here is one of the greatest feats in Olympic history, and if I skate only one more time in my life, it will be here. I'm not playing around.

+ Get a picture of myself in the Herb Brooks Arena. GUYS. I've been in here five times (five. times.) and don't have any photographic evidence of myself in the building. On my most recent trip, the lights were off all three times I was there (seriously, what the heck), and on my first trip, I was a dumb 14-year-old who didn't really get it. THEREFORE, next time? I'm not going for a special event. I'm going when the ice is visible and the lights are on so I can accomplish the exceedingly simple task of getting a photo. It'd also be cool to just kind of... sit there quietly and soak it all in. I do love me an empty arena. And stadium photoshoots.

(Also, how do people get to skate here? Is this a thing I can make happen? Because if so... yeah, that's a must.)

+ Check out the Olympic Sports Complex. This is where the bobsled, skeleton and luge tracks are and, while I did take a bobsled run on my first visit, I don't remember anything besides flying down a track with G-forces so intense I couldn't hold my head up. I don't even know how much there is to see there if you're not hopping onto a sled and throwing yourself down an icy chute, but a self-guided tour is less than $10. And I've seen every other Olympic site (besides the cross-country skiing and biathlon areas, but to see those I think you actually have to ski?), so I'm all in.

+ Explore the town. I think I did this on my first trip, but I don't remember anything and only have a t-shirt as evidence. (See, this is why I blog: so in ten years, I can look back on my trips and actually know what I did.) But Main Street is so cute, and the lake is probably beautiful when the weather is nice enough to actually enjoy being outdoors. I want to walk around without worrying about losing feeling in my limbs, and instead get to enjoy my surroundings a little bit!

+ Go for a dog sled ride. This was a planned activity for this last trip, but again, the frigid temperatures severely discouraged anything that involved being outside for longer than 15 seconds. I don't think I've ever been out on a frozen lake, and I've definitely never been on a sled pulled by a dog, and it all just sounds like so much fun! I wouldn't say no to a toboggan ride on Mirror Lake, either.

So basically, what I need to do is go either right at the beginning or right at the end of winter season; winter sport activities will be open, but temperatures won't be too arctic. My mom has already volunteered to go back with me (enabling my obsession: parenting done right!), and Amanda and I have been talking about going together for almost three years now. So this hypothetical trip is not a matter of if, but when. :) How does next March sound? Too soon?

Anyone have tips on traveling to glacially cold places? How do you stay warm?!

Miracle Monday: Miracle On Ice 35th Anniversary Reunion

I'm completely overwhelmed by the thought of trying to recap this event. There's just SO MUCH I want to talk about, and I don't even know where to begin, let alone decide what to leave out. Wow. But it was phenomenally amazing. Let's start there. (Or if you missed the rest of my Lake Placid recaps, you can start with part 1 and part 2.)

The event started at 7:30, with the doors opening an hour beforehand. But tickets were general admission, and if you know me at all (ahem, cough), you know I like to be over-cautious in all situations that involve getting your own seat (or place in the crowd, or spot on a barrier, etc.). Luckily my parents know this and were on board (and it was also my birthday so I had final say either way!), so we went to the arena at 5:00. And guess what: we were first in line. Sweet, sweet victory!

As someone who's done her fair share of waiting in line for things (lol, understatement), waiting an hour and a half was easy as pie. The line that formed behind us was totally calm and well-behaved (except for one guy who had gotten there second but tried to sneak in front of us and pretend he was first -- nuh uh, bud). And my parents actually got really into it! They were all prepared to fight people to get in first and then go sprinting to our previously scoped-out seats. We joked about doing some stretching and light calisthenics to get ourselves warmed up and ready to run. It was like preparing for battle. "Okay team, here are the tickets. Do we all know the plan? We'll rendezvous at the seats at eighteen hundred thirty hour. Send a distress signal if you run into any trouble. Godspeed." (But seriously, seeing my parents in this kind of environment made so much sense of why I am the way I am.)

And then the doors opened, and we got in, and we ran to our seats... and we had another hour to wait. LOL. We hadn't had dinner yet, so my dad ran to a concession stand to get some provisions. I was so anxious and excited at this point that it was all I could do to choke down my hotdog. Because, dude, I was sitting in the first row behind the boards at the Herb Brooks Arena!!!! And the 1980 Olympic hockey team was going to be there!!!!! (All of the exclamation points!!!!!!!!!)

The players were introduced one-by-one in numerical order, and I was thoroughly entertained from the moment Steve Janaszak had company on stage. Really, I wish I could sit here and recount every minute detail of the whole night, because they were all so hilarious and excited to be there. But it was incredibly special for me to be able to stand and cheer for each of them as they walked in. All of my "cheering" up until that point has been done either on this blog or on Tumblr, so to be in an arena with several thousand other people who were just as excited as I was? Incredible.

The evening was basically Todd Walsh (the MC) asking questions and leading a discussion following the timeline of the Olympic/pre-Olympic season (starting with the team's formation and moving on to exhibition games, Olympic games, etc.). There were various video clips shown and "USA" chants had, and Todd even led the crowd in yelling "AGAIN!" a bunch of times. But mostly it was the guys talking and chirping each other and being goofballs.

I've been thinking for a week now about how the hell I was going to summarize what actually happened, but nothing really hit me until yesterday. I was reading an article from 1980 about the post-gold medal press conference that all the players were present for, and I realized... this reunion was almost an exact reincarnation of that press conference.

1980: Jack O'Callahan was drinking beer onstage.
2015: Jack O'Callahan was drinking beer onstage.

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(Note the bottle in his lap. Also, note Mark Pavelich! This was his first public appearance since 2004 and, while he didn't speak and was clearly uncomfortable being in front of people, I was beyond overjoyed to just be in his presence. Actually, "beyond overjoyed" is a huge understatement.)

1980: Jim Craig spoke about what a phenomenal teammate, hockey player and person Steve Janaszak is, and then they hugged.
2015: Jim Craig spoke about what a phenomenal teammate, hockey player and person Steve Janaszak is, and then they hugged.

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1980: John Harrington talked Brooksisms, and had people rolling on the floor laughing.
2015: John Harrington talked Brooksisms, and had people rolling on the floor laughing.

In other words? These guys haven't changed one iota since 1980. They're still a bunch of goofy boys who sass each other mercilessly, but the most amazing thing is how clearly they love each other to the ends of the earth.

There's one moment in particular that I have to share. Towards the end of the evening, Todd Walsh asked Jim Craig a question. But Jim had spoken already that night, and is obviously one of the most visible faces of the team. So instead of answering the question, Jim said that Eric Strobel or Neal Broten should do so, since those two were the only guys who had gone unrecognized to that point in the discussion. Jim talked briefly about each of them and how phenomenal they were, and then passed his question off to Neal. And Neal opened his mouth and said the following:

"I've played on a lot of teams, and this is the best team, the closest team I ever played on. As a younger guy, I looked up to all these guys. It was a privilege and honor for me to represent our country with these guys and do what we did."

The crowd gives him a huge ovation for that. And while this is all going on, I looked up to the screens, where the camera had focused on Rob McClanahan and Buzz Schneider. Mac was nodding seriously and you could see him say to himself, "He's got that right." He then turned to Buzz, leaned in and said, "He's got that right," in Buzz's ear. And Buzz nodded emphatically.

That, essentially, is this team in a nutshell.

But then Buzz talks about how he scored a hat trick on Vladislav Tretiak and his teammates decide to whack him for his troubles.

And Bah spends a solid five minutes explaining and acting out how Mike Eruzione's winning goal really should've been his, but that he decided to pass to Rizzo instead as a favor to the team captain who he saw "had no future in the sport."

Of course, we can't forget that the evening ended with a tribute to Bob Suter, with his jersey being raised to the rafters. A number of his teammates got pretty emotional during this part, and at one point Jack O'Callahan slipped up and said "twenty players" when talking about the team. He had to backtrack and correct himself, saying that now it's 19 but, "we still feel like it's 20 because Bobby's up here with us." It was really sad but incredibly touching.

Then the national anthem was played, because that's what happened the last time these guys were all in this building together. (So. many. feelings.)

And then Mike Eruzione grabbed a mic and expressed the team's collective gratitude, and they all gathered for a team photo, and that was it! (Except that's not really it. I'll probably be squealing with glee about this for the rest of my life. It'll never be "it.")

I'm so, so glad I got to be there and see this in person. It was incredibly special to watch these guys relive everything and not just get love from the crowd, but get it from each other as well. I know I said it before, but they just adore each other. That was my big takeaway from this event. Just a whole lot of love.

So, how does a 40th anniversary reunion sound? Yes? See you there? ;)