Miracle Monday: Why the Miracle on Ice is Still a Big Deal

Hello world! I'm finally rejoining normal society after my weekend in Lake Placid and... holy cow. It's such a lovely little Olympic oasis in the middle of nowhere, and the Miracle on Ice reunion was everything I'd ever hoped it would be. I will most definitely be blogging about it, but probably not until next week because I need more time to organize my thoughts into something that'll do it justice.

However, today we need to discuss some important things. With the 30 for 30 about Soviet hockey earlier in the month, I'd read numerous articles about it that essentially tore down the accomplishment of the Miracle on Ice in lieu of how good the Soviets were. One line in particular that stuck with me is that the Miracle on Ice "hasn't aged very well." And of course, there are rude people all over the Internet saying things like "omg it was 35 years ago why are we still talking about this!!!!1!!!11!!1" (to which I always want to respond, "you must be Canadian"). So, on this day after the anniversary of the Miracle on Ice and day before the anniversary of the gold medal game, I want to take a quick second to set the record straight.

1. No, the gold medal in 1980 didn't start a winning tradition for USA Hockey at the Olympics. But... so what? That wasn't really the point, was it? The significance of that moment didn't come from the fact that it was supposed to begin a dynasty. It was an isolated incident, totally unprecedented, the likes of which will never be seen again, and THAT is why it's significant. It won't, and can't, be duplicated. The Olympics are different, the country is different, athletes are different, the political climate is different. However...

2. The gold medal in 1980 DID change the face of hockey in America forever. In years prior, there were very few Americans in the NHL. But after the 1980 Olympics, the majority of players on that team went on to have NHL careers. Ken Morrow won four consecutive Stanley Cups with the Islanders. Neal Broten, Dave Christian and Mike Ramsey all played over 1,000 NHL games and amassed a collection of All-Star Game appearances, team captainships and a Stanley Cup. Mark Johnson was also an All-Star and team captain. Jack O'Callahan played in the NHL for the better part of a decade. Mark Pavelich set a rookie scoring record for the Rangers and was the first American-born player ever to score five goals in an NHL game. Catch my drift? Since 1980, the American presence in the NHL has grown exponentially, and U.S. teams are perennial medal favorites in international competition.

3. Don't ever talk to me about how the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team won just because of heart and determination. Those boys were insanely talented. (See NHL career stats previously mentioned. I don't think I need to elaborate.) So there was talent and heart and determination; they were not just a bunch of plucky misfit underdogs, so if you think that narrative is tired, that's because it's wrong. It's lazy and it's just plain incorrect.

4. The Miracle on Ice may not have ended the Cold War, but let me tell you a story. While I was in Lake Placid, I went on an arena tour guided by a man named Jim Rogers. Jim worked on the Lake Placid Olympic bid back in the '70s and stayed with the committee up through the Games, working in protocol. So he knows his stuff, and has been guiding tours for what has to be well over a decade. He told us that he's heard from numerous Russians who've taken his tour over the years that, while the Miracle on Ice didn't end communism, it started the slide. The USSR used to tell its citizens that all of its successes -- political, athletic, etc. -- were because of communism. And when the hockey team lost, people started questioning, and communism wasn't providing answers. And I'm pretty sure that growing discontent with communism played a part in the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. So, y'know, do with that what you will.

5. In a similar vein, I've seen people argue that the Soviet Union is defunct so the Miracle on Ice isn't relevant anymore... and I honestly can't figure out the logic behind that one. It's history. It's in the past. How does that make it less significant? Do we immediately forget about things as soon as circumstances are different? We still look back at Kerri Strug's one-legged vault in awe, we still treat Jesse Owens with an air of reverence, we still hail Eric Heiden as one of the greatest Winter Olympians ever... this isn't going to change. Politics aside, in the Miracle on Ice, David beat Goliath. So we'd still be talking about it regardless. But because politics were involved, it became a moment that transcended sports and entered the realms of history and pop culture. So, yeah, it may not factor into any current events, but it's always going to be there, it's always going to be important, and it's always going to be something that gives people goosebumps and makes them proud to be American.

My Favorite Travel Memories (Part 2)

When it comes to travel, I'M STILL LIVING IN THE PAST, GUYS. Next week (and probably for the foreseeable future) I'll have all sorts of tales about my Lake Placid adventures (have I mentioned I'm excited about this trip? Because I'm pretty excited about this trip), but for now I'll relive my past trips. For the umpteenth time. I know. But hey, I feel pretty lucky that I can keep reminiscing about old trips and continuously come up with more things to talk about. I've had some amazing travels! (For part 1, click here.)

+ When I went to Israel, I went as part of a birthright group and we traveled with a handful of Israeli soldiers. Not for protection or anything; Israel has a mandatory draft so they were our age, and they essentially use the trip to see their own country through the eyes of foreigners. Pretty cool. But anyway, we spent one night in a Bedouin tent in the Negev Desert, and the next morning we got to ride camels. I shared my camel with one of our soldiers, Dafna, and at some point during the ride she casually mentioned that she's ridden camels before but never ridden a horse. What?! Cultural differences are so fascinating.

+ Probably one of the most gratifying moments I've ever had was visiting Copenhagen and seeing Nyhavn (that famous canal lined with colored buildings) for the first time. I'd wanted to go to Denmark since doing a school project on the country in fourth grade. For so much of my life it had been a sort of pipe dream, and finally being able to realize it over a decade later was simply indescribable.

+ I studied abroad in London in the spring of 2012, and on my last day in the city I spent the afternoon wandering my favorite routes by myself. I started at Westminster to see Big Ben, made my way to Trafalgar Square, swung by Chinatown for a bubble tea, and then spent some time just sitting in Leicester Square. Leicester Square was the site of my very first outing to central London at the beginning of my study abroad experience, so that was a particularly cool moment of coming full circle. I still can't really articulate how much I love this city, and saying my final goodbyes was impossibly hard. I'm so glad I decided to head out on my own and take some time to be reflective and get closure.

+ I don't even know if this technically counts as a travel memory, but while I was studying abroad, my friends and I camped out overnight for the first Hunger Games world premiere. It was March. In London. It was cold. The ground is really hard. None of us slept much, if at all. But there's no bonding experience quite like sleeping on the street with people in the name of fandom. (The red carpet and getting to watch the movie immediately afterwards didn't suck either!)

So what about everyone else? Can you relate to any of these? What are your own favorite travel memories? :)

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?)

15 Songs For When You Need To Take On The World

Sorry kids, no Valentine's Day talk over here. People always say you either love Valentine's Day or you hate it, there's no in between... but actually? I care zero percent about it. So you get nothing pink and red from me today!

I do, however, want to talk about motivation. The last few weeks have been a little bit of a struggle for me, and sometimes all it takes is hearing the right song on the radio to get me back to feeling like I can handle anything. A good song can be a pat on the back and a kick in the butt, a "you can do it" and a "screw everyone else," fill you with contentment and righteous anger. I have needed ALL of that recently, and probably will for the foreseeable future. So I decided to compile some motivational anthems for when life becomes a slog.

1. Brave - Sara Bareilles
Because sometimes you just need a reminder!

2. Marchin On - OneRepublic
"For those days we felt like a mistake..." We've all been there, right? But life moves on.

3. So What - Pink
Even if you're not "so what"-ing a breakup, it's hard not to get amped to "so what? I'm still a rock star"!  That's a sentiment I am totally behind!

4. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
"We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way." Truuuuuth!

5. Forget You - CeeLo Green
The clean version, 'cause this here's a family friendly blog! ;) (Eh, mostly.) Again, even if you're not going through a breakup, this song is essentially just flipping the bird. And sometimes, that's extremely necessary.

6. Proud - Heather Small
This was the original theme song for the Biggest Loser, and it's been a regular in my iPod rotation ever since. "What have you done today to make you feel proud? It's never too late to try" -- um, yes, sign me up. And here's the official London 2012 video for it, just for an added dose of goosebumps.

7. Stronger - Kelly Clarkson
"What doesn't kill you makes stronger, stand a little taller, doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone." I mean, again, no breakup over here, but HELL YEAH.

8. It's My Life - Bon Jovi
"This ain't a song for the brokenhearted" -- finally! ;) Bon Jovi is my forever favorite. Judge me for it, I don't even care. But tell me that "luck ain't even luck, you gotta make your own breaks" doesn't make sense. I dare you.

9. Beautiful Day - U2
There's something about this song that makes it actually feel like a beautiful day, even if things kind of suck.

10. Headstrong - Trapt
This is a song that makes you want to fight (in a good way). "Back off, I'll take you on. Headstrong to take on anyone."

11. Can't Hold Us - Pentatonix (Macklemore and Ryan Lewis cover)
The original is fine too, I'm just always partial to Pentatonix. ;) It's all about seizing your moment and fighting for it!

12. The Show Must Go On - Queen
"Inside my heart is breaking, my makeup may be flaking, but my smile still stays on." Yo, that is like... next level. Also, this song was recorded by Freddie Mercury near the end of his battle with AIDS. With that context, if this song doesn't inspire you, you don't have a soul.

13. Right Now - Van Halen
"Right now is your tomorrow" should be tattooed on the forehead of all of us procrastinators, honestly. But it's not just for procrastinators; it's about taking advantage of the moment.

14. Dream On - Aerosmith
"You've got to lose to know how to win" and "dream until your dreams come true" just speak to me!

15. Bon Jovi - Keep the Faith
One more Bon Jovi song, just for good measure. ;) It's all about staying strong in hard times, but watching this video I'm mostly just distracted by Jon's hair. And sunglasses. And tank top. 2003, man, what a time to be alive.

Hope you're all having a great weekend. Kick some butt this week, friends. :)