From ages 8 to 13 and a native of Pittsburgh, I was extremely blessed to be a budding and enthusiastic (to say the least) sports fan .... Four Super Bowls, a World Series and a FB National Championship ... with 2 Super Bowls and a VERY improbable World Series comeback (down 3-1 in the Series) from January 1979 to January 1980. Also, a very big hockey fan (Penguins sucked back then), who realized how freaking dominant the Soviets were in hockey.
Followed the rag-tag young USA kids from the ass-whooping to the Soviets before the Olympics to the late tie against Sweden in the first game to the improbable big win against the Czechs ....
Even then, figured we had NO chance against the Soviets ... Watched the local 6PM news and the anchor warned: "If you don't want to know the score at the end of the first period, please turn down the sound or step out of the room." As somewhat of a realist and someone who even then liked to deal with reality, I figured ... Hey what the hell, might as well hear what he has to say .... "USA down 2 to 1." After that, shut it down (VERY easy to do in those days) and figured I would watch it on tape delay at 8PM. What a freaking GLORIOUS triumph!!
Have seen a few other championships by my Pittsburgh and Penn State teams since then, but NOTHING measures up to that absolutely magical night!! Best time ever to be 13 years old, from a sports perspective.
P.S. NEVER go to movies since about the mid 90's, but when Miracle came out in 2004, took my 6 year old son to see it on opening weekend. Was concerned that they would take some kind of literary license to f*ck the movie up .... but they did not ... The movie was absolutely SPOT ON!! All of my kids love it!!
My memory of this event was that the main Olympic host on TV (I believe it was Jim McKay) should never play poker. I saw the game on delay, and his intro gave up the result. I knew it would be a US upset before the puck hit the ice.
A librarian relative recently posted about an accidental misspelling of a word that serves as a perfect portmanteau for the New York Yankees. The new word is "Errogant". It is defined "when you are completely wrong but also totally certain about it." Also works for those pundits in 1980 who declared "there is zero chance the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team can beat the Soviets"
The cover of the next edition of Sports Illustrated had the end-of-game photo. Nothing else. No explanation needed. I'm told it was the only headline-less cover of SI ever.
(Yes, I still get tingles reading about the game.)
Here is my Miracle on Ice story. I was nine years old at the time. There was a local high school basketball game that night and I went with my dad, who had volunteered to run the scoreboard. I believe it was a Friday night and it was a JV-Varsity doubleheader.
This was in a small town in Missouri, not exactly hockey country but very patriotic. I’m not sure anyone even knew the game was on tape delay but everyone knew the game was being played and was interested in the outcome.
At the end of the first period someone walked over to the PA announcer, who was sitting next to my dad, and whispered something to him. He got on the microphone and said “the score after the end of the first period of tonight’s hockey game against the Soviet Union…Soviet Union 2, United States 1.” A little buzz ran through the crowd.
A while later, the PA announcer got back on the microphone….“the score after the end of the second period of tonight’s hockey game….Soviet Union 3, United States 2.” A little bigger buzz ran through the crowd and you could tell that minds, including my own, started to wander towards the outcome in Lake Placid instead of the basketball game they were watching.
Finally, a while later, with everyone eagerly awaiting the news, and with a flair for the dramatic… “the final score of tonight’s hockey game….Soviet Union 3….(heart sank a little)……United States…….4.”
The place erupted and soon everyone joined in an impromptu, a capella rendition of the national anthem. I will never forget it and it gives me chills just recalling it.
I never even saw the game until ABC ran it again on the ten-year anniversary in 1990. My how times have changed. I can’t imagine ever having another experience like that.
I was 11, lived in the Midwest near a city that didn't have a hockey team, and could not skate at all myself, hockey was most definitely #4 (and well below #3 basketball) as a sport of interest to me. And yet, the victory was just the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. Nothing has topped it since.
I think the radio station that my mom listened to in the afternoons after we got home from school specifically told the listeners that if you don't want to know what happened, stop listening for the next minute. I remember knowing that they might have won, but still being thrilled with them winning watching the tape delay that night.
And I definitely stayed home from church and watched the game against Finland for the Gold that Sunday.
Not a big hockey fan but I do remember watching one of the touring Soviet teams dismantle the Rangers at the Garden…7–1 or so…the only memorable calls were from the stands—
“go, go Rangers, nyet, nyet Soviet”
and on a breakaway, “let him score, otherwise he goes to Siberia!”
The atmosphere was more about humor than some sort of rah rah nationalism.
I have now hated Al Michaels' call for 44 years. I didn't dislike the hockey win, but I was more impressed jat that Olympics by fellow Wisconsinite Eric Heiden winning 5 gold medals. I never cared about hockey, and the USA/USSR bit didn't make me care any more. If Shoresy or the Hanson Brothers aren't involved, hockey leaves me....cold.
Mitchell, it would be pointless for somebody to come on here, and totally share a personal opinion, "oh, I don't think Heiden's that great" - no point at all in even saying it (unless you quote times and dates and make a case why it wasn't that great, which of course it was).
In the same way, it's pointless for you to come to a celebration of hockey and say, meh, it didn't mean that much to me. I never understand the need to be negative in situations like this.
Michael, I disagree with you about Al Michaels' call, but I totally agree that Eric Heiden's performance in those Olympic Games - 5 gold medals from distances ranging from 500 meters to 10000 meters - will never be duplicated. Even Jim Craig, the miracle man in the U.S. net, told me that Heiden's heroics superseded everything else that happened at those Games. It's not even a debate. And that he won those gold medals skating on an outdoor rink in front of the Lake Placid junior high school makes it even more mind-boggling. But I maintain that the U.S. hockey team, which wasn't competing against one skater and a clock, but the most indomitable force the sport of hockey had ever known, still delivered the greatest moment I have ever experienced.
It's "Mitchell." I respect your right to think of it as great. But no Shoresy and no Hanson Brothers in men's hockey means I don't really care. I watched it, I was briefly happy, but it did not move me at all. Hockey is just a snore-fest for me.
And Heiden's sister, Beth, while not shining in those Olympics, excelled at speed skating, sprint bicycling, and cross-country skiing. She's one of the great multisport athletes of all time!
Sorry I screwed up your name, Mitchell. I've gone through life having my last name spelled Coffee, and it's annoying. But there is a reason why people mess that up, and no reason for me to confuse Mitchell with Michael. You also are correct about Beth Heiden. It always struck me as sad that somehow winning a bronze medal at the 1980 Olympics was viewed by many as massive underachievement, just because he brother won everything. Her athletic bio is indeed remarkable.
Second, how cool is it that Wayne Coffey is responding to many of these comments?
That being the case, I have to add my own note to Wayne : as a fellow writer/author, my heart dropped when I came to the part where Herb Brooks was tragically killed hours before your scheduled interview. The fact you rebounded from that awful blow to your manuscript to produce a book I can’t wait to read is commendable. Class move to go to his funeral, too. I am sure in many ways Herb served as an angel on your shoulder as you plowed through to the end.
Thanks for the note, Saul. That Herb agreed to the interview at all speaks to the character of the man. He was wary of the press, and understandably so, but my former Daily News colleague, John Dellapina, who covered Herb's New York Rangers teams and knew him well, vouched for me. So Herb said yes, and when John called me to tell the horrible news, I was heartsick about it, not just for myself, but for the hockey world and his dear friends in St. Paul who adored him. What made his passing sadder still was that he was coming back from a fundraiser for (I believe) the Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, Minnesota. Herb became a huge celebrity, but he was a hockey guy and a Minnesota guy at his core. Anything he could do for his people, for Minnesota hockey, he was there. Those closest to him, besides his wife, Patti, and his kids, were the people who knew him long before any miracle ever happened. People like Warren Strelow, his goaltending coach. And Gary Smith, the trainer of the University of Minnesota teams and the Olympic team, too. The people who used to join him for a beer at his favorite tavern in East St. Paul. They were regular guys and all of them loved Herbie, as they called him, even if he drove them a little crazy. He was brilliant, but he was also stubborn. He hated seat belts and never wore one. If he'd been wearing one when his minivan flipped over on I-35 on a clear, dry August day in 2003, well, who knows? I had interviewed Herb previously, but it would be totally disingenous to pretend I knew him well. All I can say is that he was one of a kind, and he coached the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team to a
one-of-a-kind eachievement. I don't think any other hockey coach could've done it.
How marvelous that this magnificent story took place on Washington's birthday. When Joe was listing events, of course I remember 9/11 and the moon walk (not Michael Jackson's), Howard Cosell telling us on MNF about John Lennon. My first, real shock happened in Biology class on Nov. 22, 1963, when I saw my teacher crying at his desk.
I am 60 years old i remember watching that on tape delay....being from Minnesota we had such pride.. but it was a USA thing. Now i am going to have to order the book then watch the movie again...i hate to admit it but i did bet against them with my classmates in high school for that game.
“I had the best seat in the arena and in the locker room for the greatest sporting event of the century,” Janaszak said. The player, the only athlete in the entire Olympics who didn’t get even one second of time competing in his sport. What an awesome story and attitude.
I'm 58 years old, so was 14 when I watched this game as it was first broadcast. If I knew that I wasn't watching live, I've long since forgotten, and the information comes as a surprise to me now.
But I've always remembered the final score and that special feeling you get when you've watched something amazingly counter to expectation.
Comparing it to Jets - Colts, or Mets - Orioles, or Giants - Patriots shortchanges it. Looking back as a cynical adult, I wonder how much of it was homefront propaganda, but *all* you ever heard about the Iron Curtain Olympics teams was how they were all professionals, and how they were all doped up . . . while WE were amateurs, and clean.
My memory as I followed the hockey in the work up, after the win over the Czechs, was how, wouldn't it be great if they could . . . . but they won't. They don't really have a shot. And then the game was like a dream. Not sure if I've ever seen anything quite like it since.
The game I guess it most reminds me of (but only in a certain sense) was the football game between the University of Miami and Penn State--in 1979 was it? Jim Kelly's first year, and the Canes were 5 - 4 or 4 - 5 and they were the Nittany Lions' cupcake Homecoming opponent. Canes had just lost to Bethune Cookman, and it should have been lambs to the slaughter, but instead Miami won 26 - 10. It is the game that singlehandedly led to the Canes' success in the 80s and it was a complete shock to fans of both sides.
But that wasn't a playoff game . . . and of course the US win over Russia was just a one time thing.
Trying to explain the Miracle on Ice in the end is impossible. If you were paying attention then, you know. And if you weren't, or couldn't, then you never will. You had to fucking be there.
Someboy in the thread said it could be replicated if the US ever wins the World Cup . . . and that's probably the best comparison of all, something that hasn't happened, and very well may never happen.
Part of this story relates to the 3 hour time delay. It’s hard to relate to such an experience these days and I’m not sure when time delays for major sporting events finally went away. But I always remember the day 6 years earlier when I was stationed at Ft. Lewis in Tacoma Wa when I went to a friends apartment to watch a UCLA Notre Dame basketball game. Both of us being from Indiana we were huge college basketball fans. We didn’t have a particular rooting interest, other than maybe rooting for the underdog, as we were both IU graduates.
Anyway just before I got to his apartment the radio station I was listening to in the car broke in with a news alert that Notre Dame beat UCLA 71-70 to snap UCLA’s 88 game winning streak. I was stunned both with the news and the fact I was just getting ready to watch the game. I hadn’t realized the game was tape delayed to where we were on the west coast.
I decided not to tell my friend, why spoil the game for him? UCLA had their way pretty much the entire game and with about 3 and a half minutes left led 70-59. As they went into commercial break I realized Notre Dame must have out scored UCLA 12-0 to end the game. I looked at my friend and said “$20 says Notre Dame wins this game.” He looked at me and said something like you’re crazy. I said something like put up or shut up and he said ok,, if that’s what you really want. Then we watched the crazy ending to that game. Mark was absolutely flabbergasted as he pulled out his $20- and I couldn’t help but start laughing so hard and told him my little secret and refused to take his $20. I made the bet just to watch his reaction as the ending unfolded.
Hard as it is to believe today, the NBA used to have big time troubles which led to tape delayed broadcast for some NBA finals. In the 1980–1981 season CBS aired four of the six Finals games on tape delay and six of nine during the Conference finals. What changed? Bird and Magic arrived in 1979 and as soon as people realized what was going on, NBA broadcasts would become must see TV.
I loved that game. One of the lasting memories for me was Magic hitting a hook shot in the paint like a Kareem sky hook disciple. His 42 points and 15 rebounds were both more than the combined points and rebounds of Dr. J. and Darryl Dawkins.
I was one of those people who knew the outcome. As a 10-year old kid living on Long Island, I heard someone call into the now defunct NYC radio station 95.5 WPLJ saying, "We beat the Russians!" As I watched the game that night, all I kept thinking was, "What if the caller was wrong?" Knowing the outcome did nothing to lessen the tension and drama. Lake Placid has since become one of my favorite places to visit (helped out by the fact my son attendance SUNY Plattsburgh not to far from there). I've been inside the arena (and gotten goosebumps) as well as stood on the oval where Eric Heiden won his 5 gold medals. And though I have yet to read it, yes, I did buy Wayne's book in that bookstore in LP. Do I believe in miracles? YES!!!!
Hey Tim, I watched the game on LI, too, in the basement of my girlfriend's house in Greenlawn, and truly had no clue about the ending. I was allergic to dogs, and my girflriend had a dog named Fang, and I sneezed for two full hours, but didn't care, because I was to transfixed by what I was watching. Please don't share this with my wife.
From ages 8 to 13 and a native of Pittsburgh, I was extremely blessed to be a budding and enthusiastic (to say the least) sports fan .... Four Super Bowls, a World Series and a FB National Championship ... with 2 Super Bowls and a VERY improbable World Series comeback (down 3-1 in the Series) from January 1979 to January 1980. Also, a very big hockey fan (Penguins sucked back then), who realized how freaking dominant the Soviets were in hockey.
Followed the rag-tag young USA kids from the ass-whooping to the Soviets before the Olympics to the late tie against Sweden in the first game to the improbable big win against the Czechs ....
Even then, figured we had NO chance against the Soviets ... Watched the local 6PM news and the anchor warned: "If you don't want to know the score at the end of the first period, please turn down the sound or step out of the room." As somewhat of a realist and someone who even then liked to deal with reality, I figured ... Hey what the hell, might as well hear what he has to say .... "USA down 2 to 1." After that, shut it down (VERY easy to do in those days) and figured I would watch it on tape delay at 8PM. What a freaking GLORIOUS triumph!!
Have seen a few other championships by my Pittsburgh and Penn State teams since then, but NOTHING measures up to that absolutely magical night!! Best time ever to be 13 years old, from a sports perspective.
P.S. NEVER go to movies since about the mid 90's, but when Miracle came out in 2004, took my 6 year old son to see it on opening weekend. Was concerned that they would take some kind of literary license to f*ck the movie up .... but they did not ... The movie was absolutely SPOT ON!! All of my kids love it!!
My memory of this event was that the main Olympic host on TV (I believe it was Jim McKay) should never play poker. I saw the game on delay, and his intro gave up the result. I knew it would be a US upset before the puck hit the ice.
A librarian relative recently posted about an accidental misspelling of a word that serves as a perfect portmanteau for the New York Yankees. The new word is "Errogant". It is defined "when you are completely wrong but also totally certain about it." Also works for those pundits in 1980 who declared "there is zero chance the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team can beat the Soviets"
The cover of the next edition of Sports Illustrated had the end-of-game photo. Nothing else. No explanation needed. I'm told it was the only headline-less cover of SI ever.
(Yes, I still get tingles reading about the game.)
Here is my Miracle on Ice story. I was nine years old at the time. There was a local high school basketball game that night and I went with my dad, who had volunteered to run the scoreboard. I believe it was a Friday night and it was a JV-Varsity doubleheader.
This was in a small town in Missouri, not exactly hockey country but very patriotic. I’m not sure anyone even knew the game was on tape delay but everyone knew the game was being played and was interested in the outcome.
At the end of the first period someone walked over to the PA announcer, who was sitting next to my dad, and whispered something to him. He got on the microphone and said “the score after the end of the first period of tonight’s hockey game against the Soviet Union…Soviet Union 2, United States 1.” A little buzz ran through the crowd.
A while later, the PA announcer got back on the microphone….“the score after the end of the second period of tonight’s hockey game….Soviet Union 3, United States 2.” A little bigger buzz ran through the crowd and you could tell that minds, including my own, started to wander towards the outcome in Lake Placid instead of the basketball game they were watching.
Finally, a while later, with everyone eagerly awaiting the news, and with a flair for the dramatic… “the final score of tonight’s hockey game….Soviet Union 3….(heart sank a little)……United States…….4.”
The place erupted and soon everyone joined in an impromptu, a capella rendition of the national anthem. I will never forget it and it gives me chills just recalling it.
I never even saw the game until ABC ran it again on the ten-year anniversary in 1990. My how times have changed. I can’t imagine ever having another experience like that.
I was 11, lived in the Midwest near a city that didn't have a hockey team, and could not skate at all myself, hockey was most definitely #4 (and well below #3 basketball) as a sport of interest to me. And yet, the victory was just the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. Nothing has topped it since.
I think the radio station that my mom listened to in the afternoons after we got home from school specifically told the listeners that if you don't want to know what happened, stop listening for the next minute. I remember knowing that they might have won, but still being thrilled with them winning watching the tape delay that night.
And I definitely stayed home from church and watched the game against Finland for the Gold that Sunday.
Nice.
Not a big hockey fan but I do remember watching one of the touring Soviet teams dismantle the Rangers at the Garden…7–1 or so…the only memorable calls were from the stands—
“go, go Rangers, nyet, nyet Soviet”
and on a breakaway, “let him score, otherwise he goes to Siberia!”
The atmosphere was more about humor than some sort of rah rah nationalism.
I have now hated Al Michaels' call for 44 years. I didn't dislike the hockey win, but I was more impressed jat that Olympics by fellow Wisconsinite Eric Heiden winning 5 gold medals. I never cared about hockey, and the USA/USSR bit didn't make me care any more. If Shoresy or the Hanson Brothers aren't involved, hockey leaves me....cold.
Mitchell, it would be pointless for somebody to come on here, and totally share a personal opinion, "oh, I don't think Heiden's that great" - no point at all in even saying it (unless you quote times and dates and make a case why it wasn't that great, which of course it was).
In the same way, it's pointless for you to come to a celebration of hockey and say, meh, it didn't mean that much to me. I never understand the need to be negative in situations like this.
Your response if the very epitome of pointless. Do better.
Well, that tells me what I need to know - thanks.
Michael, I disagree with you about Al Michaels' call, but I totally agree that Eric Heiden's performance in those Olympic Games - 5 gold medals from distances ranging from 500 meters to 10000 meters - will never be duplicated. Even Jim Craig, the miracle man in the U.S. net, told me that Heiden's heroics superseded everything else that happened at those Games. It's not even a debate. And that he won those gold medals skating on an outdoor rink in front of the Lake Placid junior high school makes it even more mind-boggling. But I maintain that the U.S. hockey team, which wasn't competing against one skater and a clock, but the most indomitable force the sport of hockey had ever known, still delivered the greatest moment I have ever experienced.
It's "Mitchell." I respect your right to think of it as great. But no Shoresy and no Hanson Brothers in men's hockey means I don't really care. I watched it, I was briefly happy, but it did not move me at all. Hockey is just a snore-fest for me.
And Heiden's sister, Beth, while not shining in those Olympics, excelled at speed skating, sprint bicycling, and cross-country skiing. She's one of the great multisport athletes of all time!
Sorry I screwed up your name, Mitchell. I've gone through life having my last name spelled Coffee, and it's annoying. But there is a reason why people mess that up, and no reason for me to confuse Mitchell with Michael. You also are correct about Beth Heiden. It always struck me as sad that somehow winning a bronze medal at the 1980 Olympics was viewed by many as massive underachievement, just because he brother won everything. Her athletic bio is indeed remarkable.
First off, fantastic essay.
Second, how cool is it that Wayne Coffey is responding to many of these comments?
That being the case, I have to add my own note to Wayne : as a fellow writer/author, my heart dropped when I came to the part where Herb Brooks was tragically killed hours before your scheduled interview. The fact you rebounded from that awful blow to your manuscript to produce a book I can’t wait to read is commendable. Class move to go to his funeral, too. I am sure in many ways Herb served as an angel on your shoulder as you plowed through to the end.
Thanks for the note, Saul. That Herb agreed to the interview at all speaks to the character of the man. He was wary of the press, and understandably so, but my former Daily News colleague, John Dellapina, who covered Herb's New York Rangers teams and knew him well, vouched for me. So Herb said yes, and when John called me to tell the horrible news, I was heartsick about it, not just for myself, but for the hockey world and his dear friends in St. Paul who adored him. What made his passing sadder still was that he was coming back from a fundraiser for (I believe) the Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, Minnesota. Herb became a huge celebrity, but he was a hockey guy and a Minnesota guy at his core. Anything he could do for his people, for Minnesota hockey, he was there. Those closest to him, besides his wife, Patti, and his kids, were the people who knew him long before any miracle ever happened. People like Warren Strelow, his goaltending coach. And Gary Smith, the trainer of the University of Minnesota teams and the Olympic team, too. The people who used to join him for a beer at his favorite tavern in East St. Paul. They were regular guys and all of them loved Herbie, as they called him, even if he drove them a little crazy. He was brilliant, but he was also stubborn. He hated seat belts and never wore one. If he'd been wearing one when his minivan flipped over on I-35 on a clear, dry August day in 2003, well, who knows? I had interviewed Herb previously, but it would be totally disingenous to pretend I knew him well. All I can say is that he was one of a kind, and he coached the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team to a
one-of-a-kind eachievement. I don't think any other hockey coach could've done it.
How marvelous that this magnificent story took place on Washington's birthday. When Joe was listing events, of course I remember 9/11 and the moon walk (not Michael Jackson's), Howard Cosell telling us on MNF about John Lennon. My first, real shock happened in Biology class on Nov. 22, 1963, when I saw my teacher crying at his desk.
I am 60 years old i remember watching that on tape delay....being from Minnesota we had such pride.. but it was a USA thing. Now i am going to have to order the book then watch the movie again...i hate to admit it but i did bet against them with my classmates in high school for that game.
“I had the best seat in the arena and in the locker room for the greatest sporting event of the century,” Janaszak said. The player, the only athlete in the entire Olympics who didn’t get even one second of time competing in his sport. What an awesome story and attitude.
The Moonlight Graham of U.S.A. hockey team at the Olympics. He would go on to play professionally for several years and did play in three NHL games.
Steve was - and is - pure class, in every way.
Just the short passage about his experience makes that shine through. Sounds like someone we would all want on our team.
I'm 58 years old, so was 14 when I watched this game as it was first broadcast. If I knew that I wasn't watching live, I've long since forgotten, and the information comes as a surprise to me now.
But I've always remembered the final score and that special feeling you get when you've watched something amazingly counter to expectation.
Comparing it to Jets - Colts, or Mets - Orioles, or Giants - Patriots shortchanges it. Looking back as a cynical adult, I wonder how much of it was homefront propaganda, but *all* you ever heard about the Iron Curtain Olympics teams was how they were all professionals, and how they were all doped up . . . while WE were amateurs, and clean.
My memory as I followed the hockey in the work up, after the win over the Czechs, was how, wouldn't it be great if they could . . . . but they won't. They don't really have a shot. And then the game was like a dream. Not sure if I've ever seen anything quite like it since.
The game I guess it most reminds me of (but only in a certain sense) was the football game between the University of Miami and Penn State--in 1979 was it? Jim Kelly's first year, and the Canes were 5 - 4 or 4 - 5 and they were the Nittany Lions' cupcake Homecoming opponent. Canes had just lost to Bethune Cookman, and it should have been lambs to the slaughter, but instead Miami won 26 - 10. It is the game that singlehandedly led to the Canes' success in the 80s and it was a complete shock to fans of both sides.
But that wasn't a playoff game . . . and of course the US win over Russia was just a one time thing.
Trying to explain the Miracle on Ice in the end is impossible. If you were paying attention then, you know. And if you weren't, or couldn't, then you never will. You had to fucking be there.
Someboy in the thread said it could be replicated if the US ever wins the World Cup . . . and that's probably the best comparison of all, something that hasn't happened, and very well may never happen.
Only the Miracle on Ice did.
Yep, win the World Cup, like this next time, not in 30 years if we build up to it.
But not being against the evil empire, even then it wouldn't resonate like it did then.
Part of this story relates to the 3 hour time delay. It’s hard to relate to such an experience these days and I’m not sure when time delays for major sporting events finally went away. But I always remember the day 6 years earlier when I was stationed at Ft. Lewis in Tacoma Wa when I went to a friends apartment to watch a UCLA Notre Dame basketball game. Both of us being from Indiana we were huge college basketball fans. We didn’t have a particular rooting interest, other than maybe rooting for the underdog, as we were both IU graduates.
Anyway just before I got to his apartment the radio station I was listening to in the car broke in with a news alert that Notre Dame beat UCLA 71-70 to snap UCLA’s 88 game winning streak. I was stunned both with the news and the fact I was just getting ready to watch the game. I hadn’t realized the game was tape delayed to where we were on the west coast.
I decided not to tell my friend, why spoil the game for him? UCLA had their way pretty much the entire game and with about 3 and a half minutes left led 70-59. As they went into commercial break I realized Notre Dame must have out scored UCLA 12-0 to end the game. I looked at my friend and said “$20 says Notre Dame wins this game.” He looked at me and said something like you’re crazy. I said something like put up or shut up and he said ok,, if that’s what you really want. Then we watched the crazy ending to that game. Mark was absolutely flabbergasted as he pulled out his $20- and I couldn’t help but start laughing so hard and told him my little secret and refused to take his $20. I made the bet just to watch his reaction as the ending unfolded.
Ahhhh, for the good old days.
Hard as it is to believe today, the NBA used to have big time troubles which led to tape delayed broadcast for some NBA finals. In the 1980–1981 season CBS aired four of the six Finals games on tape delay and six of nine during the Conference finals. What changed? Bird and Magic arrived in 1979 and as soon as people realized what was going on, NBA broadcasts would become must see TV.
I remember Magic's rookie season, Game 6 of the Finals (the one where Kareem was hurt and Magic played center) aired delayed at 10:30pm in DFW.
I loved that game. One of the lasting memories for me was Magic hitting a hook shot in the paint like a Kareem sky hook disciple. His 42 points and 15 rebounds were both more than the combined points and rebounds of Dr. J. and Darryl Dawkins.
Was the editor, Pete Fornitale, also a legendary NY disc jockey?
The editor was the son of the legendary disc jockey, RIP. But the son had a great voice and could've done radio, for sure.
The DJ was his dad. Both are great guys.
I was one of those people who knew the outcome. As a 10-year old kid living on Long Island, I heard someone call into the now defunct NYC radio station 95.5 WPLJ saying, "We beat the Russians!" As I watched the game that night, all I kept thinking was, "What if the caller was wrong?" Knowing the outcome did nothing to lessen the tension and drama. Lake Placid has since become one of my favorite places to visit (helped out by the fact my son attendance SUNY Plattsburgh not to far from there). I've been inside the arena (and gotten goosebumps) as well as stood on the oval where Eric Heiden won his 5 gold medals. And though I have yet to read it, yes, I did buy Wayne's book in that bookstore in LP. Do I believe in miracles? YES!!!!
Hey Tim, I watched the game on LI, too, in the basement of my girlfriend's house in Greenlawn, and truly had no clue about the ending. I was allergic to dogs, and my girflriend had a dog named Fang, and I sneezed for two full hours, but didn't care, because I was to transfixed by what I was watching. Please don't share this with my wife.
Your secret is safe with me!