By Chuck Lauer, Healthcare Policy Expert
Recently I had the privilege to play a round of golf at the
hallowed Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, home of the
Master's Golf Tournament, one of the four major championships
on the PGA Tour. For an average golfer like me, being able to
walk the same fairways graced by history’s greatest golfers is
one of the most fulfilling experiences of a lifetime.
Soon I learned that not only was I getting to play Augusta, my
foursome would include Mike Eruzione, who was the captain of
the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team that beat the Soviet Union in
the “Miracle on Ice,” one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
For those of you too young to remember, the upset transcended
hockey and even sports. Our nation at the time was in the
doldrums from ineffective leadership by a weak president and the
fact that a number of our citizens had been taken prisoner by
Iranian militants. Frankly, the nation's morale was at its lowest
ebb and there didn't seem to be anything that could change
things. But then came the 1980 Olympics, and one improbable
victory.
So I was excited to see Mike Eruzione again. I had met him once
before and had found him to be a wonderful individual. Mike
scored the winning goal in the U.S.S.R.-U.S. game, held at Lake
Placid in upstate New York. I get goose bumps every time I see
the video of that game. In 1999, Sports Illustrated named the
"Miracle on Ice" the Top Sports Moment of the 20th Century.
Here was a group of college hockey players playing a group of
outstanding veteran professional Soviet hockey players in a
game that many felt would be a complete rout of the American
team. As a matter of fact, about 10 days before the Miracle on
Ice game the U.S.S.R. had routed the U.S. at Madison Square
Garden in New York.
No other hockey game has ever been accorded the publicity and
significance of the Miracle on Ice. I can still recall at the
conclusion of the game, the famed sports announcer Al Michaels
blurting out, "Do you believe in miracles?" Well, it was a miracle
and it's something I personally will never forget.
So why would I go all the way back to 1980 and talk about a
hockey game that was won by the Americans over the Soviet
team? It's because of a recent news story that starts out thusly:
“Finally, the mystery is solved. How could the Soviet Union lose
to the over-matched USA team in the Miracle on Ice? And why
did Victor Tikhonov pull the great Vladislav Tretiak?" (By way of
clarity and so you understand the cast of characters, Victor
Tikhonov was the coach of the Sovietteam and Vladislav Tretiak
was its goalie.)
The story continues: “Fetisov — in the new documentary Red
Army which is the subject of a feature in this week's Sports
Illustrated — says then-CCCP coach Tikhonovwas beholden to the
KGB and favored Moscow Dynamo players such as goalie Vladimir
Myshkin over Red Army players. Dynamo represented the KGB.
Fetisov and Tretiak played for CSKA Moscow, which represented
the Red Army. Of course, Tikhonov famously and inexplicably –
until now – pulled Tretiak in favor of Myshkin after one period of
the 4-3 loss.”
There's more to the article but suffice it to say that what
bothered me was the inference that the only reason the U.S.
team was able to beat the U.S.S.R. team was because the coach
of the Soviet team chose to use the wrong players in the game.
The fact is that no matter who the players were they were still
much more experienced professionals who lost to a U.S. team of
college kids, who out hustled the Soviets. The Soviets took the
Americans for granted and for anybody who has been around
sports long enough knows what can happen when you simply
show up and expect to win.
I hear the “Red Army” documentary, about the iron discipline and
sacrifices many of Soviet hockey players had to endure, is
excellent, and I am looking forward to seeing it. But to taint the
great 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team victory with politics and
favoritism is a stretch of the facts and defies reason. The fact is
that our team won the 1980 Olympic Gold Medal by outplaying a
bunch of professional hockey players who forgot that competitive
excellence includes always taking your opponent seriously.
It’s a lesson to remember, whether in sports, business or even
politics.