Miracle

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 8:54 am

The movie 'Miracle,' about the US hockey team
that beat the Soviets in the 1980 Olympics,
is well worth seeing, even if you
know nothing about hockey. Best

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 9:48 am

I know nothing about hockey, but i already know too much about USian superiority complex.

TomB · Post by **TomB** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 9:57 am

glauber wrote:I know nothing about hockey, but i already know too much about USian superiority complex.

Haven't yet seen the movie, but remember well the actual event.

To me it's a story about spirit, teamwork and overcoming the odds, not about "USian superiorty complex. :roll:

All the Best, Tom

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 10:19 am

TomB wrote:
glauber wrote:I know nothing about hockey, but i already know too much about USian superiority complex.
Haven't yet seen the movie, but remember well the actual event.

To me it's a story about spirit, teamwork and overcoming the odds, not about "USian superiorty complex. :roll:

All the Best, Tom

Same here. I remember all of us huddling around my tiny black and white TV in my college dorm holding our breath...and the cheers you could hear all over campus when our guys won!

Pride in your country and in your countrymen has nothing to do with "superiority complexes," glauber.

Redwolf

TomB · Post by **TomB** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 10:35 am

Redwolf wrote:
TomB wrote:
glauber wrote:I know nothing about hockey, but i already know too much about USian superiority complex.
Haven't yet seen the movie, but remember well the actual event.

To me it's a story about spirit, teamwork and overcoming the odds, not about "USian superiorty complex. :roll:

All the Best, Tom
Same here. I remember all of us huddling around my tiny black and white TV in my college dorm holding our breath...and the cheers you could hear all over campus when our guys won!

Well, I was a bit past college age, actually in the Navy then, but it was an incredible moment. I can still hear Al Michaels' call- "do you believe in miracles?"

Tom

Pride in your country and in your countrymen has nothing to do with "superiority complexes," glauber.

Redwolf

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 10:48 am

As they say, the fish don't know anything about water.

But to be honest, i didn't see the movie, maybe it is really about teamwork and overcoming the odds, not about the reasons why the US is better than Russia.

TomB · Post by **TomB** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 10:51 am

glauber wrote:As they say, the fish don't know anything about water.

But to be honest, i didn't see the movie, maybe it is really about teamwork and overcoming the odds, not about the reasons why the US is better than Russia.

To quote Chris Laughlin from a recent thread-

Whatever dude...

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 11:02 am

You have to look at the whole thing within its historical context. These were the days before professional teams were officially allowed to compete in the Olympics. The USSR (it wasn't "Russia" then), which literally raised, trained and housed its athletes from young childhood, was considered virtually unstoppable. The American team, and most of the other teams out there that weren't part of the Soviet athletic machine, consisted of legitimate amateurs, in the spirit of the Olympic games. Not only that, but hockey is not the huge sport in the U.S. that it is in some countries...if any country was going to beat the Soviets, it was much more likely to be Canada or one of the Scandinavian countries. It was, indeed, a Cindarella story, and we were and still are justly proud of the guys who accomplished it.

As far as the fish not knowing of water, I would submit that a fish knows water much more intimately than does the diver, and the diver more intimately than the person who merely sits on the shore.

Redwolf

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 11:22 am

Actually, the water is transparent, and the fishes see right through it. But they do congratulate themselves for being much wetter than the creatures outside the fishtank.

Gosh, this is funny, but i'm taking a break before people get seriously offended, thanks!

g

TomB · Post by **TomB** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 11:37 am

glauber wrote:Actually, the water is transparent, and the fishes see right through it. But they do congratulate themselves for being much wetter than the creatures outside the fishtank.

Gosh, this is funny, but i'm taking a break before people get seriously offended, thanks!

g

This water's a bit to deep for me, but I seriously doubt if anyone is going to get seriously offended over your view on the U.S. Olympic hockey team.

Tom

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 11:48 am

Redwolf wrote:Pride in your country and in your countrymen has nothing to do with "superiority complexes," glauber.

This is an area where US American perception and just about everybody else's perception differ, which has not always helped to promote understanding and mutual respect between the US and other countries.

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 11:53 am

The movie succeeds in avoiding most
cliches in sports movies. The Soviet
team is depicted as another hockey team--
although a formidably good and experienced
one that had won the Olympic
gold medal every time since 1960, I believe.
The event is placed in terms of its time,
America suffering a crisis in confidence,
as the president put it, still in the shadow
of Watergate and Vietnam, the Iranian hostage
crisis in progress. The miraculous
victory--20 college kids with six
months of training together beating the best team
on earth,one that clobbered our professional
hockey
all-star team--gave us a shot in the arm,
but the movie isn't about why the
USA was better than the USSR.
There's an extraordinary performance by
Kurt Russell; the movie is character
driven. Best

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 1:34 pm

jim stone wrote:... The event is placed in terms of its time,
America suffering a crisis in confidence,
as the president put it, still in the shadow
of Watergate and Vietnam, the Iranian hostage
crisis in progress. The miraculous
victory--20 college kids with six
months of training together beating the best team
on earth,one that clobbered our professional
hockey
all-star team--gave us a shot in the arm,
but the movie isn't about why the
USA was better than the USSR.

That is the really interesting aspect of the game. Now, it makes me think: Why is a movie about that particular time and that particular game coming out in the USA now?

antstastegood · Post by **antstastegood** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 1:40 pm

The fish in the pond and the rest of the animals don't seem to be communicating clearly. As sound does not easily pass from air to water (or the other way around, mind you), the fish are often hearing something that sounds a lot like "Hey, we're cool cause we're not in the pond." This isn't largely conducive toward bringing out the best attitudes in the fish. If that's not what the land creatures really mean, someone should let the fish know.

(I really like this analogy, BTW. Seems like it can keep a lid on the rancor.)

Jeferson · Post by **Jeferson** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 1:51 pm

Bloomfield wrote:...it makes me think: Why is a movie about that particular time and that particular game coming out in the USA now?

Bloomfeld, I don't think it's all that complicated. The recent Olympics bought by (oops, staged in

) Salt Lake City featured a reunion of the original team who had the honour of lighting the torch. Being the first Winter Olympics held in the US since the Miracle on Ice, it made a whole lot of sense. Among other things, it rekindled a lot of memories about that great story from those bygone days, and generated many queries from youngsters who hadn't been around at the time.

And the rest, as they say, is history.
This movie was almost entirely filmed in British Columbia, by the way. For example, they shot the outside skating scenes at our local rink, which had been made up to look like the great outdoors.

Jef