One of the most beautiful things about the Miracle On Ice is that it can never happen again. It was the perfect combination of circumstances that came together and led to something truly special. Circumstances that are not possible in this day and age.
Let's first consider the most obvious element that won't be repeated. The American team was amateurs in the truest sense of the word. The Soviets were "amateurs" in name only. It was a bunch of 20-something college kids going against seasoned professionals who had been playing together for 10 years. They had no business being in the game, let alone beating them!
The Olympics have long since ceased being a strictly amateur event. It's the best athletes in the world, and the best athletes in the world are all professionals. Everyone's on equal footing. That's what people want and expect to see. Which is why the watered-down hockey tournament in PyeongChang, where the NHL chose not to participate, was so disappointing.
Cold War tensions also loomed large over that game. In fact, it took place just days after Jimmy Carter announced the U.S. would boycott the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow. The Soviets, of course, followed suit four years later when the Olympics were in LA. It's impossible to keep politics out of the Olympics completely, but we haven't seen a boycott since 1988. Countries have learned that they don't work and only the athletes suffer. Nations can still be hostile towards each other, but the athletes aren't held hostage anymore.
Then there's the fact that the game was at 5:00 in the afternoon. ABC wanted to move it to 8:00, but the IOC wouldn't let them. That obviously would never happen today. NBC has so much clout that they can dictate the start times of events to make sure they're on primetime TV in the U.S. Yet, with the Games IN the U.S., ABC was forced to show the game on tape delay.
Tape delay. It's a fact of life in televised sports. Especially when you're dealing with time differences. But with loads of information available at your fingertips instantaneously, people aren't going to wait hours to find out what happened. Not when they can watch it live on their phone or computer or tablet. Even NBC's own Olympic website has shown everything live since 2012, giving people the option to either watch it then or wait until it's on TV. Either way, even if you try, it's nearly impossible to avoid finding out the results ahead of time.
That wasn't even the final game, either. That's the crazy part. They pull off this monumental upset against the Soviets, but still have to beat Finland (in a game that was shown live on Sunday morning). That format has long since been replaced by the much more straightforward (and far less confusing) single-elimination medal round, capped by a winner-take-all gold medal game. There's more room for upsets, but there's also no anticlimactic final game that serves as nothing more than a postscript in the story.
And let's not forget the setting of this miracle--Lake Placid, New York. It's not exactly a metropolis. It's a village of 2,500 people in the middle of nowhere. It's in the Adirondacks, only about 90 minutes from the Canadian border. The closest cities are Plattsburgh, New York and Burlington, Vermont. Yet this small hamlet has hosted the Winter Olympics twice.
Compare that to recent Winter Olympic hosts. Salt Lake City: 200,000 (metropolitan area: 1.2 million). Turin: 875,000. Vancouver: 631,000 (metropolitan area: 2.4 million). Sochi: 343,000. PyeongChang: 43,000 (small by comparison). And the next two Winter Olympics are in Beijing (21.5 million) and Milan-Cortina (Milan's population: 1.4 million).
Lake Placid could never host the Olympics today. It was a different time then. It was a time when you could have the world literally come and take over a town for two weeks and be embraced with open arms! We haven't had that feeling since Lillehammer 1994. Since then, it's been large cities. Which makes sense because the Winter Olympics have outgrown these small villages. They have so many more events and so many more visitors from so many countries that they need the hotel rooms and facilities and resources that only cities can offer. I can't say I don't miss something about those quaint little hometown Olympics, though.
So, the Miracle On Ice is something that can never be repeated. Which only adds to how special it was. It's a moment that's truly etched in time, yet it's one that will never be forgotten. (The Miracle On Ice happened two years before I was born, but the emotion I get when thinking about it makes me feel like I was there. I have a print of that iconic Sports Illustrated cover hanging on my wall, and I seriously cry at the end EVERY time I watch Miracle.)
It's not a stretch to call the Miracle On Ice the most significant moment in the history of the Winter Olympics. In fact, it's widely considered to be one of the most important events in the history of all sports. Ask anyone what the Miracle On Ice is, and they'll be able to tell you. If they're old enough, they'll be able to tell you where they were. As Al Michaels said, it's like the Kennedy assassination or 9/11. Except the difference is that the Miracle On Ice is a positive moment. It was a moment of pure joy. At a time when America needed it.
A lot has changed in the 40 years since the Miracle On Ice. But one thing hasn't and never will. The same feelings people had back then they still feel today. Even those of us who weren't alive at the time feel connected to the Miracle On Ice. Because what Al Michaels said on that day resonates with everyone. It's OK to believe in miracles. Because every once in a while, one just might happen.
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