I’m going to write about some Olympic men’s hockey and insult some Americans…don’t change the Web page yet, give it a chance.
First, some music to listen to: Triad by Tool
This one of my top-five Tool songs and is arguably their best instrumental, even though it isn’t technically one because of Maynard’s sounds from the vocals. It does fit Tool’s ideal of making something so simple sound complicated yet developed.
OK, so this is the 30th anniversary of the “Miracle on Ice,” you know, the USA men’s hockey team beating the USSR team in Lake Placid during the 1980 Winter Olympics. The US team was a heavy underdog, facing arguably one of the top teams of all-time.
BTW, that’s legit. The Russian team beat NHL All-Star teams and featured Hall of Famers. The USA team were amateurs, college kids.
So, the USA wins the game amid the background of the Cold War and during the conflict in Iran and American patriotism was at a low but the win inspired a nation.
I don’t care about it 30 years later.
First, I wasn’t alive during the game. I was born in 1981. I wasn’t alive to see it. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the moment. It was a major win for those guys and congrats to them but it doesn’t resonate with me at all.
It’s the same with the 1972 Dolphins. I know that going undefeated in the NFL is a major accomplishment but its beyond my scope.
The members of that team and Al Michaels have turned the moment into a profitable endeavor for themselves and good for them in that regard, accept for Al Michaels.
You didn’t play in the game. I get mad at people who use the royal “we” when talking about their favorite team. You didn’t score the touchdown, hit that home run, make that free throw. You’re a broadcaster.
And don’t give me the whole, “Hey Marcel, he came up with the do you believe in miracles statement that everyone remembers from the event. Shoot, its called The Miracle on Ice for a reason.”
That’s fair to a degree. He did contribute to the atmosphere with his broadcasting. However, when I see interviews with the players including Al Michaels, the sports information/public relations director in me cringes.
The first rule of public relations and sports broadcasting is that you’re not the show. Its about the athletes/clients you are presenting. They are the show. Michaels violates this rule in this instance.
The point of all of this is saying that I see the clips of the game and I’m disconnected. If I was alive during the game to completely comprehend the significance of it than maybe I would feel different…
Which brings us to the game last night between the USA and Canada. The Americans gave an inspired effort and earned the win in this contest. I enjoyed it and it seemed like a lot of others did as well.
However, people found a way to bitch about it because it was on MSNBC, not NBC, and I’m not kidding, it wasn’t in High Definition.
My thoughts:
1) There was a reason it wasn’t on NBC and its called ice dancing. If you’re reading this, you probably follow sports for the most part and can’t comprehend figure skating usurping hockey in popularity, but it does. For all of the talk about this being the Olympics and competition between the best athletes in their sport in the world, it’s a business.
The whole concept of television is to sell advertising, not to present original programming. People tend to reverse that but it’s not accurate.
Hockey isn’t as big of a ratings draw as figure skating. The ice dancing hits two huge demographics, women and older people. Hockey hits middle-aged males. Advantage figure skating.
2) This game wasn’t even in the medal round. The semifinals and finals are going to be on NBC, puck heads, it will be all right.
3) Even if the game was on NBC, it wouldn’t increase the viewing of hockey in the United States. If the Miracle on Ice didn’t make the sport mainstream, nothing will.
4) People are mad about the game being on MSNBC because the USA won. If Canada won 4-0, which was a distinct possibility and the game was on NBC, people would be complaining about the terrible scheduling of NBC. You can’t win whatever you do.
5) This isn’t 1980. The majority of people have cable and if you have basic cable, you have MSNBC. Its not like the game was on the NFL Network that a significant amount of people don’t get. If you don’t have cable and there have been times I’ve been without, last night was a rough break but it happens. I would love to see Dexter on Showtime or Entourage on HBO, but I won’t pay for the package. So if there’s an epic Dexter episode on during a new season, I can’t get pissed that I didn’t see it.
6) Seriously, people are complaining about not being able to see the game in HD because I guess MSNBC doesn’t come in HD or some shit like that. I don’t have HD so I don’t know.
The elitist nature of that thinking is beyond me.
You want to go back to the olden days. OK buddy, 20 years ago, that game doesn’t get shown on TV until later. CNBC and MSNBC don’t exist so you have to wait through the ice dancing and see the game on midnight, on tape delay.
Instead, you got to see one of the biggest wins in USA hockey history, live, in your home and you want to complain about the game not being in HD so you can see the extra crispness of the lines on the uniforms, fall back!
7) Final thought, if you think that this is the last time that we see NHL players in the Olympics, you are kidding yourselves. Back in 1980, the Olympics were a major, major event. There was minimal competition. You had no choice but to watch it because you had three networks. Having cable was beyond a luxury back in the day.
That’s why the Miracle on Ice was so big. Even people who didn’t know a blue line from a power play heard about it. Now, we have so many distractions. Plus, the Cold War is over, the tension between Russia and the USA doesn’t exist today.
I guess the closest thing that we could have to it today is if the North Koreans won three straight World Cups in soccer using professionals and a group of USA college kids won the next one. Even that is a stretch.
You could pull off the amateur thing in 1980, not in 2010. We want to see stars. We want to see Ovie and Sidney Crosby duke it out. We want to see the Americans, who are very gritty and play like a bunch of college kids, relatively speaking for this competition, show that their professionals are just as good as the rest. We want to see the older men like Forsburg and Jagr represent their countries for the last time.
Once again, it is all about ratings and amateurs wouldn’t bring them.
So in conclusion, the Miracle on Ice means nothing to me and people annoy me with their complaints, sounds about right for a Pourtout Pancakes post.
Good fight and good night.
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