WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:04.000
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to this Moment in Sports History podcast, The Miracle

2
00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:08.439
<v Speaker 1>on Ice takes its first step January eighth, nineteen eighty.

3
00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:12.960
<v Speaker 1>On January eighth, nineteen eighty, the United States Olympic hockey

4
00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:15.679
<v Speaker 1>team began their journey toward what would become one of

5
00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:19.079
<v Speaker 1>the greatest upsets in sports history at the Winter Olympics

6
00:00:19.079 --> 00:00:21.920
<v Speaker 1>in Lake Placid, New York. While the Miracle on Ice

7
00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:26.519
<v Speaker 1>game itself wouldn't occur until February twenty second, this date

8
00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:30.359
<v Speaker 1>marked a crucial exhibition game with a ragtag American squad

9
00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:34.039
<v Speaker 1>faced off against the Soviet Union in Madison Square Garden

10
00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:38.479
<v Speaker 1>and got absolutely demolished ten to three. Now you might

11
00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:43.799
<v Speaker 1>be thinking, wait, how is getting crushed a significant sports moment? Well,

12
00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:47.600
<v Speaker 1>that's what makes this story so delicious. Coach Herb Brooks

13
00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:50.439
<v Speaker 1>had assembled a team of college kids and amateur players

14
00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:54.039
<v Speaker 1>the average age was just twenty one to compete against

15
00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:57.039
<v Speaker 1>the most dominant hockey dynasty the world had ever seen.

16
00:00:57.560 --> 00:01:01.880
<v Speaker 1>The Soviet Big Red Machine had won four consecutive Olympic

17
00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:05.319
<v Speaker 1>gold medals and hadn't lost an Olympic hockey game since

18
00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:09.200
<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixty eight. They were professionals in everything but name,

19
00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:13.359
<v Speaker 1>playing together year round, while Brooks's boys were still figuring

20
00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:17.200
<v Speaker 1>out each other's names. That January exhibition game was a

21
00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:22.040
<v Speaker 1>reality check served ice cold. The Soviets, led by the

22
00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:28.560
<v Speaker 1>legendary Vladislav Tretiakin goal and featuring superstars like Valeri Karlamov

23
00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:34.040
<v Speaker 1>and Boris Mikhailov, skated circles around the Americans. It wasn't

24
00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:37.000
<v Speaker 1>just a loss, it was a hockey clinic that exposed

25
00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:41.159
<v Speaker 1>every weakness in the American game. The Soviet's passing was crisp,

26
00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:45.959
<v Speaker 1>their positioning impeccable, and their finishing ruthless. But here's where

27
00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:50.159
<v Speaker 1>Brooks's genius came in. He didn't let his team sulk. Instead,

28
00:01:50.359 --> 00:01:53.879
<v Speaker 1>he used this humiliation as fuel. Books was known for

29
00:01:53.959 --> 00:01:58.879
<v Speaker 1>his psychological warfare. He was tough, demanding, and sometimes downright

30
00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:03.280
<v Speaker 1>mean to be. He needed these college rivals from Minnesota,

31
00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:07.799
<v Speaker 1>Boston and elsewhere to stop thinking of themselves as individuals

32
00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:11.639
<v Speaker 1>and become a team capable of competing against hockey's mont Olympus.

33
00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:16.439
<v Speaker 1>In the weeks following that beating, Brookes drove his players mercilessly.

34
00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:21.520
<v Speaker 1>His practices were legendary in their brutality. After one exhibition

35
00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:24.400
<v Speaker 1>game where he felt they didn't give full effort. He

36
00:02:24.520 --> 00:02:27.400
<v Speaker 1>kept them on the ice doing wind sprints long after

37
00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:30.719
<v Speaker 1>the arena lights had been turned off, skating them until

38
00:02:30.759 --> 00:02:33.680
<v Speaker 1>some literally couldn't stand. The beauty of the Januar of

39
00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:37.240
<v Speaker 1>the January eighth drugging was that it removed any illusions.

40
00:02:37.879 --> 00:02:42.199
<v Speaker 1>Nobody expected these Americans to meddle, much less challenged the Soviets.

41
00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:46.639
<v Speaker 1>The pressure was off, and paradoxically, that freedom allowed them

42
00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:50.360
<v Speaker 1>to play loose and fearless when it mattered most Fast

43
00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:53.439
<v Speaker 1>forward six weeks and these same teams would meet again

44
00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:56.840
<v Speaker 1>in the Olympic medal round, but this time in one

45
00:02:56.840 --> 00:02:59.840
<v Speaker 1>of the most stunning upsets in sports history. The United

46
00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:03.719
<v Speaker 1>States would defeat the Soviet Union four to three, with

47
00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:07.879
<v Speaker 1>announcer Al Michaels delivering his immortal call, do you believe

48
00:03:07.960 --> 00:03:13.479
<v Speaker 1>in miracles? Yes, but none of that miracle happens without

49
00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:18.360
<v Speaker 1>January eighth, nineteen eighty. Without that humbling defeat, without seeing

50
00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:21.639
<v Speaker 1>just how far they had to climb, those young Americans

51
00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:24.599
<v Speaker 1>might never have found the resolve to achieve the impossible.

52
00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:28.400
<v Speaker 1>Sometimes the most significant moments in sports history aren't the

53
00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:32.719
<v Speaker 1>victories themselves, but the defeats that forge the character necessary

54
00:03:32.759 --> 00:03:37.520
<v Speaker 1>to achieve those victories. The lesson never underestimate the motivational

55
00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:41.280
<v Speaker 1>power of getting your butt kicked. That ten to three

56
00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:44.479
<v Speaker 1>loss was the crucible that transformed a group of talented

57
00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:47.879
<v Speaker 1>college kids into a team capable of defeating an empire

58
00:03:48.280 --> 00:03:52.479
<v Speaker 1>and changing the course of American sports history forever. And

59
00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:55.719
<v Speaker 1>that wraps it up. Join us tomorrow and be sure

60
00:03:55.719 --> 00:03:58.240
<v Speaker 1>to hit that subscribe button so you never miss a

61
00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:01.560
<v Speaker 1>daily slice of sports history. This has been a quiet

62
00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:05.280
<v Speaker 1>Please Studios Production. For more check out Quiet Please dot

63
00:04:05.319 --> 00:04:07.039
<v Speaker 1>a I. Thank you for listening.