THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW

There is no doubt that the 3 loudest persistently repetitive syllables I ever heard in my life was 45 years ago at the 1980 XIII Winter Olympic Games that came out of the Olympic Ice Center in Lake Placid, New York.  That’s right folks, the “Miracle On Ice” site, where the USA! USA! USA! chants could be heard over and over and over again.  Rumor has it that Warroad, Minnesota’s Davy Christian’s mom started the chant during their 2nd game against Czechoslovakia.  Those 20 scrappy college kids on that team, coached by the legendary Herb Brooks and assisted by Craig Patrick, have consistently repeated that the Olympic Ice Center, now named the Herb Brooks Arena, was the loudest environment they had ever played in, especially when they beat the formerly best USSR team for the previous 20 years that Friday night 4-3 and the Gold Medal game against Finland on Sunday 4-2.  It was loud, it was raucous, and it was the place to be.  What a fortnight it was with the likes of those 20 Rink Rats along with the Nation’s new National Hero, Eric Heiden with his 5 Gold Medals draped around his neck and displaying that infectious smile of his are images we oldsters will never forget. They healed this Nation of ours that was going through a very dark period and brought us back into the light of day.  

That was then, this is now!  The XXV Winter Olympic Games officially opened last Friday in Milan - Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.  This is the 2nd time around for that area as they played host to the VII Winter Games in 1956.  There will be plenty of cheering in all the various sectors of competition which is normally seen and heard since its inception, however, there are a couple marked differences between 1980 and the present games, but more on that later.  

The first Winter Olympics that I caught a few bits and pieces of was in 1960 when I was in 7th grade.  I say bits and pieces loosely as the reception wasn’t all that great on our black and white Emerson TV.  Us kids spent most of our free time at the outdoor rinks, but a few of us met up at our rich teammate's house that had an unheard of 2nd television set in the lower level rec room to watch TEAM USA win the Gold.  I would have given my eye-teeth to have all of us together again 20 years later to witness the same thing.  4 years later, I’m in 11th grade and glued to our own better reception Magnavox TV to watch the broadcast from Innsbruck, Austria.  From that point on, through the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, it had my undivided attention.  It dramatically started to wane after that and these days, it is barely an issue.  In 1980, I watched the entire procession march into the Olympic Stadium and felt proud when the USA athletes came into view with their western coats and cowboy hats and was glad to see that figure skater Scotty Hamilton was leading them with the American Flag.  Everyone cheered Vice President, Walter Mondale when he ceremoniously opened those Winter Olympics.  This time around was quite the opposite, I only watched the replay of the USA team entering the stadium and to what seemed like some mild booing and when Vice President Vance and his wife were shown on the screen, the booing became more prominent.  What a change there is for a lot of us old-timers that have gone from then to now.  Yes, there was politics at the 1980 Olympics.  The Russians wanted to show how their geo-political lifestyle is dominant by plowing through all their non- communist democratic opponents with reckless abandon.  They grossly underestimated Herb and took his boys for granted.  I hope to hear the USA chants come from the crowd, it won’t have the intensity and fervor of the 1980 Miraclemania, but I’ll take it!  Stay tuned…..!