The Year Was 1980...

Kenny Loggins was, according to his music, 'alright', Buckner and Garcia diagnosed the first case of Pac-Man fever, and a young Al Michaels taught the nation to gloat, beat their chests and chant "U.S.A.".

If there's one thing I learned watching Sunday's special PTI pregame to the re-showing of USA v. USSR Olympic hockey match, it's how hyped by hindsight this game really is. To hear most people talk, you would think that the entire nation came to a screetching halt to see if those plucky U.S. college kids (mostly drunk punks from Boston) could defeat the Russian hockey machine, whose squad consisted mostly of super-intelligent hockey playing cyborgs.

Even though I was only 10 at the time, I have memories of it being a big event in the days that followed it, but I've always been curious why so few people seem to have stories of seeing it live. Well the answer, as it turns out, is that it wasn't shown live, but instead on tape delay (probably because the games were in the foriegn city of Lake Placid, and the time difference between there and here is quite a lot).

I'm still not convinced that it's as great a sporting event as most people seem to think, but instead just an excuse for jingoistic blowhards to try and prove that American pride trumps everything else.

In closing, Bah!!