A Miracle In The Midst Of Madness

A cold rink, a loud crowd, and a country craving something to believe in. We take you back to Lake Placid for a cinematic, breath-by-breath retelling of the Miracle on Ice—how a roster of college kids, shaped by Herb Brooks’ ruthless vision and welded together from rival programs, toppled the most feared hockey machine on earth. Along the way, we rewind to the mood of late-70s America—stagflation, hostages, the long shadow of the Cold War—and explain why one winter night in 1980 felt like the nation’s heartbeat coming back.

We dig into the players who defined the moment: Jim Craig turning into a wall under siege, Mark Johnson finding rebounds that shouldn’t exist, and Mike Eruzione arriving in the high slot when history called. Then we sit with those final ten minutes: blocked shots, dumped pucks, the Soviets refusing to pull their goalie, and Al Michaels’ voice breaking into the line that became American folklore. Not the gold medal game, but the game that made gold possible, and the one Sports Illustrated later called the greatest sports moment of the 20th century.

This episode also traces the afterlives—who went pro, who coached, who raised families—and how Al Michaels rode one perfect call from Lake Placid to decades of championship broadcasts. We connect the dots to today’s Olympics, why winter sports still captivate us, and how stadium roars turn strangers into a single voice. Hit play for hockey history, Cold War context, and a reminder that underdogs sometimes do the impossible. If this story moved you, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review telling us your favorite Olympic moment—and whether you still believe in miracles.

Transcript

Gen X Banter And News

SPEAKER_06 0:04

Two best friends fucking fast. We're missing two arcades, we're having a blast. Eating these dreams, be on screens, it was all bad. Like you know, it's like whatever. Never, never never. Laughing, sharing, our story forever. We'll say you back like whatever.

Tributes To Robert Duvall And Jesse Jackson

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Welcome to Like Whatever, a podcast for, by, and about Gen X. I'm Nicole, and this is my BFFF Heather. Hola. So let's see. Not much going on. Well, there is. Yes. Um, first of all, rest in peace, Robert Duvall. Yeah, I saw him. Yeah. I mean, he was 94. Yeah. It's crazy. Like, I never realized he was that old because I feel like he's been in something recent, like fairly recent. I don't know. Maybe. But all his movies were like The Godfather and I Love the Smell Napalm in the Morning. And that's he was even in um Um To Kill a Mockingbird.

unknown 1:15

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I have to go back and watch that now. I haven't seen it in a long time. I don't know that I've ever watched it. It's okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Maybe when we were in like English class and I read it.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Yeah, I had to read it.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

I remember I enjoyed it as a book.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Somebody died today, too. Jesse Jackson. Jesse Jackson.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Yeah. Jesse Jackson passed today.

Olympics Talk And Winter Sports Fandom

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Yeah. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, amazing man. He uh Yeah. I heard a good um this morning, of course, on the news they've been talking about it. He was what came between like um the Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama. Right. Like he filled in that gap there for civil rights in between those two things happening. So that was kind of neat, but yeah, um yeah, it was sad. But they said he died peacefully. Yeah, Parkinson's, they said. Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. So yeah, so those are the down things.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

I have uh today was the day after a holiday, so I I literally when we walked in here, was the first time I've even looked at my phone, really.

SPEAKER_03 2:29

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

Um The Olympics are going on. Yes. I don't think the US is doing so great. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention. I put hockey. Well, I love curling. I do too. I love curling, and there's some big controversy. Controversy. Yes. Um, I haven't have not been able to catch the British though. The British usually wear crazy pants, and I haven't been able to catch that yet. Um but I've I was I've been watching hockey because I'm a big hockey fan. And sometimes I forget that I love hockey so much. And the other day I was on, I don't know, something, and they were playing like the best hits of, and I was like, I mean, I've been to NHL games. We used to go all the time. I've been to uh Stanley Cup games. I have I was 13 rows off the ice behind the goal. I love it. I had, I mean, this we're talking like 118 years ago when the Flyers had Eric Lindross and um LeClaire. Uh-huh. And I didn't catch a puck from LeClaire. So I mean, I had the jerk anyway.

SPEAKER_03 3:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

That's like 25 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Yeah, the women's hockey's killing it. US friends. Um, I think they're going on to play the final now.

unknown 3:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

I was watching what's the ski one? I try not to watch to make these because they just make me nervous. But where you just drop down the hill and come up and scoop and just fly up and do spins and land. Like free freestyle. Freestyle. That's what I thought. I haven't seen much of anything, but the other day I'm watching, and like three skiers in, I think the athlete was from Japan. He comes down and did his twist and landed flat on his back. Oh. And they the whole place went dead silent. Yeah. They came out with the backboard. I was like, of course. I never watched, I haven't watched any Olympics, and I happened to catch this poor guy die on TV. Like, and I haven't been able to find anything. I've been trying to look up to see it. So he must be okay, which is good. Yeah. I mean, if anything serious happened, it would be all over the news. So I'm glad he's okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

I prefer the Winter Olympics over the Summer Olympics. Um, I like Deluge, I like Bobsled, I like skeletons.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

That stuff scares me. I love all of it. I love all of it. Did you see where um Colin Jost went on a bobsled? I saw a video of it. He's over there, and um, he rode on one, and he was like, I've literally never been so terrified in my entire life. I was positive I was gonna die. He's like, I thought my bones were gonna fly out of my body. Like he said he's just terrified.

Scares, Luge Jokes, And Bobsled Terror

SPEAKER_01 5:01

There's a guy on TikTok that does like this. Um he designs, he's the air quotes, designer of the Olympic sports. And for Bobsled, he was like, Let's take four people and put them in a missile from the uh Russia, a hollowed-out missile, and then we'll push them down, we'll go down a frozen water slide. And the guy was like, um, well, how are we gonna just gonna push them? And he was like, no, first they have to have a 50-yard sprint, and then they have to jump in, and then they go. And he's like, Well, that sounds crazy. And he was like, you know what? Let's get an ironing board and put somebody on the ironing board and send them down, and we'll call it luge. And that guy's like, there is nothing crazier than that. And he was like, Let's make them go down head first. It's really funny.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

It is nuts, man. It's absolutely insane. Nothing I would ever do. So, yeah, that's it on the Olympics. Uh, I did want to tell you I finished 1122 63 last night. And how did you enjoy it? I loved it. It was good. I loved the ending. Yeah, I just it was just so so well done. Yeah. Just I loved it. Yeah. So highly recommend. Um, it's uh, for those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, it's called 112263. It's on Netflix, and it is a Stephen King book turned into a limited series. Eight episodes, I believe.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

With James Franco, and basically he goes back in time to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing Kennedy. Right. So that's the premise of the whole thing. It's it was lovely. I was waiting for it to be scary because it was Stephen King, but it wasn't scary. It was not scary, it was fantasy. I don't know.

TV Recs: 11.22.63 And True Crime

SPEAKER_01 6:55

The part with the cow I could have lived without. Yeah. Yeah. Um today hurt my feelings. Why is that? Day after a holiday, you know, it's a lot of mail happens. And the new ARPs are out. A A R P. And guess who is on the motherfucking cover? Who? Okay, first of all, it's bad enough when Adam Sandler was on the cover.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

Yeah, but he's at least starting to age. Yeah. Like he's kind of growing old with us. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Brendan Frazier. Oh my god. No. I wasn't prepared. Is that even right? I don't. I I imagine, I mean, we could be on it, so I'm gonna be on it.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

Do it. We'll be the first podcasters to get on the cover of AARP.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

I have to look at the damn thing every month and ugh.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

All right, and then just one more quick TV show. Oxygen channel has a new Ted Bundy thing out. It's called Love Ted, and it's his cousin that he grew up with because his mom and he moved into a house with his mom's, I think, sister and her kids. So this girl, and they were about the same age, they totally grew up together, were best friends. She still to this day has trouble, you know, accepting who she knew and who he became. But they wrote back and forth while he was in prison and she's reading the letters and stuff like that. It is pretty good. Yeah, it's on the I think I don't know if I said ID, but it's on the Oxygen channel in case I got that wrong. Love Ted. I will check it out. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

Hey there, like whatever Gen X friends, Pat Green here. Do you remember making mixtapes and cruising to the mall with your friends? My new novel is all about that 80s feeling. In Hearts of Glass, Fade Away and Radiate, I weave a story of first love and found family in late 80s suburbia. You meet teens, Ford, and Cassie at their local mall, facing heartbreak and healing together. It's a bit like a John Hughes movie wrapped in an 80s soundtrack, both nostalgic and heartwarming. I poured all of those big emotions into these pages. If you crave the warm nostalgia of mixtapes and mall dates, this book might feel like your own high school story. Head to Pack Greenauthor.com or Barnstormer Publishing.com to grab Hearts of Glass in ebook, audiobook, or paperback. I'd love for you to join Ford, Cassie, and the whole gang. Consider it a trip down memory lane with a story you won't forget. Stay totally awesome, stay true to you.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

So in in the uh you want to do the like share rate.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Oh yeah. Um before we get started, if we could ask, like, share rate reveal. Yes. Find us on all the socials. Yes. Uh find us wherever you listen to podcasts. Everywhere. Check out our website at www.likewhateverpod.com. Yep. Send us an email at likewhateverpod at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Um, yeah. That's it. Thanks.

Setting Up The Miracle On Ice

SPEAKER_01 10:08

So I didn't tell her what it is, and I am super excited about it. She did tell me she was super excited. She didn't tell me what it was. Super excited. I am too. So let's fuck around and find out about the miracle on ice. Ooh. The 1980s U.S. Olympic team.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

I like how you foreshadowed that with your love of hockey.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

That is why I picked it this week because I was watching hockey and I was like, when did that happen?

unknown 10:39

This week.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

February 22nd. All right. So sweet. I was like, yes. And um, I watched a couple documentaries on it. Um, and ESPN.com and all the it was a conglomeration of many, many different mostly the I I very much the new there's a newest one that came out in January.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Can't remember the name of it. Okay. I want to say it's like the boys. I don't think I'm now.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Oh, that sounds familiar.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Um, it's it um what was their nickname?

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Nothing nothing.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

It was just the miracle on ice. Well, what boys am I thinking of?

SPEAKER_01 11:22

I don't know. You're probably thinking of the Rad Street Bullies.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Oh, I think that's what I'm thinking of. Yeah. Okay. Don't mind me. That's not the same. I know. Okay.

Herb Brooks’ Method And Team Culture

Players Who Defined The Moment

SPEAKER_01 11:32

I enjoy them though, also. I know. Okay. Let's do it. Woohoo. They were not destined for greatness, not on paper, not in the eyes of the world, not in the shadow of the Cold War. They were college kids, amateurs, sons of welders and teachers, and factory workers. They were not supposed to beat the greatest hockey team on earth, but in February of 1980, in a tiny rink in Lake Placid, New York, they would do something that felt impossible. So who were they? Herb Brooks was a man forged by disappointment. In nineteen sixty, he was the last player cut from the U.S. Olympic hockey team, the team that went on to win gold. That moment didn't just sting, it shaped him. It made him hungry, obsessive, and visionary. He believed in conditioning, discipline, and psychology. He pushed his players until they hated him, then pushed them further. He didn't want the most talented roster, he wanted the right mix of personalities, men who would buy into his system, skate relentlessly, and outlast the Soviet machine. He um was a coach. He wasn't there to be liked, he was there to win. They the new documentary, they have a bunch of them on there that were like he was brutal. Like it was brutal. It was more than anything, and then there was two different um there was some of them came from Minnesota, and then some of them came from New England, because in the United States, those are the two places where hockey is the biggest. So um they had a little trouble in the beginning because it was they and they had played each other, you know, in college and stuff, college games and stuff. So it was kind of like a they were pitted against each other, and so he made sure that he was the one they hated. So they united in their hatred of smart. Yeah. Jim Craig, the goaltender from Boston University, carried the weight of the net and the weight of his father's expectations. He was fiery, emotional, and capable of brilliance. When he locked in, he became immovable. In Lake Placid, he would become the face of a miracle. Also, I wanted to interject on my love of hockey. Um this is what actually what got me back into remembering how much I like hockey. Um, TikTok. They have they call it the boy aquarium. Girls who post photo or TikToks about it, and they're like at the boy aquarium. And they're not wrong. Very nice looking men play hockey. It's my type. Yeah. Plays hockey. Yeah, like I'm toothless and large. Yeah. Um, and on on knife blades on their feet. Yes. Mike Gearzone was undersized, overlooked, and absolutely essential. He wasn't the most skilled player on the roster, but he was the captain because he had something deeper: timing, leadership, and a knack for rising to the moment. He would score the goal that changed everything. Mark Johnson, soft spoken and steady. Mark Johnson had a gift for slipping into seams and finding rebounds. He didn't celebrate loudly. He didn't need to. His goals spoke for him. He would break Soviets' hearts twice. And then Al Michaels, the voice who named the miracle. Al Michaels.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

I was like, Al Michaels played Isaac.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

He was a rising ABC broadcaster, not yet a legend, but on February 22nd, 1980, he would deliver a line that would echo across generations. Do you believe in miracles?

SPEAKER_04 15:13

Yes.

America In The 70s And Cold War Stakes

SPEAKER_01 15:14

He didn't know it then, but he had just named the moment. And of course, uh, you know who's he he kind of that kind of made his career too. So oh yeah. Yeah. So let's understand why the game mattered so much. Um in the 70s was just an awful decade. It was a decade that left the country tired, cynical, and unsure of itself. Yeah. Stagflation strangled the economy, gas lines wrapped around blocks, pay check shrunk, confidence evaporated, political disillusionment, Watergate had shattered the trust, Nixon had resigned, Ford pardoned him, Jimmy Carter inherited a nation that didn't believe in leaders anymore, and of course the Cold War. The Soviet Union loomed large militarily, ideologically, and athletically. They were the machine. The U.S. was the underdog in almost every arena. In November of 79, 52 Americans were taken hostage in Tehran. Every night the news counted the days, the country felt helpless. So the U.S. was preparing to boycott the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics in protest of the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan. And then I remember when I was doing this, I was like, oh yeah, remember when they used to play the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics in the same year?

SPEAKER_02 16:38

No, it was so much better. Yeah. I so much prefer. It feels like the Olympics are always on now.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

And it used to feel really special when the Olympics came around.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

That was I I was like, they totally that's right. Yep. Uh so yeah, they they we did boycott the um 1980 Summer Olympics. Uh America needed something, anything that felt like hope. And then came a hockey team. Um, the Soviet Union's hockey team was a Death Star. The Soviets were not just good, they were mythic. Four-time defending Olympic champions, winner of 12 of the last 15 world championships, a roster of grown men who trained year-round. Vladislav Chaitek the best was the best goaling in the world. A system so precise it felt mechanical. Earlier that month, they had humiliated the U.S. 10-3 at Madison Square Garden. The U.S. team was kids. The U.S. roster was the youngest in the tournament, mostly college players, amateurs, and students. Um Brooks, the coach, had chosen them from rival programs, Minnesota and Boston, and forced them to become a single unit through grueling conditioning and psychological warfare. On paper, this wasn't David versus versus Goliath. It was David versus Goliath's entire army. Also, if you remember, that is the time when Russia did. That's what they had. I mean, they are their athletes, that was their job. Yeah. To be athletes.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Like it wasn't like here where it's like Yeah, you practice after work in the evenings.

Why The Soviets Were Unbeatable

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Yeah, that was their full, like the the Russians were machines. Yes. I must break you.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

I knew that was gonna come in somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

You can't have a Russian tie in. So the US had tied Sweden, stunned Czechoslovakia, and clawed their way into metal contention. Something was happening, something no one expected. But the Soviets were still the immovable object. The game wasn't even the gold medal match, it just felt like it. The world held its breath. Uh, so we're gonna talk about um a diary before we get into I even found the page while I was waiting for you. Oh. So here it is.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Alright, so today in Nicole's 1984 diary, we are on Tuesday, April 17th. Um, today we didn't have to go to yucky, Ucky, Pucky School.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Oh, we're still on spring break. Yeah. Yucky, Ucky, Pucky.

Lake Placid: Period One Turns

SPEAKER_02 19:29

That was my 11-year-old boxing. Pucky. Danielle came over to spend the night. That's nice. Mommy dropped us off uh close to home, and we ran the rest of the way home. I remember doing that. Did you ever do that as a kid? I never ran anywhere for any reason. I forgot about that. Yeah, I guess we walked. I feel like it happened often. Like we would just get dumped off and we'd get to run home with simpler times. I didn't run for any reason. Yeah. You walked. Yeah. Um slowly. Probably stopped and took the break. I did. Um We also played on the swing set. Uh we played Barbies. And after dinner we had chocolate and coconut pudding.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Oh sorry. We're gonna we're gonna have to divert on that one.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

That's not a you don't like coconut?

SPEAKER_01 20:21

No.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

And I spelled coconut cocoa nut. That's how I like this palette too. Oh, okay. So we were destined to be together. I call it a cocoa nut. Oh. Cocoa nut. Uh today our Girl Scout troop went to the cemetery. What? How'd I miss out on this good time? I remember this one. Um, we did crown rubbings and rote stuff. Did you ever do crown rubbings at the um cemeteries?

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Not at the cemetery, but we did it at the wall, the Vietnam the Vietnam War ball. Oh. We just went around to cemeteries. Well, it's weird because we had a cemetery right next door to us. I think you should start doing it now. I will. You missed out. I I know.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

I need a black crayon. For those of you that don't know what crown rubbing is, uh, if you're Gen X, you should know. But you hold a piece of paper against something and you crown color over it, and then you have an image of it. Yeah. So you can also use pencil. I wonder if it's disrespectful to do that. Probably. Like we're traiting little kids out there traipsing on grades.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

I think probably the point of it was to go back like many decades.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Like, yeah. And I still do that. If I'm in a cemetery, I look for the oldest that I can find. I hate when I find the babies. I love it when I'm five. And they're usually they're usually in the old date parts.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Look at that. Look at that dead baby right there. The best kind of baby. Dead one.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

You're terrible.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Look, babies are gross. Babies are not gross. They are. They they stink, they smell delicious.

Soviet Fury And Period Two Siege

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Doesn't even matter. Ears, they smell good.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

No.

SPEAKER_02 22:15

They feel good. They don't. They're awful. I've often thought about I there are places that do it, but I guess nowhere around here where you can go into hospitals and like hold like NICU babies and babies that need a lot of human touch. Yeah. Um, but I've looked around these local hospitals here. Delaware must not have any sort of thing in place for it. Oh my god, I would love to do it.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

I'm telling you, babies are gross. I don't they st I'm telling you, they stink and they're gross. Goo comes out of everywhere. You just wipe it off. Ugh. No, they got big snot bubbles and stuff. No. Babies are not funny.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

I mean, it's shocking that we don't agree on this because we agree on so many things.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

That's why you have children and I have an aunt. Yeah.

unknown 23:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:07

All right.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

So yeah, so that was that was that. Lovely.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

All right. Let's go back. Well, I guess, yeah, back to 1980. Lake Plaza, New York. February 22nd, 1980. The air inside the Olympic field house is cold enough to bite. Which, by the way, why I get it, it's there's ice on the ground. I don't I comprehend that there is, in fact, ice in the building with you. But it is always so fucking cold in there.

Tied Game And Eruzione’s Go-Ahead Goal

SPEAKER_02 23:38

You know what else was cute? We were talking about um the um young Olympic ice skater American with the layered hair, and I still haven't looked up her name, so I still don't remember it. But she's got little piercings and stuff, and as they called her the weirdo, which you said is a proud title. So I love it. Um, but they I saw an interview with her, and she was like, I hate the cold. I hate being cold. It's just so so I guess being an athlete, like I would think like, well, you're an athlete, you get used to it, whatever. No, she hates it. I was watching a figure skater today, and she started her routine, and you know they give you like 30, 40 seconds before they really start your music where you hold a pose. Uh-huh. She had her head laying on the ice. Nope. And they're right in on her face, and she's like laying right. I was like, whoo, child.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

When we would go, I don't know if there I was like directly under like a heating vent or something. I get it, it's a huge arena. And but my neck would be so stiff when I would leave there. I know. And hockey is really hard to follow when you're that low. Like, I know, don't complain about being 13 above the place you stupid more. I understand that. But when you're down that low, it is really hard.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

That is true. Because one time I went to see the Flyers and we got like last-minute tickets, and they were cheap. So we literally top row, which I do not recommend. I I you feel like you're gonna fall on your face. Yeah. Um, but then another time I went with a group, and they actually had they were people with money, so we had one of those little side things where we leaned up against a bar and watched the game and drank beers. So we had we're much closer, but it was a lot easier to see from up high that top row.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Yeah, it's it's very difficult to follow. And then then the other thing is you get very easily distracted by like what is happening, and then you're like, what, what, wait, what yeah, what is happening right now?

SPEAKER_02 25:41

I have enough trouble following the puck watching it on TV. It's a hard game to follow. It really, really is. It's hard to follow. Yeah, usually the goal has happened three, four seconds before I'm aware because I just don't see it.

Final Minutes And “Do You Believe In Miracles?”

SPEAKER_01 25:53

Unless it's in the it was in the end that we had uh I and like I said, like because people are running into glass over here, and when you're and then when you're down that low, like you hear them hitting the glass and see face. It's just it's too, it's a lot. Maybe that's why I like going because it was a lot of so violent. I I love the violence in the world. You do love violence. I love a fight. Like every sport should be allowed to fight like that. What do I know? Yeah, I can see it. All right. So the air is cold, the energy is molten. The building holds barely 8,500 people, yet it feels like the entire country has squeezed itself into the stands. Flags wave, cowbells clang, and the chant USA, USA, rolls like thunder. By the way, that was the first time that US the USA chant was used. Get out. I won't. The Soviets skate warmups with the precision of a military drill. Their red jerseys flash like warning lights. They move as one organism, fluid, fast, and terrifying. The Americans, they look like kids. Because they are. Jim Craig taps each post of his net, left, right, and left, right, like a ritual. His breath fogs the air, his eyes are locked in. Herb Brooks stands behind the bench, arms folded, jaw set, and he does not blink. The puck drops. First period. The Soviets strike first. A crisp passing play, a shot from Krustov, and the puck is being is behind Craig before the crowd can inhale. It's one-nothing, and the machine looks inevitable. But the Americans did not fold. They skated harder. They hit everything that moves. Then Buzz Schneider with a shot that seems to come out of nowhere, beats Ter Trey Tech. The arena detonates at one-to-one.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

That's crazy. Again, like a kid against the best goalie in the world. In the world. That's he must have been so pissed.

Aftermath, Meaning, And Gold vs. Finland

Where They Went Next: Players And Al Michaels

SPEAKER_01 27:58

The Soviets answer almost immediately. Makarov slices through the US defense like a hot knife, and it's two to one. The crowd quiets. The Soviets look annoyed, like they're ready to reassert the natural order of things. But their U.S. refuses to die. The clock bleeds down. Ten seconds, five seconds, the period is slipping away. And then a long shot from Dave Christian. Tree Tech kicks it out. Mark Johnson barrels in like he's been shot from a cannon, and he scores with one second left. The horn blares, the crowd erupts. Tree tech looks stunned. And then the moment no one in the building can believe, Viktor Takanoff pulls Treetek. The greatest goalie in the world, benched. Whoa. Now I know he's pissed. The skate the Soviets skate off in silence. The Americans skate off in disbelief. Did we do that? Second period. Soviets come out furious. They skate faster, they shoot more, they swarm the US zone like a red tide. Craig becomes a fortress. He kicks out shots with his pads, gloves, puck, gloves pucks out of the air, smothers rebounds like he's protecting a secret, but even he can't stop everything. Maltsev scores. Three to two. The Soviets are back in control. For the rest of the second period, the U.S. is hanging on by threads. The Soviets outshoot them by a mile. The puck seems magnetized to Craig's crease. Every save feels like a miracle. Every clear feels like a reprieve. Every second feels like a lifetime. When the horn sounds, the Americans skate to the bench, gasping, drenched, and exhausted. Third period. The crowd senses it, the Soviet senses it, the American sensitive five minutes in, the puck squirts loose in front of the Soviet net. Mark Johnson, always in the right place, pounces again. Goal. 3-3. The arena explodes so loudly that the boards vibrate. And I have been in a stadium with that, like I said. Stanley Cup. Man, those games are just next level. Oh my god. Well, and the best part is like, well, not for the Stanley Cup game because they're in the spring, but um, so what because hockey and football happened at the same time. And the time I was going was the Eagles were doing really well. And um what was when they was when they couldn't quite get past the NFC Championship game. But anyway, so the whole time like Andy Reid era. Yeah. Yeah. So the closer we got to December and January when you were playing, it would be like every time the Flyers would score, all you would hear is E A G L.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

It's pretty typical.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

And it was like the whole place was either orange or green. There was no other color allowed. Orange or green.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

My friend and I went to an Eagles preseason game. Um, so baseball was still in, and she is not an Eagles fan, but she's a Phillies fan. Uh-huh. And so we to make her more comfortable, I we both wore Phillies gear. Um, and we got bitched out a lot. I will never do that again.

unknown 31:21

Huh.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

Eagles fans were very pissed that I was at an Eagles game in Phillies Gear. Phillies gear. Yeah. So lesson learned. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

It was always the worst because the the baseball stadium, the the Eagles Stadium, and then the arena are all down in the same little block and a half there.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

Park in anybody's parking lot, and that's where you're going.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

All right there. So when hockey starts or basketball, they I hated when it would be like, oh, well, the Eagles play at one, but the Flyers play at seven, and it's like, oh God, we have like so much traffic happening. Uh yeah.

Why Sports Moments Change Cities

SPEAKER_02 32:03

It's it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to get out of there in 195.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

God, it's so easy. It really is. It's the easiest stadium to get in and out of. There's about 110 different ways to get in and out. It's I highly recommend if you're a football fan and it's it's it's a fun stadium. It really is. The food is amazing. All right. Third period. Mike. The arena is three-three. The Soviets look rattled, and then the moment Mike Arizone hops over the boards, he glides into the high slot, the puck finds him almost like it chooses him. He whines, he fires, time slows. The puck threads through traffic, past my skin's glove, and into the net. 4-3.

SPEAKER_03 32:49

Ooh.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

The sound is indescribable. A roar, a scream, a release, and you and I both know what that feels like.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

Man, I was gonna say, my heart started racing. I got goosebumps when you said that. Like that feel it in your chest. Yeah. A lot of people are like, oh, it's better to watch it at home. You can see more. And that is true. It's and you got your own bathroom and your own snacks. Yes. And you don't have to drive and you don't have to pay to park and all that. But man, that feeling nothing beats that feeling. You're that feeling when you're in a stadium and your team scores.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

So as we know, I'm an Eagles fan and have been had season tickets forever. Um and the the year the first time they went to the Super Bowl, not in 1980, but the first super with Donovan McNabb, whatever stupid ass year that was.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

You're repuked in the hotel. Oh god, I can't even remember what that game is.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Um I am not a Donovan McNabb fan.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

Neither am I.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

We my mom had been going to Eagles games since she was a little girl. Her dad had season tickets that he would get from and my uncle didn't like going to games because he likes his own bathroom and doesn't like being outside. He's fancy. He is fancy. Um, so my mom would go. So we had this man that sat behind us that if you look up, like person from Philadelphia, it was this guy, like this guy. I know exactly what he looks like. This guy. He called everybody a bum. You bum, he's a bum, Andy Reid, you're a bum. Get him off the yeah, everybody's a bum. So the year they won the NFC Championship and went to the Super Bowl, the guy behind us, old man Philly, started crying. I'm gonna cry now. And it was that moment was just like and I had only been an Eagles fan, uh I don't even remember how old I was, but like forever 30, maybe. Um this guy had obviously he had probably had tickets at Franklin Field, he had been in the vet, he had been everywhere, every he had watched every game that the Eagles ever played ever. Yep. And so it was just yeah, and then the last game of the vet was just like you could like you knew that they were going to tear the places to pieces. They didn't, because I've never seen so many I I didn't even realize Philadelphia had that many police officers. They lined the field. I mean, shoulder to shoulder. I have never in my life seen so many police officers lined the field shoulder to shoulder. Wow. And they were all outside everywhere. They could you could have committed any crime in the city of Philadelphia because they were all at the stadium. But it was a very emotional game because you know, for my mom, she was at the first game in the vet. She was at the game when they booed Santa. She had had been to, you know, so it was anyway. It was very emotional. And we should have gone up. I was gonna take her up when they when they imploded it. I thought about doing it and we didn't end up doing it.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

I watched it on TV.

Cold War Memories And Local History

SPEAKER_01 36:10

I watched it on TV, but so there nothing beats that. Especially if it's like a I imagine Buffalo or anywhere that's never had a winning, not so much not a winning team, but never had the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_02 36:28

Right. Or the last time they did, they're like grandfather got to go.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

The thing on my uh memory came up the other day about the Super Bowl parade that we went to, and it was just that was so special. It really was two million people. I've c that's why it came up because they were saying how many people Seattle had. And it was like a million and yeah, our even the last Super Bowl we had a we had 1.5 million. But the um, yeah, the first one, two million, and it was just like I don't know. Yeah. This we're talking about hockey, not football. I can't help it.

SPEAKER_02 37:05

That's our no, we're talking about the amazement of sports. Sport why we love it.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

I do love it. I'll be sad when the Olympics are over. Yeah. Um, where am I? Okay, so we just went one up. Uh Airzone skates toward the bench, arms raised, face lit with disbelief and joy. His teammates leap over the boards to mob him. Ten minutes left. Ten minutes to hold off the greatest hockey team on earth. Now, mind you, this is not the gold medal. This is not for the gold medal. The final ten minutes. The Soviets attack with everything they have. Shots from the point, wraparounds, one-timers, rebounds. Craig stops them all. The Americans block shots with their bodies, shins, arms, ribs. They dump the puck out of the zone and chase it like their lives depended on it. The crowd is on its feet, chanting, screaming, uh, praying. The clock ticks down agonizingly slow. Five minutes, three minutes, one minute. The Soviets don't pull their goalie, which look, I hate that. I hate when the team pulls the goddamn goalie.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

It makes me so anxious. I don't get it. Well, it's because you have an extra I know I get it, but I hate it. But if anybody comes down there, you're gonna they're gonna score. I hate to say that.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

Yeah, I don't like it either. Makes me so stressed out. Yes, yes, yes. They did not pull their goalie because they don't believe in it. They keep pressing, but the U.S. keeps clearing. Thirty seconds. Twenty. The puck squirts loose to Ken Morrow. He flips it out of the zone. The crown counts down with the clock. Ten seconds. Owl Michael's voice cracks with emotion. It's a countdown going on right now. The puck drifts towards center ice. Five seconds left in the game. The crowd is screaming and shaking. Do you believe in miracles? A beat, a breath, a lifetime, and yes. The horn sounds, the bench empties. Jim Craig wraps himself in the flag. Herb Brooks disappears down the tunnel, overwhelmed. The impossible had happened. Wow. So it wasn't just a win. It was a release. For one night, America felt strong again, proud again, united again. I wonder what that feels like. The Cold War narrative flipped. Our kids beat their machine. Sports Illustrated later named it the greatest sports moment of the 20th century. It wasn't about hockey. It wasn't about hope. Or it was about hope. They went on to beat Finland for the gold. Where are they now? Well, they just did a documentary that aired in January. Um which was weird, I thought also that the because it said 2026. But was it last year the 45th anniversary of it? But maybe I guess because the Olympics are happening. Shouldn't you have done it on the board? Yeah.

Bridges, Storms, And East Coast Anxiety

SPEAKER_02 40:08

Maybe they did coincide out with the Olympics.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

So Jim Craig had a beef brief and a child and Jim Craig had a brief NHL career, then a long career as a motivational speaker and businessman. He's still synonymous with the flag-draped image. Mike Yearson never played in the NHL. He became a broadcaster, a fundraiser, and an ambassador for the 1980s team. Mark Johnson had a long pro career, legendary women's hockey coach at Wisconsin, and Olympic coach in 2010. Ken Morrow won four straight Stanley Cups with the Islanders.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

Later became the director of Pro Scouting. Rob McClanahan played in the NHL, then worked in finance and coaching. Neil Broton, Dave Christian, Bill Baker, and others. Some played in the NHL, some coached, some became dentists, businessmen, teachers, dads, grandfathers. They returned to ordinary lives after doing something extraordinary. Which, like, how crazy is that? Like, you just like how had like that would never happen now. There's no way that they could ever walk into normal life again. Like they would be all over Wheaties boxes. So you ask, whatever happened to little old Al Michaels? Oh yeah. That name sounds familiar. Well, he walked into that broadcast booth in Lake Placid as a respected young sportscaster and he walked out as a legend. His call, Do You Believe in Miracles? Yes, became one of the most famous sentences ever spoken in American sports. It wasn't scripted, it wasn't planned, it was pure emotion. And you can hear it in his voice. The sound of a man witnessing the impossible. Well, came next for Al Michaels. After the 19 and after 1980, his career didn't it skyrocketed. He became the longtime voice of Monday Night Football, then Sunday Night Football, becoming one of the most recognizable broadcasters in the world. And he is now being tortured with Chris Collinsworth. I know. Poor guy.

SPEAKER_02 42:27

The worst thing about Chris Collinsworth is that he breathes the air we all breathe. Is that I think he's a little older than me, so I'm like, all right, one day he'll retire and I won't have to watch Chris Collinsworth. Wrong. But he's got a fucking kid that looks and sounds exactly like him. So I will never get to enjoy football without Collinsworth. No. And you know that kid's gonna jump right into some prime time spot somewhere once he does his little due diligence here and there. Yeah. Because he comes from somebody who's supposedly really good.

SPEAKER_01 42:59

I don't understand. Everybody hates him. I don't understand. Everybody. Yes. Everybody. I don't get it. I don't either. They keep him. Anybody. And he's not good. He really isn't. He's horrible. Much as it pains me, Troy Aikman is great.

SPEAKER_02 43:19

It pains me to say that Tony Romo is also very good.

SPEAKER_01 43:22

I don't mind Tony Romo either.

SPEAKER_02 43:24

I enjoy Tony Romo cracks me up because the whole game he's like, oh, they're gonna do this next. And they do. He knows exactly every play. Yeah. He might as well be a defensive coach because he knows what every team's offense is gonna do. Well, he does.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

He is well studied.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

He really is. And and he's got a good voice for it, and he's pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 43:47

Ugh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

Chris Collinsworth. My gosh.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

How do you go from believing in miracles to be stuck with saddled with fucking Chris Collinsworth?

SPEAKER_02 43:58

He probably seriously hates his got to release.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

I don't know how you couldn't. I don't know how you could not. I don't know how he doesn't punch him in the face. I would punch him in the face.

SPEAKER_02 44:06

He has to punch him back at home with his face on it.

SPEAKER_01 44:08

He goes home and I think Chris Collins' wife's wife probably punches him in the face.

SPEAKER_02 44:13

Oh, definitely. Shut the fuck up.

SPEAKER_01 44:19

But he's not nearly as bad as Joe Thizeman was. I absolutely hated Joe Thysman.

SPEAKER_02 44:27

Was Joe Thysman as bad as Tom Brady? Because Tom Brady is a fucking god-awful announcer.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

When I was in the Super Bowl, was every other word out of fucking Joe Heisman?

SPEAKER_02 44:38

I think he still does that. Anytime he's all, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:42

I know he was doing um, I guess it's Commander's Radio, and I almost said I've listened to their radio before and he was on it, but I don't know if he still is. He's gotta be dying soon. I think he might even be dead. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 44:57

I think he does Lymptic medicine commercials too. Probably. Yeah.

From Fear To Perspective As Parents

SPEAKER_01 45:04

I guess I broke that too. Uh he ended up he did call multiple World Series, including the 1989 earthquake interrupted game three, where he seamlessly shifted from sportscaster to news anchor. He covered Super Bowls, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup finals, and countless iconic moments across decades. And it's really crazy too, because like when you think Al Michaels, you think football. But he called he has called some amazing stuff. Uh he won multiple Emmy Awards and was inducted into the Delv Television Academy of Hall of Fame. In 19 no, in 2021, he received the Ford C. Frick Award, the highest honor in baseball broadcasting. But no matter how many championships he called, no matter how many historic moments he narrated, one line follows him everywhere. Do you believe in miracles? He has said in interviews that he never gets tired of it because he knows he was the voice of a moment that transcended sports, a moment that became America's American folklore. In years that followed, the miracle on ice didn't fade, it didn't soften. It became one of those you had to be there moments. It grew, it calcified into something bigger than sport, a cultural touchstone, a national myth, a moment that scholars, journalists, and fans return to again and again when they talk about belief, unity, and the American spirit. Um in 1999, sports illustrated named Miracle on Ice, the number one sports moment of the entire 20th century. Um above Jesse Owens in Berlin, above Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, above Ali, above Babe Ruth, and above everything. And I think I think also had the United States not been where it was in the 70s, kind of.

SPEAKER_02 46:59

I mean Russia hadn't been where it was. Yeah. Like the Cold War definitely plays a huge role in this being such a big deal. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's like um a perfect storm. Like everything just came together at the right time. Yeah. Even with like Al Michaels, he was just meant to be there and say that line.

SPEAKER_01 47:19

It's crazy how that works out, right?

SPEAKER_02 47:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:21

Uh, a group of college kids beating a Soviet hockey machine was chosen as the single greatest sports moment of a hundred years. There was a story that America needed to tell itself. Historians often describe the miracle as a Cold War morality play. It was democracy versus authoritarianism, youth versus experience, freedom versus control, and hope hope versus inevitability. And the side that wasn't supposed to win did. And we all know that America loves an underdog story. Oh, yeah. Over time, the game has become shorthand for the impossible becoming possible. Politicians reference it, coaches quote it, motivational speakers build entire careers on it. Hollywood turned it into a film, miracle. Um, ask anyone who was alive in 1980 where they were when the US beat the Soviets and they'll tell you.

SPEAKER_04 48:10

Yep.

Closing Thoughts And Listener Prompt

SPEAKER_01 48:10

They'll remember the room, the people, the feeling. It was one of those rare cultural moments that imprinted itself on the national memory, not just because of score, but because of what it meant. It was joy, relief, pride. It was a reminder that sometimes the world surprises you in the best possible way. In a small rink in Lake Placid, a group of young men did more than win a hockey game. They gave a weary nation a reason to stand, to cheer, and to believe. It wasn't just a miracle on ice, it was a miracle of the American spirit. And forty plus years later, the ice has melted, the players have aged, the cold war has ended, but the moment remains frozen in time. A reminder that sometimes, against all odds, miracles do happen. Yay.

SPEAKER_02 48:58

That was so good. And I have to say that your narrating of the three periods was pretty impressive. I mean, you gave me goosebumps a couple of times. Thank you. I think you missed your couple. I worked really hard on it all weekend because I wanted it to feel like that.

SPEAKER_01 49:14

It does. It did. I wanted to feel it.

SPEAKER_02 49:17

Yes. Yeah, that was that was really awesome.

SPEAKER_01 49:21

Thanks. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 49:22

Yeah, very cool. I see why you were so excited.

SPEAKER_01 49:26

I was really excited, A, because I worked so hard on building the anticipation. I mean, we all know how it ends, so it's not like you're gonna be supposed to be. Waiting with baited breath. Yeah. Like, what happened?

SPEAKER_02 49:39

I mean, you knew miracles happen. Yeah, that was that was really awesome. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 49:45

Yeah, I just the Cold War, the Cold War fascinates me. Especially because of where we were then to where we are now. Yeah. I mean, we're probably right back there, but you know, yeah, whatever. But like prior to this administration. Because I remember like the Cold War, and you know, of course, we hated the Russians. And then when they opened everything up and they were allowed to come here and we were getting all the J1s, it was so weird to me that and I kept thinking, like, I wonder how my mom and dad feel about this. Yeah. Like we're we're we have to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 50:19

They're old enough to understand. Yeah. All we knew is we were scared. Yeah. We knew we had to get under a desk. We had to get under a desk to save us from a nuclear bomb. The little bit of I just hope if a nuclear bomb ever comes around now, I have a desk to get under. Exactly. So I can be saved. Wood. Yes, yes. Um, or um just reading about it in history books. Like, I feel like that's the main thing we focused on in history was the Cold War, and the Russians are awful, and they're gonna kill us all.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

The lead up to communism.

SPEAKER_02 50:51

Yes, yes, yes. And it was as a little kid, you I don't think we had the comprehension to really wrap our heads around what they were talking about. I think it was more the adults just kind of in panic mode, like you all need to know about this. Yeah. We're all just like, oh my god, we're all gonna die.

SPEAKER_01 51:08

I know, and living here, you know, with these stupid ass towers. Yes, these towers up here, you're just reminded all the time that because um, I don't know if we've ever talked about them. There's World War II towers here where they would look out for German U-Bits.

SPEAKER_02 51:25

Yes, and they're these huge concrete thing towers that just come up out of on the beach. On the beach, and they're round all the way up to the top, and my kids climb because there are certain beaches where you can climb them. Um, so we were at one when my kids were smaller, and we were just kind of doing the history tour of that part, and they all went up the spiral, and I started I maybe got five feet off the ground, and I was like, fuck this, fuck that. You all wave to me when you get to the top. And I came back down and took pictures of them waving at me. They look like little teeny tiny ants at the top of it. So, yeah, we have those all down our coastline, and there's also um bunkers like under the sand um that are locked up, you can't get into those now, but big concrete bunkers and stuff there because we have Dover Air Force Base here too. So that's always kind of scared me anyway, living in Delaware. Like, if they want to come in on the east coast, they're gonna take out Dover Air Force Base first.

SPEAKER_01 52:21

That's the problem. Where we sit at two very important rivers. Yeah, the Delaware River is on one side with us, and the Chesapeake is on the other side. Yep, yep. Which, by the way, did you see that truck went off? Oh my god. I hate that bridge too. I know, and the guy died. Yeah, it's I um not that you could live from that, but since some of you are not from here, uh we it it's called the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and it goes from the eastern shore of Virginia to the other shore of Virginia. Norfolk. That's Norfolk down there in Virginia Beach. Um doesn't start in Maryland? No, it's Virginia.

SPEAKER_02 53:03

Okay, the Bay Bridge is in Maryland, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 53:07

Yeah, that's Virginia down there. It's Chesapeake. It's Chesapeake. Okay. Um anyway, it's 14 miles long and they threw in two tunnels.

SPEAKER_02 53:18

Which is cool looking at a distance because there's like bridge, bridge, bridge. Water, water, water, water, water, water, bridge. Little again, little island.

SPEAKER_01 53:28

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 53:29

It really is.

SPEAKER_01 53:30

It's like uh and you you probably might have heard of it because they do shows on it all the time. Yeah. Um, but it's 14 miles long, and and I swear we share a fear of bridges. Yes. And the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is god awful. It's the worst. Yeah, it's too tall. This one, too short.

SPEAKER_02 53:48

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it goes underwater. That an infrastructure is gonna break down in salt water at any time.

SPEAKER_01 53:57

I don't understand it. I don't get it. I don't I one time I was coming over it, and so cruise ships come out of Baltimore the Baltimore Harbor, and that's where everything goes to Baltimore. Anyway, um, there was cruise ships coming, giant ships coming, and I was like, no way am I getting in the tunnel with that goddamn thing over it. I know that water display uh-uh. That's too heavy to be what is this thing sitting on? Is it just I don't know. I don't get it. It's a modern Marvel.

SPEAKER_02 54:28

Yeah, I never thought about that. Does it just hang? No, I think it's got is it on the bottom?

SPEAKER_01 54:33

I don't think it's on the bottom.

SPEAKER_02 54:35

So it has it has like a bridge does. Yeah. Like concrete. Yeah. Sounds like an even scarier stuff to fall apart to me.

unknown 54:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:46

Let's not ever do that.

SPEAKER_02 54:47

I'll just but that's the way to Florida. It is. And I don't understand why everybody is so anti-ferry boat. I know. Can we just throw a little ferry in? It's the same as the Kate May Lewis boat. I'll pay you 20 bucks. You give me a ride across there, so I don't have to take that bridge. We're all good.

SPEAKER_01 55:04

Anyway, uh a Purdue truck went off the side of it. It did at 6 30 in the morning. And they shut the damn thing down all the time because again, you're out in the middle of the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. So wind is a thing, which is also why I hate that bridge, because the whole time you're fighting the wind. Yeah, and these guys are in tractor trailers. I don't know. They still haven't announced what happened, but I'm the guardrail was obliviated.

SPEAKER_02 55:30

And the photo of the truck on its side floating on the top of the bay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:36

It's horrible. Horrible. Horrible. Rest in peace, sir. Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 55:42

Anyway, I was going somewhere with that, but I always imagined somebody like idiot cut them off or slammed on their brakes and reflex. They jerked the wheel. I don't know. Maybe he fell asleep. I don't see how you fall asleep on that bridge because I am Uber alert when I have to drive over that thing.

SPEAKER_01 55:58

I don't know. I uh some people were speculating a wind shear caught it. Can you imagine? Like it's not even your fault. You're just driving along and the wind goes whoop that would make sense though. I don't know. Because we get them weird ass winds. They shut that thing down a lot. Hopefully, he had a heart attack and died before.

unknown 56:17

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 56:18

I don't think he died from heart attack. I think the water was 34 degrees.

unknown 56:22

Oh man.

SPEAKER_04 56:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:24

Yeah. That's cold. Anyway, I was going somewhere with that and I don't remember where. Oh yeah. Cold war. Sorry. No.

SPEAKER_02 56:31

We were talking about living on the east coast of the water. The things. See, I got it.

SPEAKER_01 56:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The um things. So when we were kids, like that is what's in because you were told they were for war. So like the whole time you're thinking, but why are they here?

unknown 56:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 56:47

Like, what do you mean war? Right. And that's all you were ever told. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 56:51

Expect battleships on the horizon.

SPEAKER_01 56:52

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 56:53

Like, is that what they're there for?

SPEAKER_01 56:55

And is this happening again? Because we're, you know, we're two and a half hours from Philadelphia, we're two and a half hours from DC, Baltimore. Like we would be a perfect spot to hit. We're in a really shitty area to be. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 57:08

Not to mention global warming.

SPEAKER_01 57:10

The state's going underwater. Underwater. And then you got the largest uh Air Force base on the East Coast here.

SPEAKER_02 57:17

And with the morgue where every single soldier comes back to my dad used to work in that morgue. Yeah. Mm-hmm. He um he he probably saw the shuttle crew.

SPEAKER_01 57:30

That's where they brought him. He probably and Columbia did.

SPEAKER_02 57:33

When he moved down here in the early 70s, um, he had been in the military, but he had not a roll discharge for a health condition. So he went civilian, moved down to Dover, and they stationed him at the morgue. He says he loves it. It didn't it didn't bother him at all. He absolutely loved that job.

SPEAKER_01 57:56

I don't know why I didn't know that. I and I think I always just actually I knew your dad worked there, but I don't know that I ever knew what he actually did.

SPEAKER_02 58:04

Yeah, he started in the morgue and then he became an accountant and he worked in an office, and I can still picture that office with the brown wood paneling and the low ceilings and going to visit him there, the big wooden desks, like old timey. And then later on in his career, he drove a forklift and loaded C5s to take some. That's what I okay. That's what that's what he did at the end.

SPEAKER_01 58:26

Yeah. Because I was gonna say, I feel like you j I feel like he drove a forklift. So good. Yeah, now I know crazy.

SPEAKER_02 58:33

But yeah, he started in the morgue, and I just think that's so funny. And I think it's so funny it just didn't faze him. He said it didn't bother him at all.

SPEAKER_01 58:41

Yeah, that's where sometimes you can see Air Force One there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:45

Yeah. I I actually think I might have seen it fly in a couple weeks ago. It was an awfully sleek-looking plane. Yeah. And he has taken Kennedy's colors off of it. I just read today. Oh, has he? He's gonna remove the colors that Kennedy picked, and he's going to add um gold. Along with navy blue and red.

unknown 59:04

Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 59:06

Yeah, but that is what the article said. More of his palette. And I was like, so he's gonna paint it fucking gold.

SPEAKER_01 59:12

Gaudy.

SPEAKER_02 59:13

The inside's probably all gold, too.

SPEAKER_01 59:15

Oh god, I'm sure. I can't imagine that you can make the outside of gold because like wouldn't it be too shiny?

unknown 59:25

No. Imagine not.

SPEAKER_01 59:29

Anyway, that was what we were we were worried about during the Cold War. And I don't think we ever actually understood.

SPEAKER_02 59:37

But you're right. This all started with you saying, I wonder how my parents felt. Yes. And that would be the age age range where they would because that's around the age I was having kids. Um because when 9-11 happened, my son was four and my daughter was one. And I remember the fear and panic, like, oh my god, what's gonna happen? Are we going to war? I have two babies here. Like, what what am I gonna do? Like that was my well, not my first. I can't really, it was a whole lot of thoughts that morning, but it was definitely something that was on my mind and scared the shit out of me. So yeah, I wonder how your parents felt. Especially being hippies, too.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:21

Like they hired the J Wan. Like the J-Wans came and they were hiring Russian girls. Keep your enemies closer. Well, and my dad, you know, of course, behind call them commie bastards, but uh most of the time he said it to their faces too. But I don't think they really understood no. And then I would always ask him, like, but the problem was they were a lot younger than me. So they did not have the same experience, probably Russians that are our age would have. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:56

And Russians don't have the freedom of media like we do.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:02

Right, but they were fed propaganda. So I got Well, that's true. Like when they came here, because my I think they'd be scared to come here.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:08

That's what I'm saying. Like, my like how bad was your country that coming to a country you think everybody hates you is a better option.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:15

Right. Because like my stepdaughter's mother is Russian. She's from like she's and she was a J1 around in the nineties. And like I don't know. I should ask her. I should maybe I will. Okay. We should move on.org. Anyway. Uh yeah. Go USA and the Olympics.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:44

Yeah, especially USA women hockey. Come on, girls, let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. These girls are tough too, man. I've seen them interviewed. I would love to. If I could skate.

unknown 1:01:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:56

You would be a really good hockey player. Think of that. I would be a bruiser. Think of the aggression you could get. I would be such a nicer person if I could just get out of my way.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:03

You wouldn't even be chasing the puck. You'd just be going around and slamming into the phone. That's what they have some people doing. You'd spend all your time in the timeout.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:15

It's perfect for you. Just come out, hit somebody, and be back in the right heather back in. I love it. Sign me up. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Um find us on all the socials. Like whatever pod.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:32

And like, share, rate, review.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:33

Like, share, rate, review. Uh, we have a website. There's some W's and a likewhateverpod.com. Uh you can find us where all the podcasts happen except Netflix. We're getting there. I don't know. YouTube. We gotta make videos. Hold your breath. Yeah. We do need to make videos. Um you can send us an email about what your favorite Olympic sport is, because I'd like to know. Or you can tell us how you believe in miracles. Uh did I say the gmail.com? Like whatever pod at gmail.com. Or don't. Like whatever. Whatever.