Time for “This Week In Sports History,” where LZ and Will break down an event from the past through the lens of the present day.
On February 22, 1980, the U.S. men’s ice hockey team beat the Soviet Union by four goals to three in an upset so great it came to be known as the “Miracle on Ice.” A bunch of unheralded American hockey kids took to the rink at the Winter Olympic Games event in Lake Placid, a contest on U.S. soil vividly thrown against the backdrop of Cold War tensions with much higher stakes. Facing off against them was a Soviet team that had seized the last four gold medals in Olympic hockey, starting in 1964.
The game has an uncanny resonance today, given tensions between the U.S. and Russia over the latter’s military aggression against Ukraine. But Will and LZ argue that in our era of hyper-polarized politics — where some figures on the right are expressing support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and every rising athlete is subject to a deep dive into their past affiliations and political stands — the response from Americans to a geopolitical contest in the form of sport would be far less unified.
