Inspired by my own lame joke about tonight’s USA-Canada hockey result — “Do you believe in mild surprises? YES!” — I got to thinking about whether it would be accurate to describe the call on which the joke is based, Al Michaels’ “Do you believe in miracles?” at the end of the 1980 USA-Soviet game, as the single most famous call in sports broadcasting history.
As I thought about this, I found that I actually couldn’t think of very many contenders that even come close. The only one that strikes me as a legitimate rival is “The Giants win the pennant!” Some college football fans might cite “The band is out on the field!,” but I just don’t think that has the same level of gravitas and broad cultural recognition and resonance outside its specific sport.
Anyway, what else? What other calls even belong in the same conversation, if any? And which one’s #1? Here are the three I referenced:
This is being picky, but I’m not as much a fan of “Do You Believe in Miracles?” as some others. For one, no American saw the game live (except for a few hearty souls along the Canadian border, picking up a Canadian feed), so the call is “remembered” by the vast majority of us separate from the game. For example, I found out the score – by an unwise, pre-twitter PA guy – at a high school basketball game. So…yeah, I believed before I saw the puck drop on tape delay.
The other problem with “Do You Believe in Miracles?” is that it somewhat misrepresents the David-vs-Goliath-ness of the game. The line is supposed to capture the underdogness of the US, but it is worth noting that, for reasons unclear even 30 years later, the Soviet coach pulled the greatest goaltender in the history of the sport (Tretiak) at the end of the first period, with the score tied 2-2. Somehow the most epic upset in history, a “miracle”, should be achieved while your opponent is playing his all-world guys, not his understudies.
As far as other nominees, the one that really sticks out in my mind is Jack Buck’s call at the end of Game 6 of the 1991 World Series. It was an impossibly great game – though actually Game 7 was even better – full of tension the way great baseball is supposed to be, and it ended with an 11th inning homer off the bat of Kirby Puckett. Couldn’t find a video for it, but as I recall the ball went deep into the night over the (left?)centerfield wall, which was basically black tarp at the metrodome, and as the ball faded to black, Jack Buck said ever so simply “We’ll see you tomorrow night”.
Further, “We’ll see you tomorrow night” is enhanced in its greatness by how much of a tool it reveals Jack Buck’s son Joe to be, who insists on repeating his dad’s famous phrase at the end of his own postseason games. What an idiot Joe Buck is.
Kirk Gibson’s pinch hit homerun for the Dodgers in the 1988 World seies was a pretty dramatic call.
gahrie….what I was going to say as well
I responded to this over on Facebook, after someone made the same point:
the Soviet coach pulled the greatest goaltender in the history of the sport (Tretiak) at the end of the first period, with the score tied 2-2. Somehow the most epic upset in history, a “miracle”, should be achieved while your opponent is playing his all-world guys, not his understudies.
Myshkin was no slouch. The previous year he shutout the NHL All-Stars in 1979 Challenge Cup.
This was truly an epic upset of miraculous proportions regardless of who was minding the net.
“Mayydayy, Mayydayy, Braaadd Maaaay!!!!” — Rick Jeanret
Rick Jeanret’s Sabres calls over the years have been great. He’s not as good without Jim Lorentz, but he’s still the best play-by-play man in hockey.
If you would like more Jeanret quotes, I suggest looking on the highest level of your domestic shelving unit, where maternal figures conceal baked goods (“Top shelf where mama hides the cookies!”)
Oh, and this classic tidbit from Van Miller (Bills play caller):
“And Thurman’s in the open! He’s at the 40, the 50, the 60!”
On the 30th anniversary of the greatest hockey game ever, I feel compelled to respond to Jazz’s attempt to minimize both the accomplishment of the American team and the thrilling, pitch-perfect call by Al Michaels.
I was 15 and most people didn’t have cable TV, let alone instant access to the internet through your computer or phone. Yes, there were dial up scoreboards and radio shows that may have spilled the beans but if you didn’t want to know the outcome of that game it was a lot easier to avoid than it would have been today. And just because Jazz knew the score before the game broadcast a few hours later doesn’t make the miracle any less.
More disturbing to me is your assertion that the US win was somehow not as big because Tretiak was pulled. The reasons are not unclear at all. He gave up two BAD goals in the 1st period – a long slapshot from just inside the blue line to Buzz Schneider and the unforgivable mistake at the end of the period, lazily allowing a big rebound on a shot from center ice to Mark Johnson for an easy gift to the US.
As noted above, Myshkin was not just some guy they pulled off the street. He got beat on a power play goal then was screened on Eruzione’s brilliant game winner.
And in case anyone needs reminding about how huge this upset was, there were no Russians playing in the NHL at that time. They were for all intents and purposes a professional All-Star squad going up against a US collegiate club of amateurs. Going into the 1980 Olympics, the Russians had won 4 straight gold medals, 8 of the last 9, and had not lost an Olympic hockey game since 1968.
Al Michaels had called exactly one hockey game before he got the 1980 Olympic assignment from ABC. One! And with “Do You Believe In Miracles?”, he captured the joy of the impossible at a time when America needed to believe.
It is the single greatest sports moment I’ve ever experienced and I doubt it will be surpassed in my lifetime.
Meh. FWIW, I argued that the “Miracle” meme somewhat misrepresents the equity of the game, given Tretiak being pulled at the end of the first period. It should be clear that “miracle” as “somewhat overstated” doesn’t imply that Myshkin was a bad goalie or that the US weren’t huge underdogs for the final two periods.
Also FWIW, I agree that the two cheap goals Tretiak allowed in the first period are probably the reason he was pulled, in addition to Soviet confidence that the final score would be something like the 10-3 outcome of their exhibition game against the Americans weeks earlier.
Ultimately, though, my arguments are a bit cranky. “Do you believe in miracles” is almost surely the most iconic call in broadcasting history, and Tretiak v. Myshkin in net almost surely has nothing to do with its fame.
So, anyway, I was personally curious about how “miraculous” the Miracle on Ice really was as a hockey game, as opposed to how much the miracle is steeped in the myth of the Cold War. One way to address this question is just to say of course its a miracle. I went ahead and looked for some comparable data anyway.
Possibly the most effective measure comparing two teams in a high-profile hockey game is shots on goal. Purists will suggest that scoring chances are better than shots on goal, but after all every shot on goal is a scoring chance but for the goalie. Anyway, the Wikipedia site doesn’t tell us the scoring chances, so I’m using shots on goal. 39-16 Soviets, or about 2.5:1. Pretty impressive to overcome that disparity and win. Miraculous?
It would be miraculous if it were unheard-of for a team on the business end of a 2.5:1 SOG disparity to win. You could search for such games in the NHL, but the teams are probably too closely matched for such disparity. I went to the ECHL (AA minors), whose website is ideal for this exercise. And I fudged a bit -I used 2:1 instead of 2.5:1 as my criteria.
For example, there was a Miracle on Ice just last month in Idaho, where the hometown Steelheads lost 6-5 to the Las Vegas Ramblers, in spite of outshooting them 48-20. A scant five days later there was almost another Miracle on Ice, when the humble Alaska Aces were tied 3-3 at the end of regulation, in spite of being outshot a seemingly-staggering 46-15.
It then took almost three weeks, but sure enough there was yet another miracle on ice, where Gwinnett knocked off Charlotte 2-1, after being outshot 36-15.
That was as far back as I went. Suffice to say that the last 12 ECHL games with a 2:1 SOG discrepancy, the team with more shots won 9, while the team with less won the two listed above and lost the third one, above, in a shootout.
All of which is basically to say that the Miracle on Ice is a ‘Miracle’ because Cold War-era Americans like to think of it as such. YMMV.