Forty years ago today perhaps the greatest upset in the history of team sports as the United States men’s hockey team upset the Soviet Union in one of the most iconic moments in the history of sports at any level.
Based off the timing of the game in conjunction with the Cold War and other world events of the time, it’s almost impossible to imagine quite a perfect storm even presenting itself again, let alone playing out like those 1980 Olympics did. If I could go back in time to witness one sporting event I wasn’t alive for it’d be this and it really wouldn’t be particularly close as to whatever number two even is.
It did get me thinking though, was Notre Dame’s 1988 squad the equivalent of the the 1980 Miracle on Ice squad?
Before you scream and yell that nothing could ever be know that I already agree with you on that. However, there are some parallels worth at least bringing up.
For instance – the hardship the United States was going through in the late seventies and the Cold War being on everyone’s mind doesn’t allow for really any comparison. But for at least comparison’s sake, Notre Dame football hadn’t won a national championship in eleven years entering 1988 (which doesn’t seem like very long anymore) but had finished a season ranked just one time in the previous seven years, six of which were in consecutive years which remains the worst run since the AP Poll has begun being taken.
Overcoming an Early Scare: