Let's get over the 'Miracle on Ice'

I caught some of the hour-long (or so) special NBC ran Sunday about the "Miracle on Ice" hockey game from the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., and I commented to a guy sitting next to me how lame and pathetic it was that we keep rehashing that moment, 30 years later. Well, I should've guessed this would happen in a bar with TVs everywhere, but the guy looked at me like I was Stalin himself, apparently offended on some level. That was the end of that "conversation."

I get it, American amateurs vs. the big, bad Russian pros. It's straight out of a Disney movie (in fact, it was made into a Disney-like, cheeseball, feel-good gagfest of a film). Let's move on. I mean, Al Michaels, who made the famous, "Do you believe in miracles!?" call at the end of the game, was clearly beside himself with anticipation the whole interview with three of the players -- who have clearly made a living off that game -- to tell how he graced America with such a memorable, touching phrase. Ugh.

So I completely agree with Matt Taibbi here.

Seriously, can we get over ourselves about the Miracle on Ice? It was great and all, but you hear about it every five minutes in this country. I lived in Russia for 10 years and didn’t even once hear about a bunch of Soviets with hideous mustaches whipping the asses of David Robinson, Danny Manning and Mitch Richmond in basketball in Seoul in ‘88. I heard a lot about the 1972 thing, but that was only in the context of Russians being so amused by how much we whined about getting jobbed by the refs.

I mean really, whatever happened to acting like you’ve been there before? I’m trying to imagine what the citizen of someplace like Liechtenstein or Reunion Island thinks when he sees Americans keeping a 30-year boner over the image of themselves as longshot underdogs who beat the odds.

Like so many things in America, I think our incessant gloating and paranoid fragility (see: Gitmo) come down to insecurity, coupled with unhealthy nostalgia and misplaced identity. But we're not underdogs. We're America. Get over it.

Funniest thing I've ever seen

George Brett, ladies and gentlemen.

I never laughed so hard....

Does jock culture dominate?

John Hodgman makes some fantastic, thought-stimulating points on baseball and jock culture in his interview with The Pitch.

Baseball is the only sport I am capable of tolerating, because of its historicity and its fundamental weirdness and slowness. And its fondness for large, sedentary men. It is essentially a vehicle for nostalgia, which is the most toxic of impulses.

[...]

Well, I don't hate sports -- I completely appreciate the passion people feel for sports, and indeed, as I say in the new book, there's a lot more in common with your average baseball stats nerd as there is with a guy swinging a foam sword around than there is not. There's a lot of geekery surrounding sports that I actually get and appreciate.

And I appreciate that it's market driven, but what I don't need is for sports to dominate every single part of the culture, including even high education. It has a disproportionate representation in the culture, but let the invisible hand of commerce guide us -- the invisible hand is apparently always adjusting its jock strap and not rolling a twelve-sided die. But that will change.

The Pitch: In what way?

I think that we are necessarily moving toward a geek culture. The health of our society is going to rely on information technology. It's going to rely on a familiarity with math and science and technology. Geekery in general is founded on questioning and proof via analysis of the actual world and not the world as we wish it to be. By contrast, jockdom -- not sports -- jock culture proceeds from a certainty you create in your mind: 'My town is the best because the incredibly wealthy owners decided to keep the team for now.' Or, 'My political team is the best because it was my dad's and they best stoke my primitive fears,' as opposed to 'They have the best policies for me and my family.'

Jockdom is very noble. It's not deliberative. It's certainly the best way to win wars. It's the best way to motivate teams of people to fulfill a goal -- not just war, but getting things done. The most important way to motivate a factory floor. But as you know, we're not as much of a manufacturing society as we were before. China and other big industrial nations are rewarding their nerds and technicians rather than creating a culture that makes fun of them -- it would be wise for us to embrace the book-smart as much as our culture has traditionally embraced the street-smart, the jock-smart. I'm not saying nerds must have their revenge; I'm just saying the time for wedgies is at an end.

A Smattering of Links

- This piece on ABC World News was pretty pathetic:

Is Obama 'Too Nice' to Make Tough Decisions?

With problems for the president in Afghanistan, health care and unemployment, some critics on both the left and right are asking: Is the president essentially "too nice" to make the important decisions?

The National Journal magazine asks in a just-out edition, "Is He Tough Enough?"

"Be decisive," says Tom Tradewell, the commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Even liberal New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd says the president will have to "break some eggs" to cook up a more perfect union.

[...]

"I think he has been plenty tough. I think people want toughness, but they also want to have thoughtful leadership. And that -- and that requires reviewing these issues, thinking them through clearly, and bringing people along, and that's what he's doing," senior adviser David Axelrod said.

But the White House is angering its own party by declaring today a public option is not a necessity in a health care bill.

"He's not demanding that it's in there," said senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. "He thinks it's the best possible choice."

White House officials say all this talk about "is he tough enough" is only a matter of style -- the president is trying to build consensus. But that effort is also leading to the criticism, they say.

[...]

"The president has reached a tipping point whether deliberation is starting to look like hesitation," said Republican strategist Kevin Madden. "One of the biggest risks there, the American public begins to question whether or not you have the leadership skills."

I'm not one to shelter Obama, but this is typical mainstream media bullshit. He doesn't express joy in sending troops into a sinkhole war, so all of the sudden he's a pussy. I agree with them that showing little resolve in demanding a robust public option in health care is pretty spineless, but I question whether it means he's not tough or whether he ever really wanted to spend that rotten, vanity-laced thing we call political capital on a public option. I hope he can end up in the right place. Nevertheless, this storyline from Washington media is typical and sad journalism.

(And I loved how this ABC World News broadcast ended with this teaser for tomorrow: "And coming up tomorrow: What if the U.S. doesn't have enough swine flu vaccine? Tune in tomorrow for that." Your modern media.)

- Speaking of unfair assessments of President Obama, here's another one, via HBO documentary, though this one is more outdated than unfair. It has a Nobel Prize eight months later feel to it. It's called "By the People." I just saw a preview, but it looks to be about an array of campaign workers and volunteers throughout the country busting their ass to get him elected. Why they stood behind I'm sure is a fascinating study from person to person. It was a great moment that I'm glad is being documented, now frozen in time for history to revisit.

But seeing anything like that right now is pretty bitter to me. Again, it feels highly outdated and completely at odds with what many on the Left feel about him right now. I get it, it's a year later. But still....

I'm sure I'll watch if given the chance, but I probably should wait for a few years. I think it will sting right now. (I'll give my usual disclaimer: I never believed he would live up to the lofty hype surrounding him at times during the campaign. But I never expected him to be the George W. Bush Jr. Varsity squad.) It might lessen the real impact and sense of relief-turned-joy of November 4, 2008.

- Apparently the DC rap scene is up and coming. I had no idea. But it's a fascinating read for anyone interested in how a scene -- for any kind of music I imagine -- originates and lasts somewhere. DC's rap banner-carrier? A guy named Wale. I wish them luck.

- I'm morbidly excited for Washington Redskins hand-wringing the next few days. I caught some of the postgame from today's loss to the awful KC Chiefs. One commentator named Doc Walker, supposedly a Redskin great, looked directly into the camera and said, "Either you get it done or you surrender!" about head coach Jim Zorn. I then pissed myself. And I think former player Brian Mitchell was near tears rambling about how the current Redskins roster is tarnishing the storied history of the team, including Mitchell's many ... kick returns. They're serious around here.

Not a Hall of Famer

Announcer (Ian Eagle?) for CBS at the end of the awful field goal-laden, error-riddled Chief-Redskins game: "They won't be sending this tape to Canton ... in fact, they'll probably burn it."

Update: Chiefs up 9-6 on a ... field goal! 3:36 left in the game. I'm crying blood.

Another update: The Chiefs' kicker was Mr. Irrelevant of the draft! He's a success story!

NFL Genius or Incoherent Schizophrenia?

I can't decide if the CBS football halftime show, or NFL Today, is brilliance in modern sports marketing/infotainment? Or is the biggest load of forced-emotion, just-regular-guys-bullshitting drivel in the world?

Update: It gets worse: First Pearl Jam song (the laughable new single, The Fixer) on an NFL broadcast that I've ever seen/heard. Shit.

Another update: I love when the CBS (or any other group of) announcers all act like a game (Chiefs vs. Redskins) is the most sad, pathetic putrid joke of professional football (they being all former pretty good pros) imaginable. And the one non-former player announcer ends the "highlight" reel with a, "Ohhhhh, not pretty" send-off. That's when you know the teams (Chiefs vs. Redskins) are pretty bleak.

Another another update: Todd Collins is in! The Washington Savior! The cagey, wily veteran! And a field goal! Coronate him! Sorry Jason Campbell. Barring a Todd Collins ACL sever, you're on the bench. You have to hang out with Colt Brennan.