(Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
I’d like to thank fellow B/R writer Leroy Watson for helping me with this article.
So...which MLB player was accused of steroid use today? Or, who was the latest Hollywood teen superstar to waste their life? Any new politician admit his affair this week?
While the suits and ties among us will ask for a huge bailout package, we will sit at our homes, out of work, feeling helpless, blaming something or the other for this catastrophe.
And that’s the vibe going around right now. One of helplessness, frustration, anger, sadness, and depression.
We are so divided right now, so uninspired. Worse than the depression of economy is the depression of spirit, hopes, and dreams.
The younger generations are growing up in this hollow, fragile society today, whose spirit has been colored in the mistakes of the Hollywood rock stars, while the hopes of a common man are simply to survive the day and not get fired from his job, and the “American dream” is just that—a dream.
Yep, it’s a twisted world today, so unfair, so corrupted, everything is going wrong, everyone is against us, and the American spirit is truly dead and gone.
I won’t blame you if you think that way. But now, wait just a minute...
Didn’t we survive a civil war and end up abolishing the evil of slavery? Didn’t we survive a great depression and come out stronger than ever before? Weren’t we at war before, and didn’t we emerge victorious?
Every society, every nation, every generation faces problems of humongous proportions. And it is at these times the mettle of the common man is tested. It is at these times people reach deep, deep down within themselves, feel that great spirit running through their veins, and accomplish the unbelievable!
The American spirit is not lost. It is there in our hearts. All we need to do is get inspired, let that adrenaline rush take over our system, let those memories fill our hearts with hope, erase the word “impossible” from our dictionary and believe that anything is possible. Anything!
Sports have always embodied that American spirit. And as we celebrate this Fourth of July weekend, not as happily or hopefully as we’d like, maybe reliving some moments and people in sports that united us, that thrilled us, that are etched in history forever, that made us believe that dreams do come true...maybe, just maybe, it’ll be worth something.
“Do You Believe in Miracles?”
The 1980 Winter Olympics saw a U.S. team of young and inexperienced amateurs go up against a brutal, professional unit considered worldwide to be the very best hockey team ever—the Soviet Union.
And the United States won!
Not even the biggest believer gave the U.S. team the slightest chance, and their words seemed to be coming true, as the Russians took the early lead. Schneider tied the game for the US, but Makarov brought the USSR right back into the lead.
But with one second remaining in the first period, Johnson scored and put U.S. on level terms. The crowd at Lake Placid, New York, started going wild! Imagine the excitement and atmosphere inside the arena that night.
The upstart U.S. team gained a 4-3 lead in the match, and faced the impossible task of keeping the Soviets at bay for the last 10 minutes of the third—and final—period.
Sportscaster Al Michaels delivered the now-historic call:
“Eleven seconds, you’ve got ten seconds, the countdown going on right now! Morrow up to Silk. Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles? YES!”
Right in the middle of the cold war, this victory of the underdog stands as the single biggest adrenaline rush in history for me.
It taught us to keep faith in ourselves, that hard work can achieve everything, that dreams mean something in life, and that miracles do indeed take place...if you only “believe.”
“I Ain't Got No Quarrel With Them Viet Cong...”
Muhammad Ali, considered by many as the greatest sports person of the last century, is known for his unrivaled skills inside the boxing ring, and his unparalleled vocal abilities outside it.
But he is also known for saying “no” to being drafted in the U.S. army during the Vietnam War. Any war was wrong, and there was no sane reason for him to take part in 'Nam, he believed.
Whatever your political opinions may be, whatever your views on war may be, there is no denying the man took a stand. He stood by what he believed in and come what may, he didn’t budge.
They stripped him of his title, his right to fight anywhere in the U.S., even threatened an arrest, but he rose above the chains of national bond and stood by his emblem of humanity.
Soon, the public sentiment echoed his words.
Years later, The Dixie Chicks took a stand, said what they felt. Sadly, we didn’t learn our lesson back in the '60s, and they faced criticism. Natalie even got a death threat.
It isn’t about the war, really; it isn’t about politics. Patriotism isn’t just waging wars on anyone, it's about doing for your country that what is right. Like President Lincoln said, “I don’t know if God is on my side, I care if I am on his side.”
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