During the coronavirus shutdown, each day we will bring you a recommendation from The Post’s Peter Botte for a sports movie, TV show or book that perhaps was before your time or somehow slipped between the cracks of your viewing/reading history.
“Do You Believe in Miracles?: The Story of the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team,” HBO (2001)
Streaming: HBO Go, HBO Now, YouTube
“Miracle” (2004), Rated PG
Streaming: Netflix, Amazon Prime
Yes, Al Michaels, we most certainly do believe in miracles.
Having just celebrated the 40-year anniversary of what many consider the greatest American sports moment of all time, we are jointly highlighting both the stellar documentary and big-screen tale about the gold medal-winning 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team.
The HBO documentary, narrated by actor Liev Schreiber, presents interviews with many of the main participants on both sides of the Americans’ improbable (impossible!) 4-3 victory over the Russians in the semifinals — including U.S. captain Mike Eruzione, goalie Jim Craig, first-line forward Dave Silk and colorful defenseman Jack O’Callahan, my four fellow Boston University alums.
Even pulled Russian goaltending legend Vladislav Tretiak and top forward Boris Mikhailov lend their insights — as does Barry Rosen, among the 54 Americans held hostage in Iran beginning in November 1979.
There are plenty of fascinating anecdotes here not covered in the Disney movie a few years later, particularly Eruzione, who potted the game-winning goal against the Russians, telling the story of head coach Herb Brooks telling the players they would “take it to their f–king graves” if they lost the subsequent gold-medal game to Finland.
“Miracle,” directed by Long Island native Gavin O’Connor, stars a jowly Kurt Russell in an intense performance as Brooks, who died during principal photography in a 2003 car crash. The action-packed hockey sequences are terrific, and Russell’s “You were born to be hockey players” speech ahead of the Soviet game is a cinematic treasure.
As the epilogue tells us after the gold medal was sealed, of course, Brooks didn’t get to see the final product of the film. But he lived it.
This stellar pairing of historical accounts allows us to relive it, too.
Quote of Note: “You’ve got 10 seconds, the countdown going on right now, [Ken] Morrow up to [Dave] Silk, 5 seconds left in the game. (analyst Ken Dryden: “It’s over”) Do you believe in miracles?! Yes!” — Al Michaels during the television call of the final seconds of the 1980 U.S. hockey team’s upset victory over the USSR.
Botte Blows: 4.75 of 5