struggle for a dollar...scuffle for a dime

 Step out from the past and try to hold the line

So how come history takes such a long, long time

When you're waiting for a miracle   ( Bruce Cockburn)

sorry for the delay but we had some family emergencies this week......alas all is well....where was i ?

ah yes.....Friday February 22nd 1980.

first off I went skiing upstate at a Dude Ranch with the Mc Evoys.....me, Whitey, Freddie Roc and Dermot....we skiid and drank in the hotel for 3 days....complete insanity....terrorized the slopes by day ...and took a taxi into town, bought beer at the age of 14 and went back to the hotel to terrorize some more....on Friday we took a Bus from the Catskills to the Port Authority and we arrived at the crossroads of the universe around 6:00 - 6:30 pm.......keep in mind this was 1980.....no cell phones, no internet and the USA-Russia game was not being televised......as we arrived in the Port the place was buzzing....out on 8th avenue people were standing around and chatting about the GAME.......someone told us that the Americans were beating the Russians late in the 3rd period.......unreal....we couldn't believe it......we crossed 8th avenue and walked into a Bar.....my memory isn't perfect....it was either A Blarney Stone /Blarney Rock or Mcahons.....one of those chain Irish Bars.....real bucket of blood....but on this Friday afternoon it was jumping.....we were still a few weeks away from our 15th Birthdays but the drinking age was only 18 .....and we looked older.....so we combined all of our singles into a pile and ordered 5 mugs of Bud.......the game was not on TV or Radio.......but the stereo behind the Bar was tuned to 1010 WINS and every 15 minutes was a sports update.......John Montone or someone similar was outside the arena at Lake Placid and filing updates that were being passed out to him.......the bar went silent when he announced " There are less than 3 minutes to go and the Americans are clinging to a 1 goal lead , but the Russians are swarming the Americans trying to tie the game".....the Bar Roared.....everyone high fiving and raising their beers triumphantly........then the bar got silent again......we stood staring at the ceiling or floors  listening to the radio and some crazy report about potential subway strike or an expansion project at the Javits center..we were all excited , but we would not have been shocked if the next report said the Russians scored twice in the closing minute...they were that good.......and then.....we interrupt this report to go live to Lake Placid where 1010 WINS John Montone is standing by.

"Well it's all over at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid......the underdog Americans have shocked the world and defeated the Soviet Union"...........BEDLAM.......pure fucking BEDLAM......everyone was jumping up and down and taking to the streets with their Beer Mugs.....Cars on 8th ave honked their horns......eruptions and Roars went up from the Port Authority as word Spread.....42nd street was electric........chants of USA, USA, USA broke out all over the city............looking back on that moment i laugh at the oddity of it......of all the places in the world for a group of 14 year olds to be.....but that was NY in the 70's/80's........we walked to Broadway and caught the RR train back to Bayridge....i walked home and sat down just in time for ABC to televise the game on tape delay......a moment that changed my life forever......sadly we will never know a moment like that again.....nobody cared that it was Jimmy Carter in the White House, everyone was truly United to Beat Russia....and we did.......it was the first Real Sign that the United States of America was roaring back to Life........5 years later i would be enlisting in the Navy and hoping to go to war with those Russian Bastards on the High Seas....America owes a debt of gratitude to Herb Brooks and all those wonderful lads....