> As an "old faht" operating in "the snow was deeper, the winter colder"
mode,
> I think that the 1960 win may have been more of an accomplishment.  This
was
> literally a team of plumbers, carpenters, and insurance agents.  Some of
> them worked at their "day jobs" until weeks before the opening of the
> Olympics.  And they beat Sweden, the USSR, Canada and Czechoslovakia along
> the way, something the 1980 team didn't  have to do.
 
Not a bad point - but the USSR wasn't as strong then either (not anything
near what they became) ... and neither were the others, other than Canada
(in relative terms).
 
Also - the 1980 team defeated all of those except Canada - but did defeat
Finland instead.
 
Anyway -- the accomplishment of it is not what makes the event so huge ...
it's the social implications - and simply the effect it had on breeding more
American players.
 
AW
 
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