Aug. 24, 2025

USA vs. Russia - "Do You Believe in Miracles? The Goal That Started a 45-Year War"

Show Notes
Transcript

February 22, 1980. Lake Placid, New York. Mike Eruzione's wrist shot beats Vladimir Myshkin with ten minutes left in the third period. Al Michaels screams into his microphone: "Do you believe in miracles? YES!" In that moment, a team of American college kids didn't just defeat the Soviet hockey machine—they lit a fuse that would explode into 45 years of escalating conflict between superpowers.

From Reagan's "Evil Empire" to Putin's revenge, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the invasion of Ukraine, this episode traces how one hockey game became the catalyst for the modern USA-Russia rivalry. Marcus Reid reveals how the "Miracle on Ice" transformed from a moment of American triumph into the opening shot of a new kind of warfare—fought with hackers instead of hockey players, social media instead of slap shots, and nuclear threats that make the Cold War look civilized. Featuring exclusive insights into the personal vendettas that drive this conflict: Bush looking into Putin's soul and finding a liar. Obama's reset button mistranslated to "overcharge." Trump's inexplicable deference. Biden calling Putin a killer.

Through declassified documents and insider accounts, we explore how a game meant to showcase amateur athletics became the blueprint for professional hostility. This is the definitive account of how American kids beating Soviet professionals at hockey created a rivalry that would outlive the Soviet Union itself. From Lake Placid's innocent patriotism to election interference, from Olympic glory to Olympic doping scandals, from believing in miracles to believing in nothing—this is how a moment of pure joy became a forever war. The ice never melted. The game never ended. And 45 years later, both nations are still keeping score.

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Love drama? Obsessed with rivalries that shaped history? From Hollywood breakups to presidential vendettas, from rap battles to international Cold Wars, Feuds: Power, Pride, and Payback delivers the most explosive conflicts in culture, politics, and entertainment. Join thousands of fellow drama enthusiasts dissecting every episode, sharing theories, and debating who really won these legendary battles. We're building the ultimate community for people who understand that the best stories are always about conflict.

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Because every great story needs people to tell it to.

Join the Feuds Community!

Love drama? Obsessed with rivalries that shaped history? From Hollywood breakups to presidential vendettas, from rap battles to international Cold Wars, Feuds: Power, Pride, and Payback delivers the most explosive conflicts in culture, politics, and entertainment.

Join thousands of fellow drama enthusiasts dissecting every episode, sharing theories, and debating who really won these legendary battles. We're building the ultimate community for people who understand that the best stories are always about conflict.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram—just search for "Feuds Podcast" or click the link in the show notes.

Because every great story needs people to tell it to.

WEBVTT

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Kalaruga, Shark Media, February twenty second, nineteen eighty, Lake Placid,

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New York. Eight thousand, five hundred Americans packed into an

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arena built for seven thousand, seven hundred. With ten minutes

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left in the third period, Mike Eruzione fires a wrist

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shot past Vladimir Michigan. The crowd explodes. Al Michaels's voice

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cracks with emotion. Do you believe in miracles? Yes? A

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team of college kids has just defeated the Soviet hockey machine,

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the same team that had demolished the NHL All Stars

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six to zero just months earlier. But this wasn't really

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about hockey. This was about Afghanistan, about grain embargoes, about

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nuclear missiles, about a Cold War that had turned to Arctic.

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As American flags wave and grown men cry, something shifts

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in the American psyche. For the first time in years,

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we'd beaten them at their own game. We'd proven that

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their system wasn't invincible, that maybe, just maybe, we could

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win this thing. The Soviets left the ice in shock,

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their red jerseys soaked with sweat and failure. They'd learn

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that in America, narrative matters more than statistics, and this

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narrative David's slaying Goliath on Ice would echo through the

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next forty five years of conflict. Welcome back to feuds, power, pride,

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and payback. I'm Marcus Reid. Some feuds are fought with missiles,

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others with money, but sometimes the most meaningful battles are

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fought with sticks and pucks, with symbols and stories, with

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the kind of moments that make entire nations bel in miracles.

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This is the story of how a hockey game became

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a metaphor for everything that followed, forty five years of competition, confrontation,

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and the kind of rivalry that defines civilizations. This is

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Episode twenty six. Do You Believe in Miracles? Forty five

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years of Ice? Cold War Act One? The Miracle and

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its Aftermath nineteen eighty to nineteen eighty five. To understand

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why Lake Placid mattered so much, you need to understand

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the world. In February nineteen eighty, America was bleeding from

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one thousand cuts. Vietnam had shattered our confidence, leaving a

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generation questioning everything they'd been taught about American invincibility. The

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Iran hostage crisis played out nightly on television fifty two

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Americans held captive while the most powerful military in history

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good helpless gas lines stretched around blocks as Opek squeezed

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our economy inflation eight savings alive, and now, as if

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to add insult to injury, Soviet tanks were rolling through

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Afghanistan while we could do nothing but boycott grain sales

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and mumble about sanctions. The Soviet hockey team perfectly embodied

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everything Americans feared about the communist system. They weren't just good,

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they were mechanical perfection. Since nineteen sixty four, they'd won

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every Olympic gold medal, treating international hockey like a laboratory

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demonstration of socialist superiority. Their players trained eleven months a year,

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lived in barracks, and played with the emotionless efficiency of

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a Swiss watch. When they destroyed the NHL All Star

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six to zero in the nineteen seventy nine Challenge Cup,

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American commentators could barely hide their despair. If we couldn't

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beat them at our own game, with our own rules,

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on our own ice, what hope did we have anywhere else?

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Enter Herb Brooks and his team of college kids, average

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age just twenty one, wearing jerseys their girlfriends could have sown.

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Brooks had coached them into exhaustion, made them hate him

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more than they could ever hate any opponent. His practices

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were so brutal that playing the Soviets actually seemed like relief.

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The name on the front of the jersey is more

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important than the name on the back, he told them,

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creating unity through shared suffering. When Erusione scored that goal

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with ten minutes left, the arena erupted in a way

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that transcended sport. This wasn't just about hockey anymore. Every

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American in that building, everyone watching on television understood they

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were witnessing something bigger. When the final buzzer sounded and

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American players piled onto the ice in chaotic celebration, while

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the Soviets stood in stunned silence, it felt like the

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first American victory in years that actually mattered. Ronald Reagan,

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still just a candidate but already reading the national mood perfectly,

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immediately grasped the moment's propaganda value. This proves our way

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of life is superior, he would say, repeatedly, transforming a

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hockey game into ideological validation. The Soviets had been beaten

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by American heart, American determination, American freedom, or so the

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story went. The Soviet players were devastated in ways that

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went beyond losing a game. Victor Tikhanoff, their legendary coach,

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later admitted they'd been over confident, dismissive of the American amateurs.

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But more than tactical failure, they'd suffered narrative collapse. In

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a system built entirely on projecting strength and inevitable victory,

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They'd shown weakness on the world stage. The image of

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Soviet players standing helplessly as Americans celebrated would be replayed endlessly,

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each viewing another small humiliation. That hockey game became the

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opening shot in a new phase of the Cold War.

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Reagan rode the wave of renewed American confidence all the

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way to the White House, where his cowboy diplomacy replaced

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Carter's cautious moralizing. In March nineteen eighty three, he would

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stand before evangelical leaders and declare the Soviet Union an

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evil empire, words that would have seemed like dangerous provocation

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just three years earlier, but now felt like righteous truth telling.

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The Soviets responded to Lake Placid's humiliation with escalation everywhere else.

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In September nineteen eighty three, they shot down Korean Airlines

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Flight zero zero seven, killing two hundred sixty nine civilians,

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including a US congressman. When Reagan deployed Pershing missiles to Europe,

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they walked out of arms control talks. During NATO's Able

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Archer exercise in November nineteen eighty three, Soviet nuclear forces

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went to high alert, convinced the Americans were planning a

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first strike under cover of wargames. We came within hours

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of nuclear war, closer than any time since Cuba, and

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most Americans never knew. But it was in the cultural

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realm where the Lake Placid effect was most visible. Hollywood

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understood that Americans were hungry for stories of triumph over

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Soviet villains. Rocky four in nineteen eighty five literally had

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Sylvester Stallone punching Communism to death in the ring, ending

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with a speech about change that had Russian fans cheering

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for Rocky Balboa. Red Dawn showed American teenagers fighting Soviet

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invaders in Colorado. The message was consistent and unsubtle. We

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were back, we were strong, and this time we were winning.

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Act two Glass nost and the Great Deception nineteen eighty

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five to nineteen ninety nine. Then came Mikhail Gorbachev, and

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everything changed, or seemed to change. After a parade of

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dying Soviet leaders Brezhnev Andropov Chernenko, here was someone who smiled,

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who had a wife, who didn't look like a tractor,

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who spoke about openness and restructuring. The West was enchanted.

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The personal chemistry between Reagan and Gorbachev shocked everyone, especially

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their own advisors. These two men who should have been

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mortal enemies, discovered they actually liked each other. At Reikyevik

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in nineteen eighty six, they walked alone by the water

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and came within minutes of agreeing to eliminate all nuclear weapons.

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The deal collapsed over Star Wars, but the image of

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Ronnie and Mikhail strolling together like old friends suggested possibilities

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no one had imagined. By nineteen eighty nine, the impossible

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was happening everywhere. The Berlin Wall didn't fall, it was

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danced to death champagne, bottles and sledge hammers, turning the

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century's starkest symbol of division into history's biggest party. David

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Hasselhoff performed Looking for Freedom in a jacket covered in lights,

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while East and West Germans embraced on the rubble In Moscow,

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Boris Yeltsen climbed on a tank to face down hard

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line communists, his liquid courage turning him into an unlikely

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democratic hero. For a brief shining moment, it seemed like

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the feud was over. The Cold War hadn't just ended,

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it had been won decisively by the good guys. Francis

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Fukuyama declared it the end of history. Americans flooded into

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mon Oscow to teach Russians about democracy and free markets.

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McDonald's opened in Pushkin Square to lines that stretched for

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blocks each Big Mac a small victory for capitalism. Pizza

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Hut filmed Gorbachev in a commercial, the man who'd led

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the Soviet Union, now shilling for American fast food. But

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beneath the celebration, something darker was happening. Russia wasn't just

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losing a Cold War, it was losing everything. The economy

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collapsed so completely that teachers went unpaid for months, nuclear

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scientists sold secrets to survive, and grandmothers begged in the streets.

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Life expectancy plummeted, the ruble became worthless. When American advisers

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promised that shock therapy would lead to prosperity, Russians experienced

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only the shock. The expansion of NATO eastward felt like

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the ultimate betrayal. Gorbachev V insisted he'd been promised NATO

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wouldn't move one inch beyond Germany. American diplomats claimed no

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such promise was ever made. But as Poland, Hungary, and

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the Czech Republic joined the alliance, Russian saw encirclement disguised

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as liberation. Every new NATO member was another reminder that

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they'd lost not just the Cold War but their entire

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sphere of influence. When NATO bombed Yugoslavia in nineteen ninety

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nine without Yun approval, Russian rage exploded. Prime Minister Yevgeny

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Primakov was literally flying to Washington when he heard about

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the bombing. He ordered his plane to turn around mid Atlantic,

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a dramatic gesture that captured Russian humiliation and fury. They

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couldn't stop the bombing, couldn't protect their Serbian allies, couldn't

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do anything but watch as America acted with impunity. Boris

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Yeltsin once the democratic hero on the tank became a

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global embarrassment. He conducted an orchestra while visibly drunk in Berlin.

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He failed to get off a plane in Ireland, too

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intoxicated to meet the Prime Minister. When he visited the

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White House, aides had to stop him from wandering outside

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in his underwear, trying to hail a taxi to get pizza.

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Each incident was comedy for Americans, tragedy for Russians, who

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saw their country reduced to a punchline. In a dreary

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Saint Petersburg basement, a former KGB officer named Vladimir Putin

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watched it all. He'd served in Dresden, watched the Berlin wallfall,

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burned intelligence files as crowds surrounded the KGB building. He'd

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seen the Soviet Empire collapse from the inside. Now he

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watched as oligarchs carved up Russia's wealth while Americans lectured

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about democracy. He remembered every slight, every humiliation, every broken

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promise he would dedicate his life to revenge. Act three,

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the Putin Vendetta two thousand to two thousand fourteen. Putin's

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rise was no accident. He understood something that Western leaders

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had forgotten. For Russians, respect mattered more than prosperity. His

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mission was simple, restore Russian greatness by challenging America at

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every turn, but he would be smart about it, patient

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playing a long game while Americans focused on quarterly earnings

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and election cycles. His first master stroke was charm. When

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George W. Bush met Putin in two thousand one, he

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famously declared he'd looked into his soul and found a

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trustworthy partner. Putin had shown Bush across, claimed his mother

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had given it to him, played the role of Christian

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ally perfectly. After September eleventh, Putin was the first world

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leader to call with support. He opened Russian airspace for

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American military flights to Afghanistan, shared intelligence on Al Qaeda.

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For a moment, it seemed like shared enemies might create

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real partnership, But Putin was playing chess while Bush played checkers.

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Every gesture of cooperation came with a price. When America

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invaded a Rock in two thousand and three, Putin publicly

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warned Bush, you're making a mistake, George. The condescension was intentional.

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The former KGB officer lecturing the American president about understanding

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the Middle East. When the invasion became a quagmire, Putin's

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warnings seemed prophetic. The real break came in two thousand

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and eight during the Beijing Olympics. While the world watched

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opening so ceremonies, Russian tanks rolled into Georgia. It was

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perfectly timed. Bush was sitting next to Putin in the

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Olympic stadium when he got word of the invasion. The

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American president leaned over to confront his Russian counterpart, who

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simply smiled, what could America do? Start World War IIE

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over Georgia. Putin had calculated correctly, America would protest, but

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not act. Barack Obama tried to reset relations, literally presenting

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Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a red button labeled reset

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in Russian, except the State Department had mistranslated it to

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read overcharge. The gaff was prophetic. Obama thought he could

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charm Putin with intellect and reason. Putin saw weakness. The

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personal animosity between Obama and Putin was palpable. In their meetings,

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Putin would arrive late, spread his legs wide in a

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dominance display lecture Obama about American hypocrisy. Obama would purse

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his lips, give professorial responses and accomplish nothing. When Obama

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canceled a summit after Russia gave asylum to Edward Snowden,

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Putin smirked that it showed American pettiness. Syria became their

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proxy battleground. Obama drew a red line about chemical weapons,

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then watched helplessly as a sod crossed it. Putin swooped

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in as deal maker, forcing Obama to accept a face

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saving compromise that left a sod In power. The message

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was clear, America talks, Russia acts. But Putin's master stroke

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was the twenty fourteen Sochi Olympics, his fifty billion dollar

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attempt to showcase Russian resurgence. It was supposed to be

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his Lake Placid moment, proving Russia was back as a

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great power. The opening ceremony was spectacular, the facilities pristine,

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the organization flawless. For two weeks, Putin basked in global attention.

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Then Ukraine exploded pro Western protesters toppled Putin's ally in Kiev.

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In response, Putin annexed CRIMEA, sending little green men Russian

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soldiers without insignia to seize the peninsula. It was brazen, illegal,

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and brilliant. Obama's sanctions were supposed to cripple Russia. Instead,

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Putin's approval ratings soared. Russians would eat grass if it

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meant restoring greatness. Act four. The New Ice Age two

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thousand fourteen to now. If Lake Placid was about believing

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in miracles, the last decade has been about losing faith

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in everything we thought we knew. The old rules of

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superpower competition, proxy wars, diplomatic chess, ideological stu gave way

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to something messier and meaner. The twenty sixteen American election

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revealed Putin's new warfare. Not tanks or missiles, but trolls

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and hackers, fake news, and real division. Russian intelligence didn't

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just steal emails, They weaponized American democracy against itself. When

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Trump won, Putin had achieved something Soviet leaders never dreamed possible.

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An American president who praised him, defended him, even seemed

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to defer to him. The Trump Putin relationship defied all

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conventional understanding. Here was an American president who took Putin's

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word over his own intelligence agencies, who had private meetings

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with no American note takers, who tried to readmit Russia

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to the G seven, whether through compromise or conviction. Trump

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gave Putin victories that decades of Soviet power couldn't achieve. Meanwhile,

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Putin's desay domestic crackdown intensified. When Alexey Navalny exposed Putin's

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palace a billion dollar monument to corruption, Putin tried to

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kill him with a nerve agent. When Navalny survived and

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returned to Russia, Putin imprisoned him. The message wasn't subtle.

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Oppose me and die slowly and publicly. Biden's election promised

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a return to traditional hostility. In their first call, Biden

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agreed when asked if he thought Putin was a killer.

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The personal insult was calculated. Biden wanted Putin to know

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the bromance was over, but Putin had learned he didn't

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need American friendship. He had nuclear weapons, energy leverage, and

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the ability to make America hurt itself. The twenty twenty

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two Beijing Olympics became a grotesque echo of Sochi. Russia

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competed under sanctions for state sponsored doping, so brazen it

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shocked even cynic. Putin met with Shijin Ping, declaring a

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partnership with no limits. Days after the Olympics ended, he

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invaded Ukraine, not the limited incursion of twenty fourteen, but

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a full scale attempt to erase a nation. The war

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has stripped away all pretense. This is an ideological competition

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or great power rivalry. Its raw imperial aggression. American weapons

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kill Russian soldiers. Russian propaganda calls for nuclear strikes. Both

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nations prepare for conflicts in space, in cyberspace, in the Arctic,

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the Miracle on Ice has become a permanent winter epilogue.

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No more miracles. Forty five years after Lake Placid. Both

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nations are trapped in a rivalry that has outlived its

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original purpose. The Soviet Union is gone, Communism defeated, Yet

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the conflict continues, with different flags but familiar fury. That

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nineteen eighty Olympic team believed they represented American virtue, triumphing

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over Soviet machinery. Now Russian athletes compete as neutrals while

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their country wages actual war. American social media platforms battle

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Russian troll farms. Space cooperation gives way to satellite warfare.

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Every summit is theater, every treaty temporary. The personal has

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become permanently geopolitical. Putin still remembers serving in Dresden as

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the empire collapsed. Biden still remembers practicing duck and cover drills.

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Neither can imagine a world world where Russia and America

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aren't enemies. The feud has become identity, purpose, reason for being.

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Some argue we need another miracle moment, something to break

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the cycle, like Lake Placid broke Soviet confidence. But miracles

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require innocence, and that died somewhere between election interference and

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nuclear threats, between poison in London and missiles in Ukraine.

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The kids who won at Lake Placid are in their sixties. Now,

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their miracle a museum piece. The Cold War they thought

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they'd ended, simply mutated, adapted, evolved. The ice never melted,

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Its spread everywhere, freezing possibilities, freezing progress, freezing hope. Do

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you believe in miracles in nineteen eighty we did in

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twenty twenty five. We just believe in feuds that never end,

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in rivals who define themselves by opposition, in conflicts that

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outlive their causes. The USA and Russia eternally locked in combat,

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each needing the other as enemy to justify their own existence.

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Some rivalries end with reconciliation. Others end with exhaustion. This

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one just goes on, cold and bitter as a Russian winter,

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hot and angry as American pride. I'm Marcus Reid next time.

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On Feuds, the streaming wars that killed Hollywood. How Netflix

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and Disney turned entertainment into a battlefield where everybody lost.

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Thanks for listening to feuds, power, pride, and payback. Sometimes

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beating your rival at their own game just guarantees they'll

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never stop playing.