The Making of a Miracle: Lessons from Mike Eruzione on Leadership, Legacy, and Belief

37:25So this is and for everybody here, I want to really lock in on this, the lack of attachment that Mike has the outcome. He shows up, he gives everything he's got, and then what happens, happens. And I'm inspired, I'm not only inspired, it's a really, we talk about the difference between inspiration tools, you know, like, right, hockey stick's a tool, how you use the hockey stick is, you know, part of your tool and then you have psychology and for me what i'm clear about is i get i get more attached than mike does and i invite you to consider the same for yourself so thank you mike already for helping me like be a mirror for me i'm like yeah i took things a lot harder than you did you know and that you know i'm i've i had a strong psychology not as strong as yours as a high school athlete as a college athlete i must play my way out of college baseball my sophomore year pouting I was you know runner for Ivy League rookie of the year my freshman at Columbia and the coach tried to change a few things and I was quiet I wasn't ever mouthless very respectful but I would pout more I would take things more personally I would be more upset about things and what I'm hearing from you is it sounds like you didn't and if I could ask when the Rangers didn't sign you did you spend if you remember did you spend you know the night getting upset you go out a few beers you call somebody you're like hey effort like here i go or is it like a week you're upset at all and if so for how long when i was pissed off what do you mean you don't want to sign me look what i just did but then again hey that's that's that's your decision i'll go in a different direction yeah um let's hear it how strong is that

39:09not every day is a great day like i said sometimes things don't go the way you want them to go what you can do pout quit no i mean most people do you know no why if you quit sometimes say yes yes so thank you yeah no i that that's not in my that was never in my vocabulary and i think part of it is the way i grew up you know like i said i saw my dad get up every morning go to work come home and go to work come home go to work i saw my mother take care of six kids with no money so quit isn't something that I've ever even thought about doing I know I'm going to be successful at what I do whatever it was I was going to do so my mindset was and again that's my wife and I get into these discussions all the time why are you in such a good mood all the time I said it's because I don't want to be miserable I don't want to live a life of wondering I'm just going to do what I want to do and I'm going to go ahead and do it despite the challenges.

40:09And like I said, not every day is a great day. Sometimes things don't work out the way you want it to work out. I missed a two-footer yesterday for$20. I was so pissed off. Next time I have that two-footer, I better make it. So again, I'm not that deep a guy. I'm not that smart a guy. I just live my life the way I want to live it with total respect for my family and my kids and my wife. Usually things are going to work out well. and if they don't there's another day and i'll figure that out yeah and mike thank you and just so we're like level set i failed freshman high school geometry for the year as a freshman high school um i had a lower gpa in high school that i did in law school so i i wasn't i went to columbia because of baseball you know so it wasn't that i was thinking about things quite the same way that i am now and one of the things that i think for these guys like this these are people who are trained like this is not a sales program these are people training to think about how do you how do you succeed how do you master things and so what we're hearing what they're hearing from you is we have the saying that einstein said make it as simple as possible but not simpler and honest to god what i'm taking away from you is that it is so simple for you because you just give everything you have you take the outcome result and you just go forward and that is that because my my job my the way i look at people is i try to find out like what's the simple formula that causes micro rizioni to be micro rizioni and that's present for me like that's here that's just clear to me and while you're saying it as yeah just like it's easy it's if you think it's not easy for you yet say yes yeah yeah it's not easy for me either but because you do it what they're trained to do what i'm trained to do is like we're gonna have the the self-mastery according to mike rizioni which is very simply don't get attached get everything you got like the mike rizzi went from his dad formula and your identity doesn't change we talk a lot about that but just go do your thing what happens you know it's going to work for good in any way because you're just going to do the next thing you're going to use it as fuel and go forward so that sounds like a fair very simple encapsulation i've never met a person that's successful because they're lucky people are successful because they understand the values of work and again i'll go back to my dad always said if you understand the value of work at some point in your life you'll be successful and it might not be today or tomorrow or next month but when you're the best at what you do i guarantee it's the time and effort and work that you put in and those are the values that are important.

42:51Whatever field you're in, whatever challenges you have. If you're not willing to work hard at it, you're not going to be successful. So I work hard at everything that I've done, whether as an athlete or if I happen to go in a different direction. If sports ended and I went, which it did, I went into a new direction, I work damn hard at what I do in order to be successful at what I do. And I think that's to me, it's pretty simple. Like I said earlier, it's easy to be nice. It's really hard to be an asshole. so Mike so and if you feel that from Mike say yes if you feel his authenticity say yes and his mastery yes so Mike you go and these BUN's the draft of the Rangers playing hockey in Toledo and now Herb Brooks calls you up and what happens from there do you then was there the movie right these guys have seen the movie lots we show clips all the time so in the movie there's the shortened version of the tryout like could you please take us through what happens well the try in the movie the team was picked in one day trust me it was two weeks and in the movie they had a bunch of people picking the team there was only one person picking this team and it was going to be her books so i went to the trial i got invited i was on the great links team they divided all these players into four teams and we competed against each other over two weeks and herbrook sat in the stands evaluated the players and we were in a room maybe kind of like this maybe a little a little bigger and the 68 players tried out for the ad olympic team i shouldn't say that hundreds tried out 68 got selected 68 of us went to colorado springs competed against each other in a kind of a mini tournament and tryouts were over 26 players made up the 80 olympic team but only 20 were going to lake plaza six guys were going to get cut i can i just slow you down for a second so in colorado springs when this happens um what's that two weeks like where and i'm just going to give you a couple of like multiple choice where where there are fist fights where people getting along where people like you know kind of in the same boat of you know being friends buddies where they're rivalries from college so like how was all that what was colorado sprints like well it was it was a tournament it was competitive um there was a team from massachusetts which i wasn't on i was on the at-large team so my team was guys from michigan minnesota new york then there was the minnesota team and then there was another at-large team and that and that had players from her coach brooks's college team a lot of the a lot of the kids played under her at the university of minnesota because they for everybody so coach her brooks coach the university of minnesota they were top program in the country mike played at boston university a top program in the country and correct me if i'm wrong there's a big rivalry yes well we had the year before the olympic tryouts in the national championship minnesota and boston university got into a bench clearing brawl.

46:02I would call that a big rivalry. Four minutes into the game. It's a national championship? Yes. Both teams should have been thrown out of the tournament because you can't fight in college. So we ended up losing a player. They lost a player. They ended up beating us in the game. Who was the player you guys lost? We lost Terry Maher, who was our leading goal scorer at the time. And they lost one of their guys who wasn't quite. The guy, Terry Maher? Yes. Did he make the ed115 no terry was from canada got it he was the captain of our team in 19 in 1976 and jack o 'callin and he played for jack was a freshman at boston university at that time got it on that team right there were four guys when the smoke cleared at the end there were four guys from boston university nine from the university of minnesota two from wisconsin two from bowling green one from north dakota and two from minnesota duluth but they were of the 20 guys 12 of the 20 players were from Minnesota.

46:56Wow and 13 of the players then if I'm counting correctly nine from Minnesota four from BU so 13 of the players were from this big rivalry with nine from Minnesota and four from Boston University. Well and Wisconsin and Minnesota had a huge rivalry because it's national championship battles for years so there was a lot of animosity between the two programs but so we're in the room and 68 players tried out and uh herb came up to the to the stage and he he said if i call your name please stay and if i don't thanks for coming and text this i'm trying to forgive you for interrupting just want to really let these guys get it because they've seen some of these clips right right right so do you think in that moment a i know i made the team b i think i made the team c i hope i made the team you know probably b because I was on the Great Lakes team, and I was elected captain of the Great Lakes team, and then we, the Great Lakes team, won the tournament.

47:54Oh, wow. And I led our team in scoring, so I thought, I'm going to be on this team. But the concern I had was Minnesota coach, Western players, Eastern coach, Eastern players. That's how it always was years before. It was an Eastern coach, and he was going to pick most of the guys that were going to be from the East because he knew that. So my concern was, is Herb going to take an Eastern guy? So we're all in the room, and I remember the first name he called was Ken Morrow. Ken, he was a great defenseman from Michigan. He was from the Islanders. He won four Stanley Cups right after the Olympics.

48:28That's a pretty good run. And I'm sitting there thinking, I hope this is an alphabetical. My name's not going to get called. And my name was called. So there were 26 players in the room. And then her... You were the second name called? Oh, her? No, I was called later on down the road. I forget who was called. Were you starting to get concerned? Yeah, we all antsy, wondering, you know, kind of listening, is it going to be me? Is it going to be me? And it's interesting because now we have the Winter Olympics coming up in February. The Team USA is going to have 26 players, 25 players. They carry more now than they did then.

49:03Then they could only carry 20. So 26 players make up the team, and then we're going to embark on six months of training, and six guys are going to get cut throughout the course of the season. And you're still up until, I was elected captain in October. By the players? By the players. But I don't think I was voted by the players. There's no way nine guys from Minnesota voted for a guy from Boston. Wow. And as our assistant coach said, we voted, but Herb counted the ballots. I think Billy Baker was probably named captain by the team because the nine kids played with him at the university. and Billy actually was the assistant captain of the 80 team.

49:40But for whatever reason, they gave me the captaincy, which was not a big deal to me. I think my dad was more excited than I was because I've always said I was a captain amongst captains. We had a team of captains. Everybody in that team was a captain of their high school team. Eight guys were captains of their college team. So it was a great group of leaders and people. So the captaincy was nice, but it wasn't that, oh my God, I'm the captain. him so 26 players made up the team and throughout the course of six months of travel and training six were going to get cut and up until the last week i still wondered if i was going to be one of the 20.

50:19can i take it back for a second okay during so during color springs that time was herb brooks quiet and just watching and scouting or was he already starting to be coach herb brooks towards everybody you know he was coach Brooks and that's the way it was gonna be we were gonna travel I think we played 60 somewhat games all around the country went to Europe for a month played overseas and then throughout the course of the six months he evaluated all the players and you know he threatened to cut me two weeks before the Olympics he said look you're just not doing it I just don't know what I'm gonna do it I'm like wait a minute I'm the captain and And I'm thinking, well, he's the coach.

51:05And it's even funnier. Years later, Herb would call my house. And this was before cell phones. And my wife would answer the phone and she'd go, it's Coach Brooks. And I'm like, oh, shit. Here I am. I got three kids at home, and I'm worried he's going to yell at me. He was always in charge. Even when he threatened to cut me, I thought he would. and it was just the last kind of jab at me to get me going for whatever reason I don't know but he was a he was a incredibly mind kind of guy he loved to to get into people's heads and players heads and part of me said he can't cut me on the captain and the other part said you know he just might he's crazy enough to do it so when in the you guys get together like the movie depicts um a moment that mike told me actually didn't happen he didn't say who do you play for i played for team usa um but there was a night of crazy skating so oh yeah can you take us through that night and and if that was was there a time the team was the movie miracle shows great division between the players was there that kind of division or is that a little exaggerated or What was it really like?

52:24And then how does that fit into the next game? The division was what they thought was going to happen once the team was picked. Everybody kept, can the Minnesota or the Massachusetts guys get along? Can the Wisconsin-Minnesota guys get along? And we bonded right from the beginning. And I tell you that because anybody who's played hockey, you realize at a young age how important your teammates are. Hockey is the ultimate team sport. And you know how important. Like I've said many times, Mark Johnson, who was from Wisconsin, was our best player. We don't win without Mark Johnson. But how good would Mark be if the right wing and the left wing and the defensemen and the coaches weren't doing their job?

53:01So we understood. Everybody had a job. Everybody had a role. Understand what your job is. Understand what your role is. And we, as a team, have an opportunity to be successful. That was the mindset from the beginning. Not everybody's going to be out on the power play. Not everybody's going to be out killing penalties. Everybody's got a job and a role. We do that, we'll be fine. To me, I've always said this, there's no better place to be, whether it's on a team or in business, when everybody that you're with has the same goals and objectives that you have. And our goals and objectives as a team was to be the best.

53:35Never knowing it was going to lead to a gold medal, but we knew in order for us to be successful, we had to believe in ourselves, but we had to believe in each other. And that's a great place to be. That's awesome. To go to practice every day, you know, when everybody's willing to sacrifice to be the best. And that was our mindset from the beginning. So the teams picked 26 guys. Then right before the Olympic Games, he cuts the last two players. Correct. The again-again, like the skating. We played Norway, and the game ended in a 3-3 tie. And Kurt wasn't very happy with the way we played. Norway was not like a world powerhouse.

54:11No, we should be able to handle the Norwegians. They're not known for talking. And it ended in a 3-3 tie. And in the movie Miracle, they have the guys on the bench looking at the girls. in the stands. Look at her, look at her. Trust me, that didn't happen. I told my wife that didn't happen. I said the guys from Minnesota were looking at the girls. I was not. But we did skate. We skated for an hour and a half. They shut the lights off in the building. We didn't go 20 at a time. We only went waves of five guys at a time. And only 15 of us dressed that night. The other 10 guys who understands watching so we did the herbies for about an hour and a half the game ended uh the drill ended when mark johnson smashed the stick against the glass and herb said if i hear another stick smash against the glass you'll skate till you die i say that one more time what did coach brooks say if i hear another stick smash against the glass you'll skate till you die that is called zeus energy that is in juggling yes and then they shut the lights off in the building just had the electrical lights on it we finished the skate and he brought us in the locker room and he said if you play this way again tomorrow you're going to skate again well we beat norway eight to nothing the next day i'm going to tell you why i tell the story about why we skated uh it wasn't because we were looking at the girls in the stands to me this is the message from herb was this there are a lot of important values in life and the most important one is respect.

55:40And we skated that night because of three things. He said to us, if you don't respect yourself, you won't be successful. If you don't respect your teammates, people that you work with, people that you associate yourself with, you will not be successful. And if you don't respect your competition, you will not be successful. We never made that mistake again. And now I'll fast forward. We win the Olympic gold medal. We beat Finland. A lot of people don't know this if we lose to Finland we could have won no medal there was a chance we could have come in fourth place We beat Finland, we win the gold medal, we go back in the locker room, it is Bedlam.

56:18Bedlam in the locker room. All our parents are in the locker room. You couldn't go anywhere in Lake Placid without your badge, without your name tag. To this day, how our parents got in the locker room, we have no idea. How my dad got in with a six-pack of beer, I have never. My dad was sitting waving at me like it was a high school game. And the locker room's the size of this year. It was so tiny. All of a sudden, Herb calls me into the back area, and he says, Mike, I just got a call from President Carter, and they are sending Air Force One tomorrow morning at 6.30 in the morning to take you guys to the White House.

56:53I want you to make sure that everybody's in bed early and nobody acts up tonight. And I looked at Herb and I said, who's going to watch me?

57:03I got to tell you the truth, we stayed out all night. But why I tell you that story was Herb never wavered from that value. Respect your success. Respect your accomplishments. Respect the time, the effort, the work, the sacrifices we put in collectively and you put in individually. So even though we had won this incredible moment, although Herman, like I said earlier, our team didn't know it was that big a deal, he never wavered from that back. Respect your success. And that's an important value that you have to have in life, not just sports. And I think that's what we talked about a little earlier.

57:42I think that's what we've lost sight of in our countries. People just don't respect people anymore. And, you know, I can mention it. We just got awarded our teams are going to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, which is, did I say that earlier? You did, yeah. I did. Well, I repeated myself. That's all right. But that is an ultimate honor for our team. And I think that's what makes our team and separates our team from other athletic achievements is that it was a U.S. story and not Boston or Chicago. So I think Herb was the right guy to keep and maintain those values that are so important in life.

58:23He was an old school guy. You know, he was lunch pail, hard hat. That was our team. That's the way he coached us. That's the way he was. And Mike, so now getting towards the Olympics and there's the game against the Soviets at Madison Square Garden. And do you think that, why do you think Herb wanted to play that game? Was it just, hey, this is part of the schedule? Was there any deeper thought, you think, by Coach Herb Brooks? And the game did not go well for you guys. And how did that all fit into what would happen at the Olympics, if at all? It's just like a game and like, hey, you watched the audience.

59:04Well, for me, it was the last. And why we scheduled a game, I have no idea other than maybe Herb wanted us to play the Soviets just to see what the competition was going to be like. Because during our season, we played 68 games against colleges, minor league teams. We had a great series with the Canadian Olympic team. We played it eight times. We had a great series with the Soviet B team, not the A team. The A team was playing the New York Rangers, the New York Islanders, the NHL teams, as they prepared. so the last game was in madison so you guys understand this like so they're the 1980 team that mike is on they're playing against college teams minor league teams the soviets are playing against the nhl teams and beating them and the nhl all-stars mike and the team these are college players the soviets because of communism versus capitalism are professional hockey players essentially where their life is paid for their role is paid for and these are much older players much more seasoned players like they would be nhl players in a repeat they were beating nhl teams and the nhl all-star teams but mike back to you and going into madison yeah so we we step on the ice um you got to remember one thing too some of the soviet players were going for their third consecutive gold medal that's playing together for 12 years some of these guys the average age of our olympic team in 1980 was 21 and a half 22 years old matter of fact i don't know anybody here follows college hockey but our olympic team in 1980 would be the youngest team in college hockey today wow that's and i was 25 at the time and buzzy schneider was 25.

1:00:45neil broughton was 18 mike ramsey was 18 baby christian was 19. so we step out of the ice in madison square garden the building sold out this is two days before the olympic games and we lose 10 to 3. totally embarrassed totally humiliated. God, we thought we were good and all of a sudden we got welcome to the world moment. So we lose 10 to 3, the game's over, the last two guys get cut from the team, now 20 of us are gonna get on the bus the next day and go to Lake Placid for the Olympic Games. And when the game ended, Herb didn't say anything to us, he said go back to the hotel, get a good night's sleep, come back to the rink in the morning, we'll pack our bags and we'll go to Lake Placid.

1:01:27never mentioned talked about the game so the next morning i pick up the new york post wrong newspaper to pick up and the article talks about how the u.s team has no chance in the upcoming olympic games the soviets are the best team in the world they will win they will win the gold medal in the u.s has no no chance and it said we didn't have the talent we didn't have the ability we didn't have experience to compete at that level and then there was a quote from her Brooks and Herb said, I knew our team was in trouble. When the Soviet players were being introduced, my players were applauding them.

1:02:00And it was like, there's Kalimov, there's Yakachev, there's Kutov, these great players we heard so much about. Herb was a great speaker, great motivator. We go in the locker room to get ready to go to Lake Placid. He said, gentlemen, if you ever get a chance to play the Soviets again, and we don't know if we are, because they're in the other division. We had to win our own division, or come in second in our division. to even get a chance to play that. He says, remember how you played in the second and third period, not the first period. We were losing 6-0 after one period. And I tell you that because he turned a negative into a positive right away.

1:02:37He said, look how even you played with them when you guys were ready to play. So instead of screaming and yelling at us, saying how much we sucked or how bad we were, we walked away thinking, wow, we played even with the best team in the world. and I tell that story because when things don't go well and there are times things don't always go well find something positive and build off of that because if you think negative things, guess what, nothing but negative thoughts will stay in your head so we get on the bus clearly excited about what just happened, we played even and we don't know if we're even going to play him again so our mindset going into Lake Placid was totally different than if he had screamed and yelled at us so we get to Lake Placid and the tournament starts but that game that we lost 10-3 was never ever talked about again.

1:03:25Even when we got to play him the second time in Lake Placid the day before practice Herb never said remember what happened last time that game didn't, it was like it didn't even exist. All he talked about was positive. Do the things we need to do in order to win. We were never concerned about other teams. Herb said it in the movie I think a lot. I haven't seen the movie in years but play your game, play your game. That was constant on our bench. We were never concerned about what other teams were doing. We needed to control the things we needed to control and do the things that we needed to do in order to be successful.

1:04:02So play your game, play your game. Throughout the Soviet game, that's what he talked about. Never once did he bring up anything negative about what had happened before. So your mindset's different. Your mindset's totally different. This game didn't. It was like it didn't even exist. It was something in the past. And I wouldn't expect them to hear that. That's extraordinary. Would you guys have expected to hear that? Yeah, extraordinary. So now you're at the Olympics. And as it starts, and I think you play Sweden game one, am I right? So going into the Sweden game, as you're there, was there any talk in the team about how you guys would do gold medal medal rounds or the team culture was more like just play the game in front of you did it guys talk about things that how is that psychology well we got to lake placid and the first thing you do is you go into the room where they're going to give you the clothing that you're going to wear for the opening ceremonies in our case it was sheepskin jacket jeans cowboy boots cowboy hat i live in boston that's the last time i'm going to wear a cowboy hat and boots and jeans but anyway that was this you know so you get all your clothing and then i remember there was a stack of sports illustrators and you go over and you're picking them up because they get predictions speed skating bobsled luge and they read it's got ice hockey and it says the soviets will win the gold medal they're the best team in the world czechoslovakia because of the rivalry between the two countries from a political standpoint at the time and the czechs had the three stassey brothers who were great players.

1:05:39They might, might give the Soviets a game. Then it said Sweden, Finland, Canada, and West Germany will fight for the bronze. United States will be anywhere from seventh to tenth place. And I think it was the same guy who wrote the article in the New York Post because it said we didn't have the talent, the ability, or experience to compete at that level. And I remember seeing it the second time. It reminded me of my high school football coach. My high school football coach told me that ability in a dime gets you a cup of coffee. And you think about it in your life, how many times we've all been around people with great ability and great talent and can't get the job done.

1:06:16It's like, no, I can take you all outside. I can measure how far you can run, how high you can jump. I can measure how much weight you can lift. But I can't measure heart. And I can't measure pride. And I can't measure commitment. And those are intangibles. I've said this, little things separate good teams from great teams and little things separate good business from great business. Intangibles. hard work, qualities that our team had. So we opened up the Olympic Games against Sweden, and there's nobody in the building at that time because the opening ceremonies were the next day. So the games hadn't officially started.

1:06:50And there were maybe 2 ,000, 3 ,000 people in the stands. Billy Baker scores arguably the biggest goal of the Olympics with 28 seconds left to go. We tie Sweden 2-2. And it was a huge point because nobody thought we could beat Sweden. And at the end of the game, I'm sorry. So they're losing by a goal into the final minute, correct? 28 seconds. 28 seconds left. They're losing. If they lose this game, then basically there's no way you're going to make the medal round. Yeah, but it would have been really hard because that was a big point for us to get. So we tie Sweden. We get a point. Next day is the opening ceremonies, which was incredible.

1:07:27Next day is Czechoslovakia, the only team that anybody thought could beat the Soviets, and we blow them out. We beat them 7-3. now everybody's talking about the u.s hockey team you can't go anywhere you can't talk to anybody the good thing was there was no media there was no facebook and stuff like i told you earlier so we didn't know what was being written and we're in a little village in lake placid which is about the size of this church and you know we beat them then we beat norway then we beat romania then we beat west germany and now we're in the middle room that was our goal get to the medal round and as it turned out we were second in our division because sweden had a better goals for and goals against so it's a crossover number two plays number one obviously number one on the other side was the soviets in the league they were averaging seven goals a game they beat japan 16 to nothing two nights earlier and we're gonna play that's that's the deal you're in the tournament where you get the next game is the soviets and now we'll play them and so uh the movie shows the pre-game speech i think when we had spoken a few months ago you had mentioned i think that more of what herbrook says in the movie in the soviet pre-game speech he said in practice the day before is that right right the speech when i saw the movie for the first time and i heard his speech i'm like oh that's long i don't remember him saying that but i remember him saying you were born to be a player you were meant to be here this moment is yours tonight is your night but in the movie they lengthened it because of what he talked about in practice the day before they're ripe they're ready to be beaten if anybody can beat him you guys can beat him and we went on and on and on about that so i think they incorporated what he said the day before into the speech before the game so and and they showed the wall in the game yeah did how did that build over the was that real thing with the wall yeah yeah we got telegrams i mean every day you'd get bags of telegrams from people all across the country that's the only kind of way that we knew people were watching but i remember we got a telegram from a lady in texas and i live in boston and all the telegram said was beat those commie bastards that's all it said and i was like wow that's cool so that went up on the wall and a lot of telegrams would come to individual players family friends and some just to the team in general and it was great way to spend you know you come to practice and it'd be telegrams you'd open up and read it and put it up on the wall so we're walking out of the locker room onto the ice and that wall of telegrams were there so we knew people were you know watching from afar but knowing nowhere did we have an idea the world was watching the way they were so that was kind of motivating for us as a team and then we went out and obviously beat the soviets four to three and two days later we had to play finland how what does that bring up bring back if anything for you just the emotion in the locker room see how quiet it was it was deadly quiet our locker room was never quiet guys would be eating hot dogs before the game you know neil brought like i said neil brought an 18 years old he'd have a slice of pizza before we go on the ice and i'm sitting there how can he eat anything like that but this game here um just i remember how walking in the locker room how deadly quiet it was and i'm thinking wow we are we are just we are focused and we are ready although i thought we were ready for every game we played but never in the locker room was it quiet like like that and then i think the you know the speech as i said to you a lot of that stuff he talked about the day before that sick and tired of the soviets everybody talking about them and i thought they did a great job of combining everything.

1:11:13I think the music adds a little to it, too. And Kurt Russell was, I told you, he was amazing as Herb Brooks, although friendlier in the movie. Well, let's hold it. That guy, this is something Mike said to me just a little while ago, Kurt Russell playing Herb Brooks, he said, was much softer and friendlier than when he saw the movie. Like Herb's wife's in the movie, and I don't think I saw her once all year. I didn't even know what she looked like. but there's a couple of scenes in the movie that he smiles and I'm like that's not the guy that coaches me so did you ever see Herb Brooks smile? yeah years later because I was a broadcaster for the New York Rangers when Herb was the head coach so I got to see a little another side of Herb Herb made a choice to coach our team that way He was going to be the, it was good cop, bad cop.

1:12:11Craig Patrick, our assistant coach, was huge how important he was. Because Herb stayed away, he was an SOB. That's the way he was going to be. Partly because, again, all the Minnesota guys on the team. If Herb favored the Minnesota guys, it would have created an unpleasant locker room. but the fact that he was a bitch to all of us and was a hard demanding coach bonded us even more together because it was always us against him. You know, we'll prove you wrong. Really? You're going to yell at Buzzy, then you're yelling at me. And we understood that he says, he said many times, there's a method to my madness.

1:12:53But he did say after the Olympic Games, he would have loved to have been closer to that team but choose not to be wow and so he was sacrificing what he wanted emotionally for himself for some greater outcome yes um any and and we'll get to we're ready for to come out to the game tank okay so we'll go down one side and so just in a little bit of fun were there any moments where he just did something totally crazy and insane or what were some of the more ridiculous moments they've even felt ridiculous then but as you look back any unique crazy interesting moments between the team and him or things he said that come up for you mike no he was he was just a prick to play for um he john harrington um used to write down something we called them Brooks-isms.

1:13:50Herb would come up with these statements, and Harrington would write them all down, and we kept them, a book of them. You know, one time he said, weave, weave, weave, but don't weave for the sake of weaving. And weaving was inter-cross, crisscross. That's the style of hockey that we were going to play. So weaving was the international thing. And I remember sitting there going, weave, weave, weave, but don't weave for the sake of weaving. And he told Ken Murrow one day in practice that he was skating like he had a 10-pound fart on his head. and Kenny skating around going what's it look like so there were some stupid things that he said that kind of made you laugh a little but for the most part he stayed pretty true to form as far as being this is the way it's going to be and like I said we got it we understood it but we as a team kind of had fun with it sometimes without him knowing it and there's a scene in the movie with an interaction after the Soviet game between Jim Herb Brooks and Jim Craig.

1:14:48Did that happen? How did he relate to Jim Craig, you know, Coach Brooks? I don't know that. That must have been something that was separate. You know, goaltenders usually just leave them alone. We had a goaltender coach who could probably maybe deal with Jimmy. But for the most part, you know, whatever they said, I wouldn't have remembered or thought about. And it is correct, by the way, the team has never been back together. Did the whole team make it on to Air Force One the next day or they didn't? Jim Craig did not. He went to Atlanta because he signed with the Atlanta hockey team. So it is true that not even at the White House the next day has the team ever been back together again since they were all on the podium together.

1:15:34Is that correct, Mike? I remember sitting on the plane going back to Boston after we go to the White House and then found out that this thing was huge and i remember getting on the plane at eastern airlines that's how long ago that was and i'm sitting next to dave silke and silky's kind of got tears in his eyes and i said silky what's the matter and he just looked at me and he went it's over we're never going to play together again and i was like you're right and we all went our separate ways you know neil brought and signed mark johnson signed all these guys you know signed pro contracts and i remember going home and we won the gold medal on sunday and monday night my mother's making me dinner and i'm like what the hell just happened to me well you know and i had to get up early the next morning to go to new york to do good morning america and i slept in my own bed you know my mother made breakfast the next morning and had a car out limousine taking me out to the airport to take me to New York and I got on the Eastern Airlines shuttle and everybody on the plane started applauding and I turned around I didn't know who got on the plane I swear to God I went what the what do people watch and the pilot and he just wrote a book the pilot in the book he mentions he told me to get out of my seat and come and sit behind him on the plane because people wanted to come up and and talk to me and get autographs and pictures and he said don't tell anybody you're here because you're not allowed to be here you're not you know a member of eastern airlines and i remember getting off the plane and but new york the mind of people they were all clapping and patting me on the back i'm like healthy you know what what happened here you people watched it was it was it was crazy you know to go from having no idea to oh my god my god i was 10 years old i was not a hockey player i did like the islanders that time but i was much more of a baseball football basketball fan and player and nobody in my family was a hockey person at all i remember fighting my mom to help rush get me home so we could listen to game on the radio i don't if i recall correctly it wasn't i was in new jersey it wasn't being broadcast on television it was tape delay the soviet game so i had to listen to it on the radio and i was i was a huge usa person so i loved the olympics i watched everything so i didn't necessarily just love hockey but i loved all of it and i sat by myself

1:18:21in the basement parents house small house on a main road we weren't three families two family and listened to this go on and as a 10 year old somehow i mean couldn't stand the soviet union commie bastards like i was in a commie bastard household for sure and uh it meant everything and I sat there as a 10 year old by myself crying when you guys won and what all those people did and they were sharing it just couldn't be more real and I thank you for that with all my heart because what you guys did was life-changing for me and every time along the way that I faced challenge I couldn't find out I was going to go blind to high school sports challenges and everything that would come in my life things to this day

1:19:13your signature or a fraudulent version of it but i hope it's yours um is on a jersey in my library in my house along with the hockey skates it has the 80 blue jersey all you guys signed it and the skates and that is the core of everything for me is what you guys did and it is it is so unbelievable and it is totally believable and what how i relate to what you guys did personally and what we talk about here is it it was totally possible it was almost impossible but obviously it was totally possible and because of the process the system that was put in place we call that the math the math the numbers the dynamics and the heart coach herbrooks put that together you as captain such an incredible leader amongst leaders as you always say all these leaders and you really did do something that was virtually impossible that changed the course of human history and it's so unbelievable and remember you know mr michael rizzoni isn't um on television he's not in movies he's not on social media but he's at the seashell today and what happened and then what happened then they wanted to take pictures then they wanted autographs then they started chanting USA USA and I'm like I just wanted a drink and it was who's gonna recognize me here and you know so I finished my drink and took some pictures and signed some photographs and left my drink at the bar I'm still pissed off we'll get we'll get you a few drinks oh i'm gonna get a few later so fairly accurate not fairly accurate and how were you so focused that you don't even remember hearing usa were you at all aware of the moment and the magnitude or you're just like i'm focused and we're gonna go play this game like yeah it you know it's it's when you're on the ice you don't hear anything you hear a teammate you know asking for a pass or her be on and change up the lines or whatever so you don't hear any chance you're on the bench you could hear the crowd a little but you're still you know it's you're just so geared to what you're doing what you're watching how that you don't everything's kind of blocked out and it's funny because I'm not that smart a person but it's amazing the focus that you can have in a situation like that where you're just, your mindset is just on the ice, you know, what's happening in front of you.

1:21:55Awesome. Do you miss playing at all? Oh, no. No. I skate. I help out with my high school team. I've been, you know, 45 years a volunteer coach. I skate with my grandkids. They play. So we were talking earlier, I got a little rink I put in my backyard, so the kids, the grandkids come over and we'll skate and things like that. but uh i don't want it because i may fall and miss them i i'm a golfer so i'd much rather do that than than than skate around the ice uh i don't need the aggravation plus like they just can't do things you know i try to lift the puck and my shoulder hurts so my god so so quick fun fact um and we're gonna take then go to the next spot the game was tied three to three and i don't know some guy scores a goal that puts the usa up four to three so maybe we'll go there next but not that long ago mike was his golfer and he ends up at this place and there's a shared experience and some people around the table and i think it was tiger woods jack nicholas who was considered to be the greatest golfer in history by many jack nicholas's son and oh the president united states president Trump and President Trump's like come on over and so Mike is sitting there and I think um you're reminded the president of a very important fact that he might not have been aware of with Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus and some difference between you guys well I you know what and I'm not going to get into politics because I've known President Trump a long time he used to play celebrity golf with us and while he was the president I played a couple of rounds with him because I'm a member of his club so I was going to play that day but Jack Nicklaus his son ended up playing i was going to be the fourth in the group so they'd done golfing and i was sitting at a table the president called me over and said don and we're just talking back and forth about this and that and i looked at the president and i said hey boss i said there's a lot of majors between these two guys but i'm the only gold medalist at the table and he looked he just he He went, that's funny.

1:24:02Just give me a heads up when we are. So, game's going. Okay, one sec. Game's going, you're playing, and is it, what I'm hearing is it's, for you, you're so focused on the team, it's like just another hockey game. But I think, I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, but what I'm also hearing is because you treat it like just another hockey game, you no longer were you guys weren't elevating the soviets you're playing hockey and the game is now three to three in the third period correct not correct or is there any time in the game like kind of changed where you guys became clear it's just a hockey game we could beat these guys like did you come into the game just as a game or did your confidence as a team you think build over the game you know first of all you know you go into the game thinking you can win if you think you're going to lose you probably will so i mean we knew it was going to be difficult we knew we to play well we had to be smart we had to be disciplined we couldn't take penalties we couldn't get into a shootout um because if you know we weren't scoring five goals you know four four we got four because of you know if they scored if they scored five we weren't getting five but that again that's the way the game kind of went but you know as a player you just focus on what you're doing um doing your job do the things that you're you're asked to do go out there every shift, play hard, play smart, be disciplined.

1:25:25And, you know, the game just kind of goes the way it does. And, you know, obviously Mark Johnson scores a goal with no time left on the clock to tie the game. At the end of the first period. The end of the first period was a huge goal, because we didn't play really well in the first. We weren't terrible, but we didn't play well in the first. Jimmy played great. So it's 2-2. You know, then it's, you know, it's 3-2 them, and it's 3-3 us. And like I said, if it got to be 4-2 them, the game's over, because now we got to chase them. Now we got to change the way we want to play. The fact that the game stayed the way it was going.

1:25:56Because you were never down two goals in the game. No. No. We were never down. I'll give you a statistic that I didn't know about until a couple of years ago. In the third period of the Olympics, the third period, we outscored our opponents 16-3. That is unheard of. We gave up three goals in the third period all tournament long. We didn't give up any to Finland. we didn't give up any to Sweden and we didn't give up any to the Soviets in the third period Conditioning I think condition was a big part of our success we played four lines we didn't just play one and two we rolled four lines, everybody played everybody contributed Do you ever watch the movie and think it might not go in?

1:26:40I mean I know that you're a humble man listen I'm not that deep do you feel anything when you watch that? or or not i feel happy that it goes in um you know yeah obviously it it brings a smile to your face you know for me uh knowing i was able to help out our team at a time when we needed something to happen uh like i said earlier though if mark johnson doesn't score his two goals who knows my goal doesn't mean anything but the fact that i scored at a team and i did it there was still 10 minutes left to go in the game that was a long 10 minutes uh but in the movie uh like i said i I haven't seen it in years, but in the movie they have, like at the end after I scored, like the Soviets, they just save Craig, save Craig, save Craig.

1:27:25And when you watch the actual footage, I scored with 10 minutes left to go in the game and the Soviets only had five shots on goal in the last 10 minutes. We totally shut them down in the third period, and especially the last 10 minutes. But again, I look at it, yeah, it's nice it went in, I got the winning goal and we win four to three. and so what that means is and take let's get ready to watch the last very end of the game okay so for everybody that means that they just kept playing the game and as the soviets became more desperate and urgent sounds to me like what mike orzioni is saying is that they were taking that momentum as a team and they were shutting down the soviets they weren't just playing great defense they were still playing offense they were out playing them at every level because the soviets only had five more shots on goal the rest of the game am i hearing that correctly yeah yeah we they started doing things they normally don't do you know and we just continued to play the way we were playing continue to do the things that made us successful throughout the tournament mike what was it like standing at podium and bringing the team up when that was all complete oh that was that was pretty special i you know to stand and hear the whole building the whole building singing the star spangled banner and see your flag being risen just a little higher than everybody else's uh was pretty special and uh you know i was standing there and i ended up obviously calling all my teammates up onto the podium because one person shouldn't be there should be everybody and the next olympic games and since then it's a long platform where all the players stand and that's the way it should be he changed that

1:29:15you can see we we all fit i don't know if we'd all fit now but we all although there's only unfortunately three of my teammates have passed uh since 1980 but uh we we get well actually we'll all be together next week in minnesota uh doing one of those memorabilia signing things we sign up this company hires our team for I think every three years we do we sign like five or six hundred prints and then they use them for charities or whatever so we'll get to we'll get together and well we'll have some fun and they have a Netflix Netflix special should be coming out in January or February they finished they finished that they interviewed all of us have all of us went back to Lake Placid which was kind of fun and it's it's it's kind of you know typical hollywood or whatever so netflix comes to my hometown and they kind of walked around with me and talked to talk to people and i don't know what's going to end up on the editing floor not the editing floor but they interviewed my wife and my wife doesn't say anything she's very quiet and very shy so they said can we talk to her i said yeah you can talk to you're not going to get much out of her so she was sitting there and the guy looked at my wife and he said when Mike was elected captain of the team and he called you and told you what what did you think what did he say and she looks and goes call me you think he called me he didn't call me he called his friends and his father I'm the last person he called and I said god I hope that makes it onto the show I'm curious what Netflix is gonna do but it they usually do some good stuff so I think that'll be fun I think you know yeah after the Netflix and then the commemorative that's gotta be yes what else can they give us it's over you know it's never over but uh well yeah right no I get that but still it's it's like you know okay what else can we have so legacy do you think about those things do you think about you know I a simple person do you think about what you'd want people 100 years ago when you leave this 100 years from now when you leave this world what you want to be remembered for has that ever come across your mind your heart um no i guess i think it's what i talked about earlier you know like like my teammates and i had remembered as a good group of guys who worked hard to accomplish their dream and um and that we were good people who and like i said if you if you spent time with my teammates, you'd get a total understanding of how we were successful.

1:31:47You know, not only were we good, we were the type, you know, we were the guys that you wanted as a neighbor, as a friend. And I think I'd like our team to be remembered as just a bunch of good guys who worked hard and had incredible values, who loved our country. We took pride in putting a USA jersey on. And I think we, you know, represented our country the way that I think people in this country we're proud of and wanted to be our team wanted to be remembered for that being you know a good group of guys that you would want to hang with and sit with and talk with and and you could trust and who you respected and i guess things that you know that my dad always told me about it's easy to be a good person and i think our team was that amen it's okay if we're getting down to it final couple minutes okay if we ask two or three quick questions sure okay um let's go start partner questions any cert partners have a question for mr michael is your own works raise your hand real quick and let's get them the microphone and actually the last i did i also would if lance and then if mathan had his hand up great is not fine but after what nathan did today that that would be earning a question and i'll try to get one of the women of cert as well um but lance you had your hand on mike i just wanted to say uh i never oh by the way mathan is a retired lieutenant colonel united states air force um commercial airline pilot now and doing many of the incredible things like my my nephew in a separate subject just retired as a full bird colonel in the marine corps he went to the naval academy and then he took the marine end of it and works for the government now and he can't tell me what he does.

1:33:33Outstanding that. I won't hold the Naval Academy part against him. I just I never really knew your full story. This man here is responsible for my full knowledge of this and how special it is to everyone in this audience. First time I've ever met you or heard her speak. And I just want to say that you are a national trader. And not just because of the way you told the story but for being a much pale and hard guy and the value that you espouse and talk about it just oozes out of you so this is a question I just wanted to acknowledge you for that and also how you tell her Brooks' story and I think the witness that you provide for what he did and who he was is the greatest gift that I believe you can give in every human being, being a witness for somebody's life where you are with him.

1:34:30And, yeah, we all believe in miracles in this room. And as you said, you know, maybe we'd be in the 1980s, this day and age. And because of this man and the witness that he is for your team and your life, I think one of us, you know, as a retired, you know, fighter pilot myself, I've said this before, but I believe that the mission that we're on now is more crucial to our nation, to the furthering of that dream for what you fought for, what you represent, than a mission I serve and one of them to actually fly over the sky and within the country. So I do believe in miracles, and I think that the next miracle that happens will be created in this room.

1:35:13So thank you for being here tonight. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you.

1:35:25Amen. I wrote a book a few years ago. It's called The Making of a Miracle. And it's kind of my life story. And I don't tell you to buy the book. But you can if you want to. But I wrote. I remember when they contacted me. They wanted to write a book about our team. This is simple, Mike. I'm buying a book for everybody in the room. I'm done. I'm serious. Order the book. I don't know. You can get it on Amazon or whatever. But I remember they wanted to write a book about our team. And I called my teammates up. And they said, no. No, not interested. And like I said, a few of my teammates, they don't like any attention at all whatsoever.

1:36:00They said, no, we're not interested in a book. I said, okay. So I called the guy back and he goes, why don't you write one? I don't want to write a book. Then I got to talk about myself. Then I got to go to book signings and you got to see people. And then I thought about it and I talked to my wife. I said, you know what? I'm going to do it. I wrote the book. And I wrote the book for one reason. I want my grandkids to know that Papa's life wasn't one game or one goal or one moment. and want my grandkids to know about their grandfather, their great-grandfather, and their family, because family is very important to me.

1:36:28So I did write the book, and it actually became a bestseller. And thank God COVID hit, because I didn't have to go around and do book signings. I did like two signings, and that was enough for me. Thank God for COVID. Thank God for COVID. It's amazing. Who's got the next question?

1:36:51Can't ask for me any later.

1:36:57This is Mama Soul Wisdom. She had her face on a Times Square billboard, 40 feet for like a month, rotating, it was an incredible human being. Please, Mama Soul. Thank you. Mr. Islam, what do you hope the miracle of science teaches future generations about what's possible for the human spirit and the vision and what will these people? I think that the message is what I talked about. If you believe in something and you're willing to work hard, you can accomplish it. So I think the value of work, I think hopefully our team will instill that in people. You know, miracle is a catchy phrase. Sounds great, but it wasn't a miracle.

1:37:39It was accomplishment by a group of people who believed. We believed, and I said this earlier, in ourselves, and we believed in each other. and I think that's an important value to have about belief and faith and hope and don't ever quit despite the obstacles and the challenges. I guess that would probably be our message because nobody thought we could win. We believed it. We had a hope and a dream, but let's go play and find out. So I think that would be a great legacy and message. I remember when we were named Sportsman of the Year, Sports Illustrated, E.M. Swift wrote an article about our team, and it was entitled, A Lesson and Message of What We Can Be.

1:38:21And the article didn't talk about goals that were scored or saves that were made. It talked about our values. It talked about our work ethic. And I think that's the key to our success. And I think that, you know, then it was named the greatest sports moment of the 20th century. And a lot of it was because of those values. and that that's what i hope people take away from the movie or take away from our team is what we the hope and belief that we had let's hear it for that thank you and we'll take a final question i was 10 years old as i told you and maybe i was too naive or maybe i just hadn't been brainwashed about why you can't do things but when i went home that day to watch that game i believe with every cell in my body that we that's what you guys did we you made it a way for everybody in america who actually could still not be conditioned to a negative headspace that we were going to win and i thank you for that and because of that incredibly impossible dynamic of me being 10 years old it's the right age the right time that imprinted on me just in all these circumstances that I am in my life and lives of others yeah that it's truly possible I mean it with every part of me thank you and I feel so blessed to have the miraculous timing of being 10 years old and that night happen so thank you thank you it's funny Mike my grandkids want to watch the movie sometimes and we never I've never sat with them and watched it at some point I'm going to but about a month ago my grandson wanted to watch the movie and I took the tape out and he looks at me goes what's that I says that's the movie what movie that's the movie miracle what's that that's the tape it's the tape of the movie you know we spoil little brat that's it's not a cd it's not a disc it's a freaking vhs tape here watch it well I miss the Brazilian and I have to say when I share this far be it from me to ever ever even give you any advice but would it be okay if I offered a thought really quickly.

1:40:37Yeah. Please watch it with them. Because it would be, it will be, I am absolutely certain, a remarkable experience for you and them forever. And you have so earned what that will imprint on them forever. No, I'll watch it. And I think someday I'll watch the Soviet game with them as well. Problem with the Soviet, I don't want to be watching the Soviet game, which is on VHS. I don't want to watch in the game and all of a sudden one of my buddies shows up. Let it go, Mike. It's over. But I do have a VH tape of every game that we played. And maybe that will be something. Maybe when the 18-month-old is a little older, we can all watch it together.

1:41:22Let's hear for that. Final question. Final question.

1:41:32Tony Mariela. listen we talk about like you think you're not smart I don't think I'm that smart this dude's a brain surgeon literally an actual brain surgeon so yes I'm glad he's not a dermatologist we'll get to that in a second yes just watching the clips and hearing the story there's a lot of similarities to medicine and the way you were trained and would you say that her books was the toughest coach that you played for no my high school football coach and my college hockey coach were pretty intense but then again you know we're talking about earlier that's how coaches coach in the 70s you deal with it you know i mean live in the house with my father for for you know 40 years and see how tough it was.

1:42:26I tell people, Herb was like your dad. You know you love your dad, but sometimes you hate your dad because he makes you do things you don't want to do. That was Herb. So that's the way it's going to be. Okay, I can deal with it. You're only going to yell at me for two hours. Practice is over, and I'm out of here. But he was demanding, and he was challenging, but that's the way it was going to be. So if that's the way it's going to be, that's the way it's going to be. I'm not quitting. I want to be on this team. Yeah, some of the physicians here with me, we all train in the era where our attendees treated us like that again and again and again.

1:43:00Right. And our results were better because of that. We keep them in a special place in our heart because they made us who we are. Makes you stronger. Yeah, and I wonder if some of that's missing today. you know you're still here with the university it's it's a lot it's a lot different uh coaching kids today is you don't coach them the way you used to coach don't yell at johnny because you you know you'll get in trouble um but you know i i think the era that we grew up in was that kind of an era now they grew up in a different era you got to learn how to coach today differently than you could coach 20 years ago 30 years ago and the great coaches adjust that way the great coaches understand things.

1:43:45They can still be firm and disciplined and things like that, but you've got to find a different way of doing it than I think the old coaches did. Thank you. Thank you, Tony. So Mike's got a great new doctor. Can you share that real quick? My wife's a fanatic about going to the doctors. Got to go to the doctors. My dermatologist retired, so she gets me this new dermatologist. This was about, I'm going to say six, eight months ago. So I go into the guy's office, go to room four. So I go to room four, I sit down, I'm waiting for the doctor. The doctor comes in, says, take your shirt off. So I take my shirt off, and he's got the thing, and he's looking, and he's, that's good, that spot's good, that's good.

1:44:25And I have, after the Olympics, my girlfriend, who's my wife, I had this replica gold medal made for me. She worked in the jewelry business. And he looks at it, and he sees Lake Placid. He goes, Lake Placid, I went there last year. You know that's where the U.S. hockey team won the gold medal? Swear to God. And I think he's messing with me, right? And they have the oval where Eric Heiden won five gold medals right next to this arena. And they have a museum. And they can watch ski jumpers. And there's a bobsled and a luge. Have you ever been there? And I still think he's messing with me, right?

1:45:06I looked at him and I went, I was on that team. He goes, no, you weren't. I said, no, I was. I was on that team. He goes, oh my God. So I leave and I go home and I tell my wife the story. She goes, what do you think? I said, I think I need a new doctor. This guy had no idea who I was. He never looked at my chart. It's not like my name is Smith. My name is, if you go to Lake Placid, in the arena, there's a big billboard of all our names all around the rink. It says, you know, Mike Luzioni in the rink. and he was there and he never looked at my chart so i'm getting a new doctor

1:45:51that that that that's a true story that actually happened no idea anything anything left that you want to accomplish that is unaccomplished yet your family the congressional gold medal you obviously have incredibly successful speaking no like i i like i said to you i take each day as it comes um i look forward to going home tomorrow my grandson's got a football game i think tomorrow night and go watch him play and uh live every day and enjoy every day and watch my kids my grandkids grow and uh hopefully live a little longer to see them have kids someday and i told my wife and this is funny i know you aren't going to agree with me but my when i first became a grandfather i said to And my wife, the worst thing about being a grandfather is I'm sleeping with a grandmother.

1:46:46And she didn't think that was funny. I thought it was hilarious. Slept on the couch. Yeah, slept on the couch for the next month. But no, like I said, I cherish the things that I'm doing, continue to do, opportunities that I still have. Working at Boston University is awesome. We're going to have another good hockey team this year. Three years in a row we went to the Frozen Four, Final Four, and maybe this year we can win it, which would be great for the kids themselves. No, I just hope the plane lands on time tomorrow, and I'll make maybe nine holes in the afternoon with the boys. That's a beautiful thing.

1:47:29Can't thank you enough for everything you've done here. Thanks for having me. The appreciation, nose no bounds. and what I think would be a wonderful way to have Mike call this an evening would be to give him a little USA, USA on our feet. What do you guys think? So let's rise to our feet as Mr. Mike Garizioni heads off the stage. Let's first of all give him a hand. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir.

1:48:02USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! Mr. Mike Arruzzioni, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.