Miracles in Sports

A miracle is defined as an amazing or wonderful occurrence that defies explanation. It is a word that is probably used incorrectly or too often in the world of sports. But there are times when things happen that no other term than "miracle" really fits.

Some of these miracles are feats of pure guts, like Keri Strugs' perfect vault on a badly injured ankle that won the American team the gold medal. Other miracles were things that were just happenstance, like the immaculate reception, where Franco Harris caught the deflected ball out of the air to propel the Pittsburgh Steelers to the first of their many Super Bowls.

In a lot of these miracles, there is a little luck, as was the case for Doug Flutie's miracle pass that beat Miami University in 1983. The 83-buzzer beater where Lorenzo Charles dunked the air ball by Derek Whittenburg to win the NCAA National Basketball Championship over the heavily favored Houston Cougars is another such occurrence. All these plays were miraculous, but they all pale in comparison to what is known as the miracle on ice.

In the 1980 Winter Olympics, the Soviet Union were playing the United States in the semi finals in men’s ice hockey. The Soviets were heavy favorites, especially since just two weeks earlier, they had beat the US by a score of 10-3. The US was given almost no chance, but through a great team effort they pulled off what is widely regarded as the biggest miracle in sports and beat the Soviets by a score of 4-3.