1980 Lake Placid Olympics

Tammie brought back this plaque for my parents and it hangs prominently on their basement family room wall.

(I like this picture, because it includes a bumper sticker from this joint in Ravena. I don't think that it exists anymore, but they had this strange dish that had eggs, potatoes, and sausage all mushed together. Tam seemed to love it! As we all did)

I am watching the Olympics again, but this is the first year that I couldn't tell you who any of these competitors are. Also, there are so many new sports that it is almost impossible to keep track of everything. Frankly, some of them don't even look like real sports and why is Carrot Top riding a snowboard?

Back in 1980, I knew a lot of the names. People like Linda Fratianne, Mike Eruzione, the legendary Eric Heiden, and my personal favorite, Beth Heiden. Despite my rabid interest in sports, I knew little about the village of Lake Placid, New York. Tammie had decided to go to the Olympics that year with her friends, Cheryl and Marcie and we all thought that she was off her rocker. The traffic alone would preclude most from trying, but Marcie's little green whatchamacallit machine eventually made it through and Tammie had a lot of great stories to tell.

Now, there were a lot of great moments in those Olympics

and the highlight was probably Beth Heiden's Bronze medal.

Scratch that! I meant to write about Eric Heiden's five gold

medals and the "Miracle on Ice" United States hockey team.

Actually,

this Heiden

was amazing in that he won medals at every speed skating

distance. The equivalent

would be someone winning a 100 meter dash, the 400 meter run,

and a 10k

distance event, etc. This was a truly amazing accomplishment

and he did it all

outdoors

in front of the Lake Placid High School with the occasional

snow flake

hitting him in the face.. The hockey team's victory was

incredible too,

but Heiden was the star of that Olympics, in my opinion.

Well, Tammie made it to the Olympics and somewhere

there are some

great photos of her trip (Sean you will get a big kick

out of them,

if you find

them).

From what I remember, she attended the

Canada vs Finland

hockey game and knowing

Tammie, she probably had an off the charts good time.

In addition to the game,

she got to see Heiden practicing and took some photos of that,

too.

Years later, I got to see the oval where he won all the medals,

toured the Olympics museum and saw the rink where hockey

was played.

Of course, Lake Placid also hosted the Olympics in 1932 and

there is mention

of the great Sonia Henie, as well. The Lake Placid trip was

wonderful and I

hope to go back someday. During my time there, I thought

of the great moments

and what it would have been like to witness them. Tammie had

that opportunity and

I am so happy that she did. I thought about her a lot on my

first trip to Lake Placid

and I am sure that I will think of her even more on future trips.