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The Professor has it right, of course. As usual.

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Scott Stinson: Not long after a bunch of college kids playing for the United States defeated the steamroller that was the Soviet Union’s Red Army hockey team at the 1980 Olympics, head coach Herb Brooks took a call from the U.S. President at the Lake Placid arena.

Jimmy Carter congratulated the coach on the stirring 4-3 victory, over a team that had beaten them 10-1 in an exhibition game just weeks earlier, and said all of America was proud of the players.

Brooks thanked the President. Then, he added, somewhat awkwardly: “I think this just proves that our way of life is the best way to continue on.”