AN AMERICAN GAME

A Boycott Is a Flat Circle: the 1980 US Olympic Soccer Team


Listen Later

"History rhymes" is a thing we say a lot, paraphrasing Mark Twain who was also probably thinking about soccer. With the threat of a boycott hanging over this summer's World Cup, we go back 47 years to when the U.S. Men’s Soccer Team qualified for the Moscow Olympics... and then had to stay home. 

It's another ugly collision of sports and politics, with Iran again playing a major role. Rhymes! It's also an excuse for Tom and Kirk to break out their Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan impressions. To paraphrase the Olympic Creed: "The most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to nail the impression but to make your dad stop the car and tell you to cut it out."

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

AN AMERICAN GAMEBy SOCCERTOWN MEDIA