Olympic upset, yes. Miracle, no way.

Thirty years ago today in the winter wonderland that is Lake Placid, we believed in miracles as a rag-tag group of college hockey players catapulted the United States to an Olympic victory of seismic proportions against professional hockey players from the Soviet Union. It was an incredible pick-me-up moment for beleaguered Americans, who were reeling from a bad economy and series of global setbacks that had us wondering about our future. Given the circumstances and its transcendent impact, the 1980 Miracle on Ice is my choice for the top sports moment of all-time.

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I thoroughly enjoyed watching the USA’s 5-3 victory against gold-medal favorite Canada last night. The game was played with a Stanley Cup Finals level of intensity and passion that was evident even to the casual hockey observer. But I was irked by the many comparisons made between this upset and the one by the Americans against the Soviets three decades earlier.

The lazy columnists and commentators who made the analogy need to study up on their history. The chasm between the talent and experience of the teams in 1980 was as wide as the Grand Canyon. The gap between this year’s Canadian and U.S. hockey teams is not huge.

The Americans’ victory in Vancouver was an upset, but nowhere near to being a miracle. A little perspective, please.

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If the U.S. goes on to win the gold, Chris Drury will have another trinket to add to an already interesting sports trophy case. The former Buffalo Sabres star certainly would become the first person ever to have won a Little League World Series, an NCAA hockey championship, a Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold medal. And, while we’re on the subject of Drury, I still wish the Sabres hadn’t let him get away.

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So how do you explain the Olympic scoring outburst of U.S. defenseman Brian Rafalski, who has four goals in three games during this tournament compared with four goals in 57 games during this NHL season?

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Did you notice that Syracuse’s free-throw shooting was the difference in that narrow victory against Georgetown last week? By the way, the last time the Orange men swept the Hoyas in the regular season they won the national championship. And you have to love the fact that SU is unbeaten on the road, including 5-0 vs. ranked teams. That bodes well for the tournament.

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Happy 278th birthday to the original George W. – George Washington.

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And congratulations to friends Jim and Kerri Mandelaro on the birth of their daughter Sophia Hayden Mandelaro at 3:53 this morning. The population of Red Sox Nation just increased by one.

The All-Williams Tennis Club

With all due respect to the Manning Brothers, I believe the Williams Sisters have firmly established themselves as the greatest athletic siblings in American sports history.

Tomorrow, Venus and Serena will meet in the Wimbledon Finals for the seventh time in the past nine years. As if that wasn't enough, tennis' dynamic duo also be gunning for their fourth doubles title on Sunday.

Peyton and Eli are going to have to add a few Super Bowl rings to their jewelry collection to get back into the discussion.

(And, by all means, let me know if I left out any sports siblings you think are better.)

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Congrats to Greece's Brian Gionta for landing that five-year, $25 million contract with the Montreal Canadiens. I was hoping Brian would wind up just down the Thruway with the Buffalo Sabres, but the money and the opportunity to play with the most storied franchise in hockey was an offer he would have been foolish to refuse.

I disagreed with a former newspaper colleague who said "the Sabres have too many Brian Gionta's already - 20-goal scorers.'' That may be true as far as the 20-goal scorers end of it, but Buffalo definitely could use a player with Gionta's professionalism, grit and clutch scoring ability. As he proved in New Jersey, he is a winner. He reminds me a lot of Chris Drury because he brings so many intangibles to your team, on and off the ice.

The other reason I'm biased toward Brian is his humbleness. I've experienced it on numerous occasions. Despite his lofty fame and wealth, he has never forgotten his roots. He is as loyal to his family and to his hometown as he ever was. Every time we've asked him to be a head table guest for the Rochester Press-Radio Club Children's Charity Dinner, he's come for no appearance fee.

I won't mention names, but there have been several prominent local athletes who've made good and have demanded sizeable appearance fees. They clearly have forgotten where they came from.

Brian's never been like that. A true class act from a salt-of-the-earth family.

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While we're on the subject of hockey, count me among those applauding the Rochester Amerks' hiring of Ted Nolan as their director of hockey operations. I would like to see them go a step further and put the former Sabres and Islanders coach behind the Amerks bench.

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Of course, Nolan isn't a miracle worker. I'm still concerned about Rochester's affiliation with the Florida Panthers. The big club is a mess, and that doesn't bode well for putting a competitive team on the ice at the Blue Cross Arena.

I still think the Amerks need to reconnect with the Sabres if they are going to survive.

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Tomorrow, they will stage the annual Nathan's Hot-dog Eating Contest on Coney Island. Contestants attempt to wolve down as many franks as humanly possible in a 10-minute gorgefest.

If this were a marathon rather than a sprint, I would sponsor my friend, Danny Guilfoyle, who is the most prodigious hot dog eater since Babe Ruth. Danny, the long-time radio sales exec and singer, prefers to savor his dogs. Give him several hours, and I think he would eat the competition under the table.

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Hey, even the big boys are getting hurt by this recession. Tiger Woods, the highest-earning athlete in the world, is making 22 percent less than he did a year ago. I just don't know how he managed to scrape by on the $99 million he earned in 2008. By the way, roughly eight mil of that came from playing golf, the rest from endorsements.

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Please keep my friend and former sports editor, Tom Batzold, and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

I got it! I got it! Oops! I guess I don't.

Of the thousands of baseball games I've either played in, watched, coached or covered in my lifetime I've never seen a finish like Friday night's game in which Mets second-baseman Luis Castillo dropped Alex Rodriguez's two-out, ninth-inning pop-up, allowing the tying and winning runs to score on the play.

As my good friend and longtime Yankees fanatic, Joe Peluso, astutely pointed out, the unsung hero on the play was Mark Teixeira, who was off on the pitch and scored all the way from first base with the run that gave the Bronx Bombers a 9-8 gift-wrap victory.

I dare say the vast majority of players in Teixeira's situation would have just jogged around the bases in anticipation that the game was over.

To his credit, Teixiera followed Yogi Berra's "it ain't over till it's over'' advice. He went all-out, and his hustle paid off in an unexpected victory.

This is what's great about sports. Just when you think you've seen it all . . .

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Speaking of the improbable, many thought the Detroit Red Wings would wrap up their fifth Stanley Cup in 12 years Friday night with a victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Instead, the Pens went into Motown and upset the defending champs, 2-1.

And they did so without Sidney Crosby for almost the final two periods. Sid the Kid returned for just one innocuous shift after being slammed into the boards early in the second period. Despite nursing bruised ribs, he was well enough to accept the Cup from NHL commish Gary Bettman and skate halfway around Joe Louis Arena before handing off the trophy to a teammate.

The 21-year-old Crosby became the youngest captain of a Stanley Cup champion.

The bad news for Buffalo Sabre fans as well as fans of any NHL team but the Penguins is that each member of Pittsburgh's starting lineup is under the age of the 30 and is locked up contractually for several years.

Meaning Lord Stanley's Cup could be residing in the Steel City for several years to come.

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With the Cup and the Lombardi Trophy in hand, Pittsburgh could lay claim as the current "city of champions.'' (Sadly, their once-proud baseball franchise continues to drag them down.).

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I might have to put my wife, Beth, on the 15-day disabled list with a sore right shoulder. She was game enough to play catch with me twice so I could get ready for my 19th Century Base Ball opener tomorrow. But she's complaining of tightness in her shoulder. Guess I'm going to have to baby her next time, and keep her on a tighter pitch count.

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A little known fact from my friend, Curt Kirchmaier:

The first testicular guard "cup" was used in hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974.

As Curt says, "It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is also important."