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In a time of great divide, few people can truly be cold, unanimously, an American hero.
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Magima, 1980, the Cold War is frozen solid.
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The world is divided by ideology, fear, and nuclear tension.
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On one side stands the Soviet machine.
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Beathened, professional, unstoppable.
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On the other side, a group of American college kids.
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No NFL contracts, no guarantees, just the least.
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Mike Ruzioni wasn't supposed to change history.
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He wasn't drafted into hockey royalty.
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He wasn't the biggest, the fastest, or the most typed.
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But leadership doesn't announce itself with height.
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It revealed itself in moments.
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And in a moment that felt larger than sport, larger than politics, larger even than the
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He did something that still echoes 46 years later, with one goal, one sling of destiny.
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He didn't just score against the Soviet, he ignited a country.
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Here's what makes it even more extraordinary.
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The Golden End in 1980, it became a standard.
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It became the blueprint for what American Olympic hockey could be.
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There's just last week, 46 years later, when the United States once again stood across
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some Canada with a window of gold on the line.
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When you need generation carried the crest, when overtime tensions filled the world, in
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America won gold again.
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That moment in the London start there.
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They traced this lineage back to Lake Flasad.
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Back to a captain who showed the world that believed could defeat inevitability.
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Back to Mike Ruzioni.
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A re-American player who laced up for that gold medal game was skating in a reality that
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did not exist before 1980.
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Before you, before that goal, that's legacy.
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That miracle wasn't just the win.
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That miracle was leadership under impossible pressure.
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The miracle was composure when the world expected collapse.
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The miracle was a young captain who carried not just the team, but the nation's hopes and
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In 46 years later, another generation proved to what you built was not a moment.
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It was a foundation.
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But today we don't just welcome an Olympic gold medalist.
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We welcome the man whose leadership created a ripple, powerful enough to reach across
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nearly half a century.
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The standard bearer, the original captain, the living proof that miracles don't fade, they
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Ladies and gentlemen, the heart of the American ice might Ruzioni.
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No gold medal since 1980.
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Who is going to speak to the men's team before they take the ice against Canada?
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The most decorated gold medal winning team in U.S. men's Olympic hockey history.
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And who is going to speak to the women's team before they take the ice seeking gold?
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And of course, both the United States men's Olympic hockey team in the 2026 Winter Olympics
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and Milan and the women's Olympic hockey team, the 2026 Winter Olympics and Milan, both
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win gold medals over Canada, both in overtime, both by a score of two to one, Mr. Mike
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Mike, I'd love to just kick this thing off with saying thank you so much for me in
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And just ask you, what's it's been like since being in Milan, first Olympic gold medal for
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It's been absolutely incredible.
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I told my wife, I didn't play in this team, but if you saw the phone messages, email
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with the request for me to speak at sales meetings, I mean, I think I probably in the
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last four days had 15 to 20 requests for sales meetings.
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It's been crazy, you know, and I didn't know, I was surprised by it all, but it was a
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great moment, you know, hockey-wise, it was a great moment for men and women's hockey.
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And all these, you know, like I said, corporations, I think I got to spend and
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at one point in the next few weeks that of the seven days of the week, four of them
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are going to be flying from various to Dallas to Scottsdale and into Orlando.
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So, you know, it's been incredible.
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It's so, Mike, what I'd say.
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I didn't expect any of this.
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We were rooting for the team.
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Like I said, I had nothing to do with what they did, although I didn't get a chance to
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speak to the men's team before the game and the night before, and then I could speak
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to the women's team the night before their game.
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So, it was nice, you know, that they talked to me and I had a chance to talk to them.
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But, you know, the game's ended and we won and I get on a plane and a blue home.
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And then my phone just blew up.
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I think I had, I think I had 100 or something, kex messages from people all across the
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And then all of a sudden, the other request came in to, you know, speak at that failed
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We'll see how long it lasts.
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Well, here's what I'd say.
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So, again, this is Sean Calligay and Mike Ruzioni was the first guest on our unwinded
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podcast, which is now moved to number one on Apple Business Podcast.
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And we've had incredible people on their Mike Tyson, Magic Johnson, Tom Brady and others.
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But I'll say this, Mike.
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I think, I think it's exactly what should be happening is you should be this much in
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But I think regardless of what this incredible team did, I think you should be in that level
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of demand, regardless of the fact that we just won this gold medal because what you did
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You are an American hero, Mike Ruzioni is and think of this Mike and, you know, for everybody
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who's watching this conversation we're having later, who else could you truly label
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that's alive today in 2026 as an American hero?
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All these incredible athletes we talk about, some people root for them, some people who
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begins them, but in America, Mike's the face of the American ice, the greatest sports
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And he's an American hero like and he and you deflect Mike a lot.
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You're like, I'm just a lunchpale guy, true, right?
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But really think about it.
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Who else is there is divided country to stand in such a unifying force.
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And when we last met, Mike, you said, hey, you know what, I really think that this country
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could use a miracle now and maybe what happened in Milan wasn't a miracle.
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But what if it could be a unifying moment?
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And I think a lot of the outreach for you is because you're the face of unification
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Like, what do you think of that when I say that, please?
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Well, I've obviously been very, very nice in a day that and I appreciate that.
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You know, I've said this and I said this throughout the Olympic Games.
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Other than being a police officer, a firefighter or somebody in the military who protects and
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serves our country, there's no greater feeling than putting a U.S.
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And I think when we see our athletes, they're not competing for Boston or Chicago or LA.
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You're competing for your country.
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You're not playing for a Super Bowl or a Stanley Cup or a World Series.
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You're playing for an opportunity to win an Olympic gold medal.
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And I think our team did it in 1980 and brought great joy to a country at a time when we
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were looking for something to feel good about.
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And I think our Olympic athletes that were in Milan, a men's team, our women's team and
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the other Olympians who won medals, the pride that they showed, the pride that they displayed,
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just proves why we live in the greatest country in the world.
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And I'm fortunate to be a part of the moment that touched the lives of so many people,
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but so are the rest of my teammates.
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I guess because I've been a little more visible because of, you know,
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I didn't in the captain for the last 40 years,
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still traveling around the country doing different things like this.
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I'm probably the face of our team, but I never look at it that way.
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I just looked at it as I was given an opportunity to play in Olympic games and
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look what it turned out to be.
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And for anybody who hasn't seen the Netflix documentary, you want to talk about
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serendipity, synergy.
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So right before the Olympics,
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Mike Arusioni and the Miracle and Ice team mates and Mike is a team mate of team mates.
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This brother wants unification.
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He always amplifies edifies the entire Miracle, Miracle, Miracle and Ice team.
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Her books, all of it.
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They had this incredible documentary.
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They're all honored so beautifully.
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And it might be such an incredible job.
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If you haven't seen it, you have to see it.
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And then right after that,
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U.S. wins the gold medal, brother.
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Like how is easiest to sell the Netflix special with absolutely spectacular.
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You know, when I watched it, you know, and Sean, you know,
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you've been around a lot of people.
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You know, they interview you when you never know how it's going to end up, right?
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They talk to you for an hour or two hours or two days or whatever.
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And then they're going to put it in a can and they're going to decide what they
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show and what they don't show and going to put it together.
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And we didn't know how it was going to end up.
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But when we saw it, actually, I had, I think about 50, 50 to 60 people.
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A little nine-whole golf course where I'm a member at in my hometown.
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And the people were all my cousins who were up in the house.
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I grew up in and we all sat and watched it.
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And there were some stories in there that I didn't know about.
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I mean, I can't even borrow talking about his dad and what his dad meant to him.
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And just the guys telling their story about Netflix,
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that a sensational job of showing not only what our team did,
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but even the political aspect of what was going on in our country.
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And they brought it together at people at Netflix that told me it might have
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been the best one they've ever done.
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And Netflix has done a lot of great special.
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Tears coming out as heart full.
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I had a little bit of a few minutes left.
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You're so in demand right now.
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My everybody goes, I got that Netflix documentary.
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If you don't cry during it, then I think you need to get a little bit of a checkup
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from the heart, you know, the heart found it.
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But Mike, I know you have a charity, a foundation that you help kids with.
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Is that true, Mike?
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Yeah, I started a foundation.
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I get who wants to be a millionaire a long time ago.
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And I got $150,000 on the show.
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And I started a charity.
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And they call Winford Charities.
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I kind of named it after my mother and father.
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And you do more than anybody with the charitable organization.
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So it was fun to do it.
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It's fun to play Santa Claus.
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It's fun at Christmas time by gifts for kids who can't afford them.
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It's fun that thanks given to by meals and jerkeys for families who can't afford it.
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You know, we probably didn't like finally to charity, you know,
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haven't read that ridiculous amount of money.
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My wife and I were talking to her yesterday because I just did something in a donation back to my hometown.
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But we've probably raised around $350 to $400,000 over the years.
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And quite a few years ago, I sold all the, almost all my memorabilia.
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I have my skates left my stick from the Finland game and actually my gold medal,
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which I ended up in the process of probably selling at some point.
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But I got like $1.6 million for all my stuff.
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And I endowed a scholarship in my mother and father's name at Bosch University.
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I put the rest of the money, some of the money into my charitable foundation.
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And then my three kids bought houses with the money that was left over.
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And now that I have the medal of fill and other items that I'm in the process of deciding when I'm going to fell,
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I can take that money and endow some.
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The future is from my grandkids.
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I have seven grandkids and an eight little girl coming shortly.
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So that's all part of a charitable organization.
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And you know, it's fun to, it's fun to help.
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It's fun to, you know, give back.
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And, you know, like I said, it's fun to play Santa Claus.
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And you know, believe the thing that my parents taught me is to give back.
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And never an audience I could give back when I've been able to, but that's pretty special.
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Mike, you have given to this country so much.
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If you permit me, I'd love to do a small thing from my colleague, Christian Foundation,
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relative to the impact you create and to donate $50,000 to your wind throw.
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Ooh, powered by foundation.
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And I'd love to have that taken care of immediately.
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So I just want you to know that that's the gratitude for everything you've done for our country
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to inspire me and to be the first guest ever on the Unblinded Apple business podcast that,
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you know, we've been number one and number two at Bouncer back and forth.
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And you kicked that thing off so powerfully and we're so grateful, Mike.
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So if you permit me to do that, I'll make sure that right.
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Deb, that's more than charitable.
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And I know I had the pleasure, you know, we were together to meet and chat and
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meet all the people that you are involved with.
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And, you know, I think the things that you do and the people that you represent and the people that
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support you is a pretty special bond of people as well.
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And it's nice when you can incorporate yourself or consider yourself part of the family in some ways.
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And, you know, clearly, that's a very generous donation and thank you.
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No, thank you, Mike.
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And if I can ask this, you know, as we round the bend, home, when you were speaking to the team,
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if you don't mind, what did you share with the men's team, the women's team before the game?
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Well, I told both teams and I believe that the women's team was the best women's team we
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have a put on the ice and our men's team was the best men's team we have a put on the ice.
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And I just told the ladies, the thing I talked to the ladies about was they had played
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Canada six times already during the year and pretty well dominated them.
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And I just try to tell them that those games are over and those games don't mean the damn thing.
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Now you're playing for the Olympic gold medal.
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This is the game that means something.
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Doesn't mean anything prior to this, the games that you won.
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So I kind of stressed that point to them of letting them realize that what happened in the past
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is over, this is the game that counts.
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And don't walk off that ice, skate off that ice, wondering, you know, what could have been.
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And then the men, you know, the thing I told the men was, it's crying to move on with that,
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you know, 1980, with 1980.
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What we did is what we did.
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What you do is what you do.
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And, you know, I mean, you know, we need this country, young little hockey players, young men and
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women, young boys to look at your team and you are the heroes.
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The other one is that that will be the idols and not the 1980 team.
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If ended is over, it's not going to change.
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What we did in 1980 is not going to change anything.
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This is your opportunity to go out there and show the world where the best hockey player
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in this, in the world's come from.
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And this is your time to do that and show that.
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So basically, you know, kind of things like that.
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You don't take a backseat to anybody, you know, you are the best.
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And just, just to be positive to the team.
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And, but the big thing with the stress, what we hit is what we did.
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And this is, this is their time for them to enjoy the moment.
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My grandkids now know, you know, who Jack Eichel is.
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Who Jack Kelly, you know, Jack uses.
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Who Charlie McAvoy is.
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And they don't need to know who my carusione is anymore.
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These are the guys that are carrying the torch.
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And a lot of the fact being a Jersey guy myself,
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that we had a New Jersey devil scoring that game winning goal.
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That was special too, right?
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But like, yeah, don't happy for him.
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You need to ensure he's a class act.
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As I thought the whole family, you know,
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the other two brothers who play in the national hockey league.
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The mom, you know, was involved with our women's team.
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She was, I think, uh, the director of player personnel for the women's team.
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I don't know if people knew that.
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And, you know, that they're hockey family.
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And it was the Jack score of the goal and the way he did it, you know,
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with no teeth in his head.
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It was pretty ironic for hockey player to score the goal with no teeth.
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And of course, my carusione, not only the captain, the miracle on ice,
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but a person delivering message carrying through the energy
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of these gold medals for the men's, uh, men's Olympic team,
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hockey team and the women's Olympic hockey team, um,
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Mike and final final, um, anyone
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whoever wants to have somebody speak,
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who is a true demonstration of miraculous leadership in teamwork.
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Mike Arusione did not go, uh, to the NHL after his career.
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He was not the most hyped.
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He was not the biggest.
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He was not the strongest.
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He was none of those things, uh, except he was the leader
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and the person that scored the game winning goal against the Soviet 46 years ago.
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And to this minute, this day, he embodies a my humble opinion
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and the opinion of some others, uh, the greatest example of sports leadership.
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That has ever occurred, uh, and it just happened to be for our country.
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So Mr. Mike Arusione, um, we are so grateful, uh, to you and for you.
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And anything else you'd like to share in final, final today, Mike,
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and we thank you so much for your time today.
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Now, Sharon, just thank you for sending the,
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the continued, continue to send the message that you do about believing,
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working hard, being a good person.
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Uh, you know, I'm, I'm a believer in that, uh, you know,
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just because you want an Olympic gold medal doesn't mean you're a good person.
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It's more important to be a good person, be a good neighbor, be a good friend.
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Uh, have those qualities because those, those are far more important than sports.
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It's important in life.
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And I think what you do are those are the messages that you send.
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And those are the messages that I tell people all the time about being a good friend,
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being a good, good person, being a good American.
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You know, we live in the greatest country in the world.
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And let's take advantage of the opportunities we have.
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Hey, man, brother, Mike, we wish all the blessings.
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If anybody has the privilege of having Mike Arusione come to their
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company to speak and be in a position of leadership, this is the number one person,
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in my opinion, in the world that you want to come speak to your people.
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It's Mike Arusione.
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Nothing could more incredibly embody possibility than Mr. Arusione,
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what the Miracle and Ice team did led by him,
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her Brooks and so many other extraordinary American heroes.
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Mike, have a blessed day and we thank you so much.
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John, thank you for reaching out and hope we get the chance to see each other again
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down the road somewhere.
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We will. Thanks Mike.
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Bye Mike. Thank you.