As Rodney Dangerfield might have said, “The 1970s get no respect.” Yeah, the Vietnam War was a horror show, and Nixon behaved dishonorably, and OPEC increased oil prices to cause high rates of inflation. But just because some of the 1960s countercultural kids were having trouble finding their way in the 1970s, it was too early, in 1976, to call it the “Me Decade.”

In actuality, it was the Levity 1970s. The 1974 movie Blazing Saddles combining the efforts of Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor set the decade on a comedic trajectory. Next came Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Slap Shot, and Animal House. Then, in 1975, Saturday Night Live, often hosted by Steve Martin with regulars Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, and Bill Murray, began its fifty- year run. Another comedic contribution came from the Second City stage in Canada with John Candy, Catherine O’hara, Martin Short, and Eugene Levy. Every Thursday night the fun continued with Kermit the Frog followed by Robin Williams.

Subliminally, this entertainment influenced the behavior of a group of University of North Dakota hockey super fans, who wore yellow plastic helmets with a battery-operated red light on top for goals. From front-row seats with low plexiglass, they were there to lift the home team and distract the opposing teams that included twelve of the twenty players that went on to win the Miracle on Ice game over the Soviets.

Which brings us to the last 1970s indignity. The gold-medal hockey players trained at colleges and for Herb Brooks in the 1970s. Yet the 1980s get credit for the historic win only fifty- three days into the decade. To restore the win to the rightful decade, start with 1971 and count to ten, which is 1980. So logically, the gold-medal win should be credited to the tenth year of the 1970s decade. The 1980s started in 1981 when Ronald Reagan became President. You’re welcome.