"Do you believe in miracles? Yes!"
With the Winter Olympics starting in Pyeongchang, South Korea, what better time to recall one of the greatest calls in sports history?
How many GetReligion readers are old enough to remember Al Michaels' excited description of the U.S. hockey team's 4-3 victory over the heavily favored Soviet Union in the 1980 games in Lake Placid, N.Y.?
Later, Kurt Russell starred in the 2004 movie "Miracle," which tells the true story of the Americans' improbable gold medal performance and makes some lists of all-time best sports films.
But enough reminiscing. Let's get to the "Friday Five":
1. Religion story of the week: Some weeks, this is a difficult choice. Not this week.
As I described it in a post this week, "There are must-read stories, and then there's this incredible story on 'The search for Jackie Wallace.'"
The viral piece by retired Times-Picayune photojournalist Ted Jackson -- now approaching 300,000 retweets -- explores the downfall, redemption and disappearance of a New Orleans football legend.
By the way, Jackson left a comment on my Facebook page and offered hopeful news about the search for Wallace:
Bobby Ross, I don't think we've ever met, but it looks like we have lots of friends in common. I think you may also know my friend Eric Tooley. I've enjoyed your work for years. Thank you so much for your blog on GetReligion. It gave me goosebumps. I'm very gratified by the response Jackie's story has gotten and the good it seems to be doing. I'm convinced we're going to find him soon. A few tips are coming in and one seems very credible -- but will take some time to pan out. Keep praying for this sweet soul. I'm afraid he's still in a bad place and struggling to get out.
2. Most popular GetReligion post: My post on Tennessean religion writer Holly Meyer's coverage of the forgiveness angle in Nashville Mayor Megan Berry's confession of an extramarital affair was ahead most of the week.
But then GetReligion editor Terry Mattingly had to go and write about the faith of John Mahoney, the dad on the classic comedy series "Frasier." That post pulled into the No. 1 spot overnight. In fact, the "Frasier" dad and Nashville mayor posts are our most-clicked items of the last month.
My wife, Tamie, and I recently re-watched all 11 seasons of "Frasier" on Netflix. I say "rewatched," but we were amazed how many episodes we never had seen, given that the series appeared in the pre-DVR era.
3. Guilt folder fodder (and more): Back in December, I praised San Antonio Express-News writer Silvia Foster-Frau for her "hopeful, sensitive and nuanced" story on the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs a month after the tragedy that claimed 26 lives.
Two months later, Foster-Frau keeps producing excellent journalism on the Sutherland Springs case: Her latest is an exclusive piece on the guilt and grief that overwhelm the mother-in-law of the gunman.
4. Shameless plug: Religion News Service recently featured GetReligion's Julia Duin in a story about her new book on snake-handling preachers.
I really enjoyed the feature by Kimberly Winston.
5. Final thought: My longtime friend Steve Lackmeyer is a veteran business writer for The Oklahoman and an author of important books on Oklahoma City's history.
He's also a funny guy who swears that he, our friend Murray Evans (whose byline you might recognize from Oklahoma City Thunder stories) and I stayed up late and drank a lot of Jolt Cola in our 1980s Oklahoma Christian University campus newspaper days.
Confession: I have little recollection of Jolt Cola, but I do recall the "bad disco 8-tracks."