And the 1,887 points of Wayne Gretzky. Baseball is our national pastime.
Football is our national passion.
As the decade goes out, Gretzky has replaced Howe at the top of the National Hockey League's all-time scoring list. One could argue the 1980s actually began on Feb. 22, 1980. That was the night the USA beat the Soviets 4-3. Two days later, the USA beat Finland in the gold medal game, but that was anticlimactic. Pummeled by Vietnam and Watergate in the '70s, the country was not feeling very good about itself as the 1980s began.