This paper looks at Kenneth Burke's take on rhetoric applied to the Coach Herb Brook's speech in the Disney movie Miracle.

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Burke‟s Take on the Rhetoric of Miracle
In the peak of the Cold War, a sports team changed everything. The 1980 Lake Placid
Olympics are that of legend. A miracle happened at Lake Placid—the underdog team “Team
USA” went to war for gold against the best team in the world “Team Russia/ Soviet” and
defeated them. They were led to victory by no-nonsense Coach Herb Brooks. The artifact being
examined is the infamous locker room speech given to the United States team by Coach Brooks
prior to the start of the final and medal determining game of the 1980 Olympics which was
recreated verbatim in the 2004 movie Miracle. While Brooks‟ speech can be examined by many
different rhetorical theories, this paper focuses on Kenneth Burke‟s dramatistic pentad and his
theme of identification as well as Aristotle‟s modes of rhetoric and artistic proofs to elucidate
how it is rhetorically effective. Burke‟s pentad encompasses five points: agent, agency, act,
scene, and purpose which will all be addressed because they are all present in this act of rhetoric
and when two or more of these points are combined the message is strengthened (as discussed in
class on June 2).
The agent (which means the person performing the act) in this rhetorical setting is Coach
Herb Brooks and the agency (means by which the agent performs the act) is in the mode of a
motivational pregame locker-room speech. Coach Brooks is important to take note of because he
was a determining factor for this team in the outcome of the game. As the team‟s leader he set
the tone and mood for the game through his speech. Brooks himself saw his own Olympic
dreams dashed twenty years before when he was cut from the last US Olympic hockey team that
won gold prior to the 1980 games. As a result he was known for being extreme and relentlessly
tough—often pushing his own players to their breaking points. He refused to see the same thing
happen to his team that he personally experienced. He was highly respected, and feared by his

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players and co-workers, so when he spoke they listened. Brooks was the team‟s harshest critic
and biggest supporter. It is important that he gave this speech because it gave an added meaning
to the words because he was who he was and he truly meant what he said and anyone listening
could hear that in his voice. As Brooks was painfully honest and did not say things he did not
mean, hearing the message he was giving gave the team the empowerment and encouragement
they desperately needed to hear in order to take the ice and overcome their foe. Brooks stated:
“Great moments are born from great opportunity and that‟s what you‟ve been given here tonight,
boys...Tonight, we stay with „em, and we shut „em down because we can”! (2004). A message
coming from him gave it a serious and somber attitude yet uplifting.
Thirdly, the act in Miracle is demonstrated through the decorum and style of language.
As the team consisted of all young men (the average age of the team was twenty-one) Coach
Brooks took advantage of that. Every word he said was calculated and had a point. He spoke to
them as their leader and coach. He used words that he knew would resonate with his players. He
spoke to his players on their level, as an equal. He didn‟t worry about being proper which was
confirmed by his use of language like “I‟m sick and tired…” and “Screw „em!” Coach Brooks
knew his audience and knew what would be effective with them.
One of the two most important and influential points of this particular artifact of Burke‟s
pentad to be examined is scene (which essentially means the location or setting of the act). Scene
can also be called the environment of the artifact. Of course the scene at its basic level was the
1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid New York. This scene was significant to the team being
addressed however, because it was on home turf in the arena that they were about to compete in.
It was just minutes before they were to take the ice and they were in the same building as the
people they were about to battle against. It was just the team and the coaches in the room too—

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no one who was not a part of the “Team USA family” was there. It is also important because
they were actually at the Olympics which added urgency to their mission. On a more profound
level it can be said that the scene was the world stage. People all around the world had access to
this game through television so while the match was physically set in Lake Placid it truly was
broadcast around the planet allowing millions of people to tune in and added pressure to the
players especially since this game represented more than hockey, but also the Americans
overcoming the Soviet in the Cold War.
Probably the most significant piece of the pentad in this situation was Burke‟s purpose.
Brooks had a clear purpose throughout his speech which he capably portrayed. He immediately
drove home that the team had earned the right to compete and that the goal was to beat the
Soviets. The Olympics in 1980 were set in the midst of the Cold War—a very tense time
between the United States and the Soviets (who are now known as Russians). The situation was
made even more tense by the fact that the Soviets were the dominating force in hockey at that
time, the clear favorites to win the games, and a team that had repeatedly beaten the United
States team in embarrassing massacres in games prior adding insult to injury. Brooks said to the
team “If we played „em ten times, they might win nine….Tonight, we are the greatest hockey
team in the world…This is your time. Their time…is done—its over”. (2004). These words
demonstrated the motivational and inspirational theme behind Brooks‟ words. To Burke this is
significant because there were a great deal of situational factors influencing what these words
meant to the players. The purpose of Brooks‟ speech was to motivate the players to overcome
their deficiencies, and beat their arch rivals. Brooks‟ purpose of this speech was also to get the
players to lay everything on the line, end the game without regret, show his team that he did not
doubt their abilities and prove to the world that the impossible could be overcome—the United

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States could win the Cold War. This game represented much more than athletics and Coach
Brooks wanted to convey that to his players.
Coach Brooks was able to appeal to Burke‟s theme of identification too. Burke stated:
“Identification is the common ground held by both the speaker and the audience in which trust
and substance is formed (Griffin, 2006, pg. 331).” Coach Brooks and his team had no shortage of
common ground. They had been working towards the same goal with one another for a year. The
team knew of their coach‟s dashed Olympic dreams and did not want to take away a win from
him or themselves. All of the team members were from the United States as well, so they were
all from similar backgrounds, felt strongly for the United States‟ position in the Cold War, and
all wanted to represent their country well.
The use of Burke‟s pentad was also effective because of the presence of Aristotle‟s
artistic proofs of ethos and pathos as well as the mode of rhetoric epideictic. As demonstrated by
the use of Burke‟s idea of the agent it is known that Coach Brooks was a credible person to the
kids he coached. Credibility goes hand in hand with Aristotle‟s concept of ethos. We also see a
great deal of pathos elicited by Brooks. Pathos (meaning emotion) was expressed from beginning
to end of the speech. Every time Brooks addressed the team having earned their way to the
Olympic finale` game, the team work that they would demonstrate in the game, the “Screw
them” attitude he had for the Soviet team, etc. were all emotional appeals to the boys he was
leading. The entire speech was within the expectations of an epideictic mode. Coach Brooks‟
speech was focused on the moment. It was all about what was happening right there in that
particular moment, not what to do in the future or what had happened before. Brooks said things
such as: “This is your time!” and “Go out there and take it!” It was very much about seizing that

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very minute and for that reason never crossed into the territory of a judicial or deliberative mode
of rhetoric.
Using Burke‟s concepts of the pentad and identification combined, Brooks created an
extremely successful, relevant, and enduring speech. With the focus being on the purpose of the
speech the urgency and importance of the event was really driven home. Brooks appealed to the
pathos/emotions of his team members and kept his tone in the epideictic throughout the duration
of his speech which also contributed to the success of his message. Because Miracle was able to
encompass all these through Coach Brooks‟ speech they were able to show just how effective
passionate speech in an important and moving moment can be. Rhetoric changed the course of
these young men‟s lives and the lives of the citizens living around the world.