#TBT: When the Soviets Came to Seattle for the 1987 Windermere Cup

Opening Day, 1987 via KOMO News (Screen capture)

This week's combination #ThrowbackThursday-Video Of The Week post comes to us thanks to KOMO News, Seattle, and is a look back at the 1987 Windermere Cup, which saw the Soviet national rowing team come to the Northwest to race the Washington Huskies.

And, as if that weren't enough to get you excited in and of itself, the broadcast team includes Bruce King and the legendary Keith Jackson, whose dulcet tones draw out the drama, and, as the video explains, had previous experience covering a match-up between UW and the USSR—that being when the Huskies traveled to Russia in 1958 to race the Soviets on home water.



Not only that, but the video ties in footage from the Huskies' 1958 trip to Henley Royal Regatta—a trip that was the result of some difficulties for the Washington Athletics Department at the time, as well as the heads-up maneuvering of the alumni to give their crew a championship racing season overseas.

Suffice it to say, we can't oversell this video. While the race itself was somewhat one-sided in '87, with the Russians getting the better of the Dawgs that day, the comprehensive coverage and look back at the history of the event and the two rowing programs, and some epically 1980s graphics and music make for an hour's worth of quality rowing nostalgia.

In the words of Jackson, we think you'll be "glad to see that the weather hasn't changed, and neither has the indefatigable spirit of the wet-footed boatman."

Have a submission for 'Video Of The Week?' Shoot us an email, send us your suggestions via Twitter, or get in touch via our Facebook or Google+ pages.

-RR

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