Trivia: The man with the hat who puts the American flag on Craig is the film's director.
Trivia: To boost the team's confidence, Brooks often made fun of Soviet captain Boris Mikhailov, saying that he looked like comedian Stan Laurel.
Trivia: Rob McClanahan's injury in the match against Sweden was actually so severe that he was forced to miss the opening ceremony two days later because he was with the team doctor recovering (despite coach Brooks' accusations that he just was not being tough enough).
Trivia: In the film, Ralph Cox was the last player cut from the team, but in 1980 Jack Hughes was the last player cut.
Trivia: It was not originally in the script to have the players talk to each other about how hot the girls were at the Norway game. Before the scene was filmed, the actors were doing it for real while they were looking at the extras in the arena. The director then thought it would be a good idea to have them do that in the movie, to give their coach all the more reason to be infuriated.
Answer: Since they all came from different, sometimes rival, universities, and thus had no commonality, he wanted to give them someone to dislike together, instead of fighting with one another. If they could all bond over what a bastard Brooks was, they'd come together faster as a team and have a chance of winning.