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When the U.S. Olympic hockey team upset the Soviet Union in 1980's "miracle on ice," President Jimmy Carter called coach Herb Brooks to congratulate him on the win: "Tell the whole team that we're extremely proud of them. ... " Carter said. "I think it just proves that our way of life is the proper way to continue on."

The other way of life, the Soviet way — which produced some of the best hockey players in the world — only went on for another decade or so.

In his new documentary Red Army, Gabe Polsky profiles the Soviet athletes and political turmoil surrounding them. "They were incredible," Polsky tells NPR's Robert Siegel. "They, basically — for almost two decades — were almost unbeatable."

Interview Highlights

On Anatoli Tarasov, "the godfather" of Soviet hockey

He took a very creative approach to the game and studied chess and ballet and applied these principles to hockey. And he really made it a very fun, creative, artistic game to watch with a lot of puck possession and weaving and just beautiful playmaking.

On hockey being a source of pride in a society that was in other ways very dysfunctional

Josef Stalin in the '40s ... wanted the Soviet Union to be number one in sports in the world. And he wanted that to be because, one, it creates a sense of national pride — and when a team is doing well, people unify inside the Soviet Union. And it also makes other countries think, "What are they doing there in the Soviet Union? It must be a more superior culture in certain ways." And it was a propaganda tool for the Soviet Union to show how dominant and superior their society was.

More On 'Red Army'

Movie Reviews

The Tale Of The Hockey Players For Whom 1980 Was No Miracle On Ice

'Leviathan' And 'Red Army' Deliver A Peek Inside Russia, Now And Then

5 min 50 sec

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On Viacheslav "Slava" Fetisov, who is at the center of the film

He is a defenseman and he was captain of the Soviet National team for many years and was considered one of the greatest defenseman ever to play the game, and one of the most decorated athletes in Soviet history. As a person, he's a lot the same way he is on the ice. He's always keeping you on your toes. He's unpredictable. He's a little bit aggressive, but he's an intelligent guy. And that's how he was on the ice.

On Soviet players being "sold" to NHL clubs at the end of the Cold War

During the Perestroika times in the late '80s, the Soviet Union was changing and they were feeling a lot of pressure economically. And there was some stagnation, and the government could no longer afford to fund the sports programs in the Soviet Union. So they started to think about about allowing some of the older Soviet players to go and play in the West. And they would sell them to NHL clubs for a lot of money, and then basically take all that money for the government. So the players would make, let's say, $1,000 a month and then the rest of that money would go to the government.

And some of the players were so eager to get out of [Russia] that they would take that deal. But Fetisov held out, and didn't want to be treated like a slave and basically work and be sold like a slave to the U.S. and then give all the money back to the Soviet government. And he fought this very powerful system that threatened him and, ultimately, withstood all this pressure.

“ "Russia was a country that needed heroes. I think they suffer from a lack of people for young people to look up to. It was, still is, a country that was rebuilding itself from the collapse of the Soviet Union, and still trying to find itself."

- Filmmaker Gabe Polsky

On how Fetisov ended up playing in the NHL, but later returned to Russia

He was ... making quite a bit of money and has lived the American dream, won two Stanley Cups and was actually coaching. ... His life could've been great and fruitful — but, he got a call from Vladimir Putin. And Putin asked him to be the Minister of Sport in Russia. And I assume it was a difficult decision but I think when you have a guy like Vladimir Putin asking you to do that, it's difficult to say "no" to, first of all.

Second of all, Fetisov is probably one of the most famous people in Russia, and with that comes a lot of responsibility. Russia was a country that needed heroes. I think they suffer from a lack of people for young people to look up to. It was, still is, a country that was rebuilding itself from the collapse of the Soviet Union, and still trying to find itself. I think Fetisov felt a sense of responsibility for his country, his people, and he considers Russia his home. I think he wants to help make the country as good as it can be. ...

I think that the story basically brings to life the difficulties that Russia has had after the collapse of the Soviet Union and finding its place in the world, being prideful and finding its national identity, and regaining the prestige that it had during the Soviet years.

When Hostess Brands announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012, there was a lot of anguish on the Internet about the death of Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Donettes and the like.

And it got Jennifer Steinhauer, a New York Times reporter and food writer, wondering why anyone would even want a Twinkie in adulthood?

"Well, maybe we all want a Twinkie or have access to a Twinkie because it's not just that you're losing a snack food you don't eat any more — you're kind of losing your childhood," she says.

Steinhauer usually covers Congress, but the possibility of a snack food apocalypse sent her to the kitchen for a solution. For a year she made Twinkies, Devil Dogs, Mallomars and even Fritos from scratch. She compiled her recipes for homemade junk food in a cookbook, Treat Yourself.

The Two-Way

Twinkies, Ho Hos, Other Hostess Cakes To Return On July 15

Among the foods she tackled was a little pink treat she had absolutely no respect for — the Sno Ball. She shared a recipe for All Things Considered's series, Found Recipes.

"The Sno Ball is the pastel cousin to everybody else. It's showing off. It's saying, 'Look at me, I'm bizarre, don't you want to take part in this?' " she says. "It's bright pink. It's not anything that you've seen in nature or food. It's kind of a holiday, but it's March and it's still there."

For Steinhauer, the Sno Ball was "a bridge too far." But she thought about how she could translate the coconut, marshmallow and frosting-coated treat into something more palatable.

Visually, she knew it had to be something that reminded Sno Ball lovers of the treat they had growing up. So she started with the shape — round — and decided to base it on a doughnut hole.

Then she took the marshmallow from the outside and turned it into a filling so the taster would get a mouth of marshmallow but "not a face of marshmallow," she says. She also pared back the coconut and made an executive decision to skip the pink food coloring.

When she brought the re-imagined Sno Balls to a school party, they were a hit with kids and teachers alike, even those who claimed to not like coconut.

"It's not an overwhelming, gross-sized treat," she says. "It's a little pop, a little fun thing."

Even though Hostess products are now back in production, Steinhauer is sure there's no comparison.

Treat Yourself

70 Classic Snacks You Loved as a Kid (and Still Love Today)

by Jennifer Steinhauer and James Ransom

Paperback, 176 pages | purchase

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TitleTreat YourselfSubtitle70 Classic Snacks You Loved as a Kid (and Still Love Today)AuthorJennifer Steinhauer and James Ransom

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Recipe: Sno Balls

Makes approximately 40 small cake bites
Hands-on time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

For the cake

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup whole milk

40 mini marshmallows

For the topping

2 1/2 cups sweetened coconut flakes

For the frosting

11/2 cups marshmallow fluff

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

Note: I use a donut hole cake pan in making these — it's inexpensive and is very fun to own. You can purchase one at many baking and cooking retailers online.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a donut hole pan (see Note) with unsalted butter.

Make the cake batter: In a heavy-duty stand mixer, cream the stick of butter and the granulated sugar together on medium speed just until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the egg and mix just until combined. Stir the cocoa and 1/3 cup hot water together until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, add the cocoa mixture to the butter mixture, stirring for an additional 10 seconds.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in batches alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and beating after each addition until the ingredients are just blended.

Scoop a heaping tablespoon of batter into each donut hole cavity. Place a marshmallow into the center of each scoop of batter and cover the marshmallow with batter, ensuring that each marshmallow is completely coated. The pan hole should be two-thirds full. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cakes are set, Remove the pan from the oven, but keep the oven on to toast your coconut. Let the cakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then gently lift the cakes from the pan, placing them back on the wire rack to cool to room temperature.

Toast the coconut: Place the coconut flakes on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the flakes starts to turn golden brown, but no darker.

Make the frosting: With a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer, beat the marshmallow fluff, the 3/4 cup of butter, and the powdered sugar for 1 minute at medium speed until light and fluffy. Transfer the frosting to a piping bag.

Frost the cakes: Place the cooled cakes, spaced generously apart, on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking pan. Starting at the base of each cake, pipe a spiraling circle of frosting around the cake, ensuring that it is completely covered in frosting. (You can use your damp fingers to smooth frosting over any gaps.)

Use your paws to lightly pack each cake in toasted coconut so that each entire cake is covered completely in coconut. (Don't just roll the cakes, or the coconut won't quite stick.) Use the rimmed baking sheet to catch any coconut flakes that fall through the wire rack, which can be applied to any semi-naked cakes.

Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 day.

Reprinted from Treat Yourself. Copyright © 2014 by Jennifer Steinhauer. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House LLC.

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Web Extra

John Darnielle on writing songs about Ozzy Osbourne

2 min 33 sec

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John Darnielle is the core, and sometimes only, member of the band the Mountain Goats. Thought by many to be "America's best non-hip-hop lyricist," he crafts songs that read like stories, and sound like they were recorded in his basement on a rickety tape deck. (Many of them were.) One of the band's most popular songs is the brutally humorous "No Children"—despite (or, perhaps, because of) its sing-along-able quality, the narrator's ode to their toxic marriage feels almost cathartic.

Perhaps it's this bittersweet-yet-vital quality of the Mountain Goats' music that translates into Darnielle's love of death metal. Attending a death metal concert, he says, is simultaneously "awesome and rewarding and painful and great." He appreciates how death metal is "creative expression that can genuinely say that it's not interested in what the world at large thinks of it."

He continued: "Whether it's a song, or a book, or a conversation you have at dinner, the creative thing is what happens in the process—not the relic of it."

Given Darnielle's philosophy behind his creative process, it's no wonder that his artistry spans from music to novels. His novel Wolf In White Van, which was nominated for the National Book Award in 2014, feels like an extension of the characters in his songs. The main character, Sean, even shares Darnielle's love for professional wrestling and heavy metal.

More From This Episode

Following his Ask Me Another Challenge about death metal, which found Jonathan Coulton crooning tender, acoustic covers of Pig Destroyer and analyzing Cannibal Corpse lyrics, Darnielle treated the audience at the Carolina Theater in Durham, N.C., to a rousing rendition of the Mountain Goats' "The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton." Only Darnielle could make a chorus of "Hail Satan" seem so sweet.

Interview Highlights

On the heart in death metal

When we say something comes from the heart we have all these romantic associations that it has to be emotional in a certain way, it has to be somehow sad or plaintive. But death metal really does come from the heart, in that it comes from inside somebody and it's a mode of self-expression that is put out there at risk of ridicule, and with the near certainty of no monetary reward at all. It costs a lot of money to make a death metal album, and it takes considerably more musical expertise than I'm ever going to have. They're incredible musicians. It's a very passionate music. It's also really dark and gory—and I like that stuff.

On writing books vs. writing music

I can't imagine having to choose. It would be weird for me to go well this is the only thing I do. I don't really understand that. I respect it because zealots always attract me. Like "I only make this kind of music, that's all I do." I'm interested by that. But for me, I just like to make stuff. The thing you make and the form it takes is only the after-effect of the creative thing you did. Whether it's a song, or a book, or a conversation you have at dinner, the creative thing is what happens in the process—not the relic of it.

wolf in white van

the mountain goats

john darnielle

NPR and ProPublica have been reporting about nonprofit hospitals that seize the wages of lower income and working-class patients. Now, Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says hospitals could be breaking the law by suing these patients and docking their pay. And he wants some answers.

Your Money

When Nonprofit Hospitals Sue Their Poorest Patients

NPR and ProPublica looked across six states, and in each, we found nonprofit hospitals suing hundreds of their patients. One hospital in particular jumped out — Heartland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph, Mo. Thousands of patients a year are getting their paychecks docked by the hospital and its debt collection arm.

One family we interviewed in our story has been getting their wages seized for nearly 10 years, but still owes $25,000 and feels trapped — in part because Heartland is charging 9 percent interest on that debt.

This family, and others we spoke to, should have qualified for free medical care under the hospital's own charity care policy based on their income. But that didn't happen. We also documented that hundreds of patients with low-wage jobs at McDonald's, Wal-Mart and elsewhere had their pay seized by this hospital.

i i

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, says nonprofit hospitals could be breaking the law by suing patients and docking their pay. Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times/Landov hide caption

itoggle caption Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times/Landov

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, says nonprofit hospitals could be breaking the law by suing patients and docking their pay.

Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times/Landov

Grassley: Hospitals Could Be Breaking The Law

Grassley, R-Iowa, told NPR and ProPublica he was "astounded" by these collection practices. For more than a decade, Grassley has been working to make nonprofit hospitals more accountable for the huge tax breaks they get. They don't pay federal income tax or local property tax. Grassley says that to justify their tax-exempt status, nonprofit hospitals have to "earn" it by "taking care of people who couldn't provide for their own health care."

Grassley worked on voluntary standards. But he also authored language in the Affordable Care Act requiring hospitals to do more to provide charitable care.

After he saw NPR and ProPublica's reporting on Heartland Hospital (which is changing its name to Mosaic Life Care), Grassley decided to get involved.

He says that under the ACA, a hospital has a responsibility to make a determination: Can a person or a family pay, or can they not. "It seems like Mosaic turned [the law] on its head," he says.

Grassley says the ACA requires that hospitals take the initiative to determine whether patients qualify for financial aid. The hospital is not supposed to shift that burden onto the patients. But in Heartland/Mosaic's case, Grassley said, "It seems to me they have not taken the initiative and they have not abided by the law."

Tougher Rules Required?

This story was reported in partnership between NPR News Investigations and ProPublica, an investigative journalism organization.

For more from this investigation:

From NPR: When Nonprofit Hospitals Sue Their Poorest Patients

From ProPublica: How Nonprofit Hospitals Are Seizing Patients' Wages

From NPR: Millions Of Americans' Wages Seized Over Credit Card And Medical Debt

From NPR: With Debt Collection, Your Bank Account Could Be At Risk

From ProPublica: Wages Of Millions Seized To Pay Past Debts

From ProPublica: Weak Laws Offer Debtors Little Protection

Heartland/Mosaic's board is reviewing its practices as a result of our earlier reporting. Grassley has now sent a letter to the hospital saying he wants to be briefed on the results of that review by Jan. 30. Grassley wrote that the hospital "may not be meeting the requirements to be a nonprofit."

And Grassley hopes his letter sends a wider message to other nonprofit hospitals that are being too aggressive collecting bills from patients who can't afford to pay. "Well, I think some hospitals, you hit them over the head with a 2x4 and they still don't get the message," he said.

Grassley says the health care law may need to be strengthened in order to force nonprofit hospitals to offer financial assistance to poor patients. "If they don't get the message now, we'll have to work towards getting the ideal language in the legislation," Grassley told NPR and ProPublica.

Tama Wagner, a Mosaic Life Care spokesperson, says the hospital will quickly respond to the senator's request and that the hospital's goal is to "do the right thing."

medical debt

health care costs

Affordable Care Act

debt

Hospitals