Talk about an Upset!
By Shawn Stewart
Who doesn't love a good upset? In 1969, Joe Namath, the quarterback of the New York Jets at the time guaranteed victory in Super Bowl III against the heavily favored Baltimore Colts. The Jets did prevail in that game and were crowned Super Bowl Champions. This goes down as one of the greatest upsets in sports history. An "upset" occurs in a competition, frequently in electoral politics or sports, when the party/popularity expected to win, either loses or draws/ties a game with an underdog whom the majority expects to lose, defying the conventional wisdom.
There have been several upsets in sports history, some have been talked about for several years, and others may not be as well known. We all know about 1980 during the Olympic games in Lake Placid, NY. This also goes down as possibly the greatest upset of all time. The U.S. men's hockey team was a major underdog against heavily favored USSR (Russia) in the semi-finals. This is known as the "Miracle on Ice." USA went on to play Finland in the gold medal game, and prevailed victorious. How many of you remember or know about one of the greatest upsets in College Basketball history? Well, in fact, there are two, and they both occurred in the National Champion Game, 19 years apart.
The U.S. National team claiming victory over the Soviets in the 80s’ was the pinnacle of upsets in American history.
(Heinz Kluetmeier | Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
In 1966, a small school out of El Paso, TX, Texas Western (which later became UTEP or University of El Paso), coached by Don Haskins won the National Championship over heavily favored Kentucky coached by Adolph Rupp. Somebody by the name of Pat Riley was a player on that heavily favored Kentucky Wildcats team. Don Haskins received a lot of criticism for being the first head coach to start five black players, or any black player for that matter, in a championship game. Of course this was during a time of racial injustice, and society did not view this as acceptable, but Coach Don Haskins looked past the hatred, and pulled off one of the greatest upsets in sports history. This moment motivated other College Basketball programs to intensify their recruiting efforts toward black players in the years following this upset victory.
The second biggest upset in College Basketball history happened in 1985. This was against Patrick Ewing and the "powerhouse" Georgetown Hoyas, and the Villanova Wildcats. For those of you who don't know, Villanova is located just 18 miles from the Fightin' city of Philadelphia. Villanova had come in to the tournament as an 8 seed, and Georgetown was a number 1 seed. Most experts predicted Georgetown to play in the Championship Game, but nobody predicted what Villanova would do. This was the second biggest point-spread upset in Championship Game history. Villanova shot 78% from the field . This was known as the "Perfect Game" because Villanova could not miss and pulled off one of the biggest upsets in sports history. Villanova is still the lowest seed in College Basketball history to win a National Championship. Since this upset in 1985, Villanova has since won two more championships defeating North Carolina in 2016 and Michigan in 2018.
Sports upsets give us that thrill or put us on the edge of our seat. There have been some amazing upsets in sports history. It gives up the opportunity to cheer for the underdog. In 2017 the Philadelphia Eagles termed the phrase "under dogs", after they lost their starting quarterback for the season and were not favored in a single playoff game that year. They went on an unforgettable run and upset Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Upsets are going to happen, it is the nature of sports. Just make sure you don't miss a single moment that could change the history of sports forever.
Follow Shawn @ShawnSportsNut.
