Top 5: Upsets in sports that nobody saw coming

You’d have to forgive us if we thought Serena Williams would beat Roberta Vinci in a walk, but anything can happen in sports. This upset was shocking to be sure, but it was far from an isolated incident. The Gateway counts down five other upsets that were just as shocking in their time.

5. Mike Tyson vs. Buster Douglas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euZ08eWV4ME

I think it’s safe to say that nearly everyone in the world was scared of Mike Tyson in 1990. You’d forgive us for assuming that his opponent Buster Douglas was scared as well, considering he was a 42-1 underdog, and Tyson was 37-0 at the time. As if Douglas’ odds weren’t long enough, he also contracted the flu right before the fight, and was also dealing with the passing of his mother just 23 days prior. It became clear during the fight that Tyson didn’t intimidate Douglas however, as he was able to keep Tyson at a distance throughout the fight, preventing Tyson from getting inside where he was most dangerous. After giving Tyson all he could handle for most of the fight, Douglas finally broke through in the tenth round, landing a devastating combination of punches that knocked Tyson down for the first time in his career, after which the champ was counted out.

4. Super Bowl XLII – New England Patriots vs. New York Giants

Even though the Super Bowl is technically supposed to be a match up of the two best teams in the NFL, many people didn’t see it that way in 2007. The New England Patriots were trying to complete the first 19-0 season in NFL history — winning all 16 regular season games and three postseason games. The Giants meanwhile, were the NFC wildcard team, and sported a rather pedestrian 10-6 record heading into the playoffs. Couple that with the fact that no NFC wildcard team had ever won the Super Bowl, and the Giants certainly weren’t favoured. It looked the Patriots had things all but wrapped up as well, as the Giants started their final drive down 14-10 on their own 17-yard line, with only 2:39 remaining. This where David Tyree wrote his name in the history books, as he made the legendary catch that kept the drive alive, pressing the ball against his helmet as he went to the ground. Soon after, Plaxico Burrress made a 13 yard TD catch with 35 seconds remaining, to cement one of the biggest upsets in football history.

3. 2004 ALCS – Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees

These were two good teams, but the way Red Sox won this series made this an incredible upset. The Sox fell behind three games to none in the series and it looked like their World Series drought would reach an 87th year. The three games were lost in particularly demoralizing fashion as well, including a 19-8 shellacking at home in game three. Down 4-3 in the ninth in game four, the Red Sox rallied to tie after a Dave Roberts stolen base and a Bill Mueller RBI single. The rest is history, as the Red Sox would rally back and win the series, then sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series — ending the curse of the Bambino.

2. 1998 NCAA Basketball Division 1 Women’s Tournament – Stanford vs. Harvard

Many people make the case against No. 16 vs. No. 1 match-ups in the NCAA tournament, saying that the 16 seed never has chance. Normally they’re right, but this one time, they were wrong. Harvard beating No. 1 seeded Stanford 71-67 marks the only time in both men’s and women’s tournament history that a 16 seed has beaten a 1 seed. To be fair to Stanford, they were missing their top scorer and rebounder going into the tournament, and hindsight dictates that they probably wouldn’t have a 1 seed if the tournament ranking weren’t released before the injury. Still, Harvard pulled off a monumental feat that has not been equaled to this day.

1. 1980 Olympic Games – The Miracle on Ice: United States vs. Soviet Union

This is pretty much the true definition of a David vs. Goliath confrontation. The Soviet Union had won the last four Olympic gold medals, and was going up a US team composed mostly of college hockey players. If you’ve read the rest of this list up to this point, you can probably guess what happened next. The US played a gritty game, never letting the Soviets get comfortable. That, coupled with some questionable coaching decisions from coach Viktor Tikhonov – like pulling star goalie Vladislav Tretiak after the first period, and not pulling the goalie for an extra attacker despite being down 4-3 late in the third period, allowed the Americans to secure the upset.