Basketball, Football, Hockey, Private, Soccer, Sports

10 Things: Upsets

After a surprising election last week, we’ve got ten sports results that you probably didn’t see coming.

1. The New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII in 2007. New England entered the game undefeated and as heavy favourites. The game, which featured the “helmet catch” by David Tyree, ended with the Giants taking a 17-14 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish as they handed Patriots their first loss of the season. 

2. Do you believe in miracles? The U.S. men’s hockey team defeating the feared Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics on American soil was one of the biggest upsets of all time. With a team full of nobodies, they took Lake Placid by storm, and stopped the Soviet machine in its tracks. 

3. In 1985, the No. 8 seeded Villanova Wildcats upset the Patrick Ewing-led No. 1 seeded Georgetown Hoyas, who had been looking to repeat as National Champions. Villanova shot an astonishing 78.6 per cent for the game to shock the reigning champs 66-64.

4. Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson in 1990 will go down as one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. At 42-1 odds, Douglas knocked out Tyson with one punch and took his heavyweight title. The biggest, baddest man in boxing had lost his aura of invincibility.

5. The U.S. men’s soccer team’s 1-0 defeat of England at the 1950 World Cup became known as the “Miracle on Grass.” At the time, England was considered the “King of Football” while the Americans had lost their last seven matches by a combined score of 45-2.

6. Alexander Kerelin, nicknamed the “Russian Bear,” was considered the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler in modern time. In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he went into the final after going 13 years undefeated in international competition, but lost to a low-ranked American named Rulon Gardner. He retired from the sport in the same year after the upset.

7. In 1919, the racehorse, Man o’War, had been undefeated coming into the Sanford Memorial. The streak ended when he lost to 100-1 longshot horse, who was appropriately named Upset. It was the only blemish in Man o’War’s illustrious 21 race career.

8. At Wrestlemania 22, Rey Mysterio defeated reigning world heavyweight champion Kurt Angle and villain Randy Orton in an entertaining triple-threat match. He pulled out all the stops to win and capitalize on his previous famed victory at the Royal Rumble earlier that year, which earned Mysterio his shot at the heavyweight title.

9. At the 2011 Cricket World Cup, Ireland bettered their famous victory against Pakistan in 2007 by defeating their oldest rivals: England. Chasing an imposing 327, the Irish were aided by the fastest century in World Cup history—courtesy of Kevin O’Brien—to come up with the biggest chase ever in the tournament.

10. The 2016 English Premier League (EPL) season has gone down as one of the most astonishing finishes in soccer history. Leicester City won the EPL after being almost relegated the year before. With 5000-1 odds to start the year, they outplayed Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, and Tottenham to win the league. 

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