Biggest Upsets

ESPN just did a story about the biggest upsets:

1980 Olympic Ice Hockey - USA beats USSR
1990 Douglas KO's Tyson
1969 Namath makes good on boast over Colts
2008 Giants shock "perfect" Patriots

Here's mine:

1969 Mets beat mighty Orioles (who had four 20-game winning pitchers!)
1983 NC State Heart-Attack Wolf Pack nips Phi Slamma Jamma Houston Cougars
1985 Villanova edges Patrick Ewing's Georgetown

Can you think of any others?

Will we be able to look back at this year and talk about epic late season "upset" dumps?

Those two lists together are pretty hard to beat.  

69 Mets have got to be in there up against 4-20 game winners. To me that's more amazing than the Jets.

Not sure you can call it an upset in golf, and I'm definitely not a golf fan, but I saw about 30 seconds of the 1987 Masters... just one shot:


Larry Mize drains it to win the 1987 Masters

IMO
the biggest upset in sport  was the US vs USSR..IMO hands down the best and most exciting game of any kind in my life time.. even better than the 6th game of the 86 series ..

Spongeworthy wrote

Can you think of any others?

2/11/90 - Buster Douglas defeats Mike Tyson

JasonWx wrote

IMO
the biggest upset in sport  was the US vs USSR..IMO hands down the best and most exciting game of any kind in my life time.. even better than the 6th game of the 86 series ..

I have to agree, nothing I've ever seen can even come close to this....bunch of college kids against pro's

We do not speak of that game in my family.

Hudsonhiker - should I assume you are talking about the 86 world series?

That was quite a game, although I'm not sure if it qualifies as a huge upset.

The iconic clip from the end of that game, is Ray Knight jumping high to land on home plate with a thud amidst a throng of Mets. But that wasn't the footage I like to remember - I was never a big Ray Knight fan.

On the other hand, Mookie Wilson is one of my favorite players of all time. And back in those days NBC did the series in style. Tons of camera isolating on everything.  The clip I love is Mookie beating it out down to first, actually rounding towards second (not smart with the winning run approaching the plate) and then flashing a HUGE Mookie smile and breaking for home when he realized Knight was going to cross the plate.

Edminton Oliers beating the NY Islanders in the Stanley Cup??  I hated the Islanders (Rangers fan)

Since we're in a skiing forum, how about Bill Johnson taking the gold in the downhill in the '84 Olympics!!!

Franz Klammer beating Russi

Face4Me wrote

Since we're in a skiing forum, how about Bill Johnson taking the gold in the downhill in the '84 Olympics!!!

+1

The '96 Yankees down 0-2 to the Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine Braves going to Atlanta?

ScottyJack wrote

Face4Me wrote

Since we're in a skiing forum, how about Bill Johnson taking the gold in the downhill in the '84 Olympics!!!

+1

-1. Johnson won the Lauberhorn a couple of weeks before the Olympics and was 4th at Cortina about a week before the Olympics. He was a great glider and the Sarajevo was a glider's course. He won 2 more races that season.

The upset during the same Olympics was Debbie Armstrong in the GS . It was the only race she ever won at the top level.

Here is another upset - USSR defeats USA in basketball in the 1972 Olympics. It was a bs win but it was a win.

x10003q wrote

-1. Johnson won the Lauberhorn a couple of weeks before the Olympics and was 4th at Cortina about a week before the Olympics. He was a great glider and the Sarajevo was a glider's course. He won 2 more races that season.

Ok ... then call his Lauberhorn victory the upset, though from what I remember, he still wasn't really expected to win in Sarajevo. His Lauberhorn win was the first time an American EVER won a men's World Cup downhill. He got into trouble, went way off course, but somehow managed to recover, not miss a gate, and still win the race. I actually remember watching that race on TV, I think it was on ABC's Wide World of Sports, back in the "good old days" with Jim McKay, the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat.

The funny thing is, Harvey's "Three Favorite Athletes" post was what made me think of Johnson in the first place. At the time, he was definitely a "favorite" athlete of mine, though his career never really went anywhere after that. The poor guy sure has had a tragic life since '84.