Upset?

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Posted By: Bert Wright

I was having this argument with some other coaches today...and now I ask you. If you only get ONE choice for any sport game, series, or tournament, what is the biggest upset of all time in American popular sport? My vote: 1913 U.S. Open Ouimet over Vardon and Ray.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

US hockey over USSR in 1980 Olympics comes to mind.

Did you know the US won 6 Gold Medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics, one by the hockey team and 5 by Eric Heiden?

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Posted By: barrysloate

1969 Mets winning the World Series. I know they won 100 games but from 1962 to 68 they were pathetic.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Duke over UNLV in the 1991 Final Four. Same rosters for both teams the year before in the NCAA final: UNLV won by 30.

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Posted By: Tim

The 1914 Braves??

I think Ouimet is a great choice.

The way in which they did it the guys from Boise St should atleast get an honorable mention. Two gutsy calls by the coach, executed perfectly by his team, on the biggest stage of those players lives.

The 69 Mets, the 80 USA Hockey team, and don't forget Rulon Gardner.

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Posted By: Bert Wright

Jeff, As a huge Duke fan I think people forget the amazing circumstances surrounding the 91 Duke - UNLV game. Same rosters as you stated and UNLV being undefeated and regarded by about everyone as "invincible". Duke played the perfect game. Those were the days when everyone was rooting for Duke. How things have changed! Hard to argue with the other choices, especially 80 Hockey.

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Posted By: Brock G.

Michigan going down at home right out of the gate to Appalachian St deserves consideration.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Baseball - 1988 Dodgers over A's
Football - Appy St over Michigan
Basketball - 1983 NC State over Houston
Golf - Don't know enough about it, but I'll go with Ouimet in the US Open
Boxing - Douglas over Tyson
Hockey - 1980 USA over USSR

Out of all of those it's very close with me on Douglas over Tyson vs the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team, but I'll give the edge to the Hockey team as that was truly amateurs over professionals.

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Posted By: Mark

I don't have time to look it up, but I think a tiny college (Chaminade?) beat Ralph Sampson and Virginia when they were #1, and considered invincible. At the time, I recall this being considered an impossible occurance.

It was a regular season game, so it does not carry the weight of the Miracle Mets, US Hockey Team, Duke or Ouimet... but it was perhaps even a more unlikely upset.

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Posted By: Ejm1

Buster Douglas over Mike Tyson is hard to beat.

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Posted By: paulstratton

Jets over Colts
Villanova over Georgetown
Jack Fleck beating Ben Hogan

...but nothing can top the 1980 Olympic hockey team. Shocked the world and helped us win the Cold War. I don't think anything will ever come close again.

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Posted By: J Paul

Ouiment over Vardon is a great choice but my vote would go for the 1980 Olympic Hockey game over Russia.

Honorable mention - in horse racing the aptly named Upset defeated the immortal Man O'War in the 1919 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga handing the great champion his only career defeat. Some believe that this result was the beginning of the use of the term upset in sports writing for a big underdog winning a sporting event over a seemingly superior opponent.

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Posted By: George Dreher

Carlisle Indian School beats Harvard 18-15
Jim Thorpe scores all 18 Carlisle points (4 field goals and a touchdown)

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Posted By: howard

Randy Turpin over Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951 was a huge upset. Douglas over Tyson is up there but in retrospect that outcome is not as shocking as it was at the time. Tyson had probably already started on his downward spiral and Buster Douglas was a pretty good fighter when motivated. The knock on him was that he was lazy which he proved when he went into his next fight horribly out of shape and got his ass handed to him by Evander Holyfield.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Dan, the 88 Dodgers' win was even more incredible when you consider that after Gibson's one AB in which he hit the HR off Eck, he didn't play the remainder of the WS. So the Dodgers were left with a roster in which the leading "power" hitters were Mike Marshall and John Shelby (and Marshall didn't play all that much in the WS). Incredible pitching (mostly Hershiser and the Dodgers bullpen) beat a fearsome lineup.

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Posted By: Joe

I know it does not seem like an upset today, but listening on the radio, no TV fights in those days, Cassius Clay beating Sonny Liston for the Heavyweight World Boxing Championship was something wasn't it?

Joe

Ty Cobb, Spikes flying!

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Posted By: Bert Wright

Wow! I'm learning a lot. I completely forgot about one contest. 1954 Indiana HS State Basketball Championship Milan beats Muncie Central 32-30 to shock the ...state. (subject of the movie Hoosiers) This may not be the biggest but deserves some consideration.

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Posted By: J Paul

Thought of another one...

1983 NCAA Basketball North Carolina State defeating Houston (aka Phi Slamma Jamma). Houston was 31-2 that season and had won 26 straight games going into the final. They were led by future Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde "The Glide" Drexler.

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Posted By: Ken

Pottsville Maroons over Notre Dame (and the Four Horsemen) in 1925.

Ken

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Posted By: mike rothstein

Altho I've seen a lot of great matches involving upsets - the one that stands out for me is the 04 Red Sox coming back after being down 3 against the Yankees.

Never been done before and it'll probably be a long time before one sees this kind of thing again.

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Posted By: dennis

mike i think that bosox over yankees after deing down 3-0, belongs in the bigest CHOKE thread.

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Posted By: brock

Couple other minor upsets could be Bucky Dent's home-run, red sox's had a 14 game lead that season and they choked.

Bill buckner's fielding in game 6 of the 1986 world series. Sox's again only 1 out away from winning the big one and they still failed.

And the best one of them all, Aaron Boone's game 7 home run off of Tim Wakefield. What a game and again the red sox's were just acouple more outs away and they still failed.

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Posted By: Bert Wright

Brock, being a Sox fan, those losses must have ripped you heart out!