Float Like a Butterfly...

I just read a magnificent article on ESPN.com about the 20 year anniversary of the historic Tyson/Douglas fight. The fight was 2/11/1990 and the place was Tokyo. Tyson at the time was the heavyweight champ, undefeated, and the baddest man in the world. The odds on Douglas were 42-1. Douglas won via a ten round knockout and Tyson was down. Needless to say Douglas didn't do much with the title. He held it til October of that year, when he got a $25 million payday to fight Holyfield. Holyfield knocked him out in three rounds and Douglas retired. You can really say it was a man who was focused on one thing, and when he accomplished that feat, it just went to hell.

The point of my little history lesson is that upsets in sports are awesome. And this week we probably get to hear a lot about the two greatest. The one I just described is probably number 2. Number 1 is the US Hockey team beating the Ruskies in 1980. And it is not just the greatest because it involves the US. Just look up the wikipedia page for the Soviets from 1980. They were considered amateurs, but were highly regarded as just insane players who had beaten NHL teams 5 times that year in exhibition games. Well, the US with their collection of college players won against Sweden and then beat the USSR 4-3 in just the semi-finals. The US then defeated Finland to win the gold. It is hard to comprehend how much better the world was at hockey at that time. But I truly think it would be like the US soccer team winning the World Cup now by going through Italy, Spain, and Brazil.

So it's been 30 years since Miracle on Ice and 20 years since the Knockout seen round the world. What else is in my Top 5? Well I'm glad you asked.

#3 is NC State winning the Basketball title in 1983. They needed to win their conference tourney to get in. They beat a Jordan-led Carolina and a Sampson-led Virginia to get in. And then they beat Drexler and Olajuwon to grab the title. That's 3 teams led by 4 hall of famers.

#4 is Jets over the Colts in Super Bowl III

#5 is George Mason's run to the Final Four as an 11 seed.


So there you have it. My top upsets. you kids have at it.