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BUCKY FOX |
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 James "Buster" Douglas, who was a 42-1 underdog when he knocked out undefeated Mike Tyson to win the heavyweight title in 1990. |
Upsets in sports are Boss;
They make sofa-leapers
By BUCKY FOX
of TheColumnists.com
The sweetest thing about the NCAA basketball tournament is the upsets.
They put the Madness in March.
Take this year alone: Manhattan over Florida. Nevada over Gonzaga. Vanderbilt over North Carolina State. And in the most jarring of them all, UAB over Kentucky.
UAB? That’s the University of Alabama, Birmingham.
Or Upsets Are Boss.
They’re the results that vault you off your sofa. Take the Kentucky game. The Wildcats entered it as the No. 1-seeded team in the whole tourney. They were supposed to keep UAB the unknown acronym it was since Gene Bartow left UCLA to start the Blazer program three decades ago.
Is this thing over yet? You yawn and ponder what’s on Food Network. But something keeps you from clicking to bread baking. UAB has that upset taste. The Blazers are filling up on baskets and turning Kentucky into something quite edible.
Chomp. Mo Finley hits a jumper with 12 seconds left. UAB leads 76-75.
Gulp. Gerald Fitch misses for Kentucky as the clock goes down.
UAB wins, and you’re off that sofa with the vertical leap of, well, a guy full of chips.
When you come down, you think of 10 upsets that have set you off--starting with college basketball:
North Carolina State over Houston. This was the 1983 tournament final. Houston’s nickname is Cougars, but it might as well have been Lock. They had a winning combination called Phi Slamma Jamma, named for the way they ran past every other team in the tourney. N.C. State took a mediocre record and slow style into the title game. The Wolfpack had no chance. None. Yet when Lorenzo Charles put in Derek Whittenburg’s miss, N.C. State was a 54-52 winner.
Villanova over Georgetown. Another NCAA tournament final, this time in 1985. Georgetown came in as the defending champ. The Hoyas played mean defense and had the human fly swatter, Patrick Ewing. Villanova had, what, anyone you remember? No, just a backbone that wouldn’t crack. The Wildcats shot 90 percent in the second half and all 10 of their free throws down the stretch. And won 66-64.
Duke over UNLV. When we hear Duke, we think dynasty. And Nevada-Las Vegas is hardly rich anymore. So this 1991 tournament semifinal doesn’t conjure up great upset memories. Yet it was one of the most jarring. Just the year before, UNLV had smothered Duke by 30 points--the biggest rout in title-game history. Furthermore, the Blue Devils kept losing in the Final Four. They were dribbling chokes. This time they choked the Rebels 79-77 and went on to win the championship.
Buster Douglas over Mike Tyson. The greatest upset of them all. Tyson entered this 1990 heavyweight title fight as the baddest boxer in memory. He stood 37-0 with 33 knockouts. His stare alone decked opponents. Douglas came in as a 42-1 underdog. And went out with a 10th-round knockout.
Muhammad Ali over George Foreman. Foreman was the Tyson of his day. Unbeaten, surly, with a harsh punch to match. You couldn’t imagine him losing this 1974 title fight in Zaire. Then there was Ali, utterly fearless in his proclaimed Rumble In The Jungle. His rope-a-dope tired Foreman, then Ali swooped in for the kill in the eighth round.
USA over Soviet Union. This 1980 Olympic hockey semifinal wears the Miracle On Ice tag for a good reason. It was. The Soviets sliced up the Americans 10-3 in a pre-Olympic exhibition. The real game was supposed to be a communist punch to the stomach. Yet the Americans gutted out a 4-3 triumph on their way to the gold medal.
Calgary over Edmonton. This 1986 second-round playoff series came amid Edmonton's dynasty. The Oilers owned the National Hockey League from 1984 to '88. They looked like a cinch for the '86 Stanley Cup. They had the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, plus future hall of famers Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey and Grant Fuhr. They were simply an iceberg towering over the Flames’ ice cube. Somehow, Calgary forced a seventh game. And when it counted, Edmonton's Steve Smith blew it by slipping the puck into his own net to hand Calgary a 3-2 victory. The Flames went on to lose in the Cup final to Montreal, but they will always own this grand result.
Jets over Colts. It's easy to say New York had the better talent all along. But heading into the 1969 Super Bowl, the only one spouting that line was Joe Namath. The press and most fans just laughed. They were too mesmerized by the NFL and by extension Baltimore. They were perfectly comfortable with the AFL Jets' 17-point underdog status. Namath knew better. He shredded Baltimore in the Jets' 16-7 stunner.
Arantxa Sanchez over Steffi Graf. This 1989 French Open tennis final was an absolute shockeroo. Graf owned this sport. She swept to the Golden Slam in '88--winning all four Slams and the Olympics. She breezed through the French final that year in 33 minutes. Her '89 Australian Open title gave her five straight Slams. No one could handle her forehand. And in third set of this battle, the German led the Spaniard 5-3. Over? Hardly. Sanchez scrambled back to win 7-6, 3-6, 7-5.
Michael Chang over Ivan Lendl. Another 1989 French Open tennis jolt. Like Sanchez, Chang was a 17-year-old with no chance to win. Lendl was No. 1 in the world and the French winner three times in the '80s. This round of 16 encounter had mismatch written all over the red clay -- especially after Lendl won the first two sets. Overcoming the odds and leg cramps, Chang rallied for a 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 triumph, then went on to win the tournament.
Sofa leapers will never
forget.
©2004 by Bucky Fox.
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