SURPRISE HAPPENS

Against All Odds: Let’s Relive 10 Legendary Sports Upsets!

Image: Daniel Damasio

No victory tastes better than an elusive one. Be it in the realm of sports, everyday life, work, or anywhere else, the achievement that took effort is more appreciated than the one that comes easy.

The team that is expected to lose a competition is called the underdog. For several possible reasons, the odds are stacked against this participant and not much is expected from them. This is why an underdog victory, in true David and Goliath style (ideally not deadly, though), is always surprising and often welcomed. Below are ten examples of this peculiar situation. Did you know about them?

Image: Thomas Park

In the 2007 Super Bowl, the Patriots were a clear favorite: undefeated with a 16-0 record during the regular season and numerous offensive scoring records. The Giants came into the playoffs with a 10-6 record, as a wild card team.

Until the fourth quarter, the two teams only scored a combined 10 points. But that was when things changed unexpectedly. A series of unbelievable plays by the Patriots ended with the winning touchdown by Plaxico Burress that gave the Giants a 17-14 victory. The Giants won the Super Bowl and kept the Patriots from having a truly undefeated season.

Image: Wesley Tingey

If you ever wondered what 5000-1 odds look like, you can go back to the unbelievable victory achieved by Leicester City in the 2014-2015 Premier League championship.

The modest club that had been lucky to remain in that very league during the previous season, took advantage of down years for the big teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Arsenal to become the most unlikely champions in English football.

Image: Moises Alex

Winning a Wimbledon Championship at 17 years old? Check! That is if you are Boris Becker. In the build-up to the 1985 Wimbledon Championships, the 17-year-old German focused his preparations at Queens Club. When he won the warm-up event, commentators declared him a ‘future Wimbledon champion’ – little did they know they’d be proven right three weeks later in the tennis tournament of the summer.

As the tournament progressed and both John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors succumbed to the big-serving South African Kevin Curren, the improbable started to look increasingly likely.

Curren was still the strong favorite when the pair met in the final, but Becker played with a confidence beyond his years and beat the odds.

Image: Jesper Giortz-Behrens

Granted, Niki Lauda was no underdog. He was born into a wealthy family in Austria, and at the height of his career, he drove for Ferrari. But, what makes his story so interesting is the fact that he came back from a terrible accident at the Nürburgring in 1976, when he became trapped in his car and suffered very severe burns.

After experiencing those injuries, he returned to the track just six weeks later, appearing at Monza with his burns still bandaged, and only lost the 1976 championship by a point to James Hunt after retiring from the Japanese Grand Prix due to unsafe conditions.

Image: dylan nolte

Ronda "Rowdy" Rousey was not supposed to lose her UFC bantamweight title in her match against Holly Holm. She was at the top of her game and had dominated her last three fights, winning them in 34, 16, and 14 seconds, and positioning her as the heavy favorite.

But the boxing specialist Holm dismissed all that, as she neutralized Rousey's peerless grappling skill and knocked out the favorite with a brutal second-round kick.

Image: Mike Bowman

Betting on a team that had won 10 of the last 12 pennants coming into the 1960 World Series would have seemed like a pretty sure thing, right? Think again.

The New York Yankees were the clear favorites but the Pittsburgh Pirates' Bill Mazeroski hit one of the most famous home runs in MLB baseball history in Game 7 and took the championship home.

Image: Chino Rocha

The legendary Roger Federer intended to win his sixth consecutive US Open championship in New York and it seemed like a very possible thing for the Swiss to achieve. But things did not go according to plan when the tall Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, the No. 6 seed, managed to upset the then-world No. 1.

Del Potro forced the winner to play five sets before taking the fifth 6-2. Given that Del Potro defeated Federer and never won another major title, this result has never ceased to amaze.

Image: Soheb Zaidi

Being an unknown player in a high-profile tournament is not the kind of thing that makes you an instant favorite, and not even being expected to play adds another layer of uncertainty. John Daly found himself in that very predicament going into the 1991 USPGA Championship.

As it happened, Nick Price withdrew to be at the birth of his first child. And eight players on the alternates list could not get to Crooked Stick, Indianapolis to replace Price. But the ninth reserve got in his car, drove through the night, and arrived there on Thursday ready to play.

Daly became an instant crowd favorite and with their backing went on to defy odds of 1000-1 to win the major.

Image: Markus Spiske

And a miracle it was. At least for the audience who might not have been aware of the hard work that led to such an epic victory. The United States men’s Olympic hockey team was not exactly poised to defeat the mighty Soviet hockey machine at the 1980 Winter Olympics Ice Hockey final in Lake Placid. But it did.

The Soviet team had dominated for years, and even the most hopeful wondered if the United States would even score in the game, let alone win. Instead, Team USA pulled off an amazing upset, winning the game 4-3 and earning themselves a place in history.

Image: Metin Ozer

Living up to your nickname can be hard if it is "The Greatest". But that was not the case for the legendary boxer, Muhammad Ali, who regained his heavyweight title after three years of exile.

The road was not a direct path to glory as, upon his return, he lost to Joe Frazier and Ken Norton. But the unthinkable (for most) happened after that when he beat the fearsome George Foreman who had dismantled Norton and Frazier both inside two brutal rounds.

Ali’s tactics in the "Rumble in the Jungle" saw him knock out an exhausted Foreman in the eighth round and win back the heavyweight title at the ripe age of 32.

THE WEIRD AND THE WONDERFUL

Learn About 10 English Idioms And Then You Can "Hit The Hay"!

Image: Debby Hudson

Language is complex and rich, but we often use it without even thinking about where our words and expressions come from. For example, have you ever thought about the origins of the idiom "upset the apple cart"? And what about "hit the hay"? Idiomatic expressions can be quite daunting, and we’ve gathered 10 of them to explore their meanings and origins. Continue reading if you want to find out, too!

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Quite a strong start, isn’t it? This idiom, with a vivid image and quite dark humor behind it, is simply amazing and it means to discard something valuable (the baby, one can only assume) along with things that are not wanted or valued (the bath water).

Origins are not so certain, but it is probably derived from a German expression ("Das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten"), and it was first recorded in 1853 by a German-to-English translator.

Image: Ryan Arnst

Have you ever had a perfectly laid plan with a well-defined course of action, only for it to derail, ruining everything? You could say someone "upset the apple cart."

That is what the idiom means: to obstruct or derail someone’s plan, especially if it is to hinder progress. In short, to spoil everything.

The phrase dates back to the 1700s and derives from a Roman phrase which originally was "upset the cart."

Image: Kate Stone Matheson

You’ve had a long day, so you just want to get home, have a nice dinner, and get ready to hit the hay. Does that sound familiar? That is because this idiom is used quite frequently in everyday English, but have you ever wondered about its origins?

One can always say, "Go to bed," but the idiom is much more fun. And its origin is not metaphoric at all; it’s right there in the phrase. When beds weren’t accessible for everyone, hays (or sacks in the alternate version) were the bed of choice, hence this fun (but itchy) idiom!

Image: Alexis Brown

The good thing about idioms is that they usually don’t hold a literal meaning; just imagine chewing the fat! This idiom has to do with engaging in a conversation about trivial matters or small talk.

This phrase can be traced back to British English of the 1880s, and an alternate version is "chew the rag," although why any of these words were chosen to refer to gossip is not known. Maybe it has to do with how juicy fat can get; what do you think?

Image: Mink Mingle

When John Lennon wrote, "Imagine all the people living life in peace," we could easily say that it was just a pie in the sky.

A pie in the sky refers to that impossible thing one hopes happens. It refers to wishful thinking, and it is part of a larger chant: "Work and pray, live on hay, you’ll get a pie in the sky when you die." Can you guess who chanted this? It was a rallying song called "The Preacher and the Slave," composed by Joe Hill and sung by the International Workers of the World in 1911.

Image: Sergiu Vălenaș

Animals in idioms are a dime a dozen; there are hundreds of them. And this one mentions a goat, but it actually comes from the world of horse racing.

Before a race, goats were placed next to horses to make them feel calm. Now, when someone got someone else’s goat, that horse got agitated. So, you guessed it: to get someone’s goat means to make someone feel angry or annoyed!

If you think this one is crazy, wait until you read the next one!

Image: Pierre-Alain Picard

Try to leave aside the fact that a hat and cattle have absolutely nothing in common and think of that person who is always talking about the things they’ll do, but never actually do anything. That person is all hat and no cattle.

This idiom is quite popular and takes several forms. For example, the British version is "All mouth and no trousers," and you’ve probably heard the phrase "Much ado about nothing." They are all synonyms!

This one, in particular, refers to cattle ranchers and the typical hat they use, describing those cowboys who used the hat but weren’t actually cattle owners.

Image: Cristina Gottardi

Well, things are getting pretty creepy here, aren’t they? Fear not; this idiom is much milder than it seems!

Originating in the 17th century, when wealthy people wore wigs quite often, bandits pulled them over people’s faces to make the job of taking their pennies easier for them. In time, the phrase came to describe those who are easily deceived and taken advantage of. Here’s one we hope you never use!

Image: Young Shih

Please do tell us if you think otherwise, but we don’t think sliced bread is something to get crazy over, right? Well, in the 1920s, when sliced bread made its first appearance, it surely was a great thing. So much so it became an idiom!

What it means is simply that nothing so great happened after sliced bread, until the topic you’re discussing. For example: "Look at this article; it’s the best thing since sliced bread!"

Image: Prasad Panchakshari

Let’s end this list with a cute idiom. Aren’t baby animals the cutest? Especially when they are around their mommies, and they lick their offspring to bathe them.

But why does the idiom mention the ears? Well, because that’s the last place to dry in a newborn. On a similar note, this cute idiom -which can be traced back to the early 1900s- is used to refer to people who lack experience or are immature. This one describes us all at one point or another, doesn’t it?