2008 Woodie Awards
Underdogs keep sports interesting
Ben Garbarek
Issue date: 11/13/07 Section: Sports
Upsets make sports worth watching. If the favorite won each time, then watching sports would be just as predictable as an episode of Walker: Texas Ranger when Chuck Norris' girlfriend gets kidnapped, he uses his Native American heritage to magically figure out where she is and then he kicks the crap out of some crooked hillbilly Texans to save her.
Some of the greatest moments in sports revolve around upsets.
The "Miracle on Ice," when a team of amateur and collegiate hockey players from the U.S. defied the odds to beat the long-dominant U.S.S.R. team in the height of the Cold War at the 1980 Winter Olympics. Sportscaster Al Michaels immortalized the moment with a simple question: "Do you believe in miracles?"
Super Bowl III, when a cocky quarterback named Joe Namath boldly predicted his New York Jets would beat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts. Many thought he was crazy, but after a gritty 16-7 victory, Broadway Joe became legendary.
The list goes on and on.
Cheering for the underdog goes beyond the movie Rudy, all the way back to David and Goliath. It's a timeless storyline that continues every day at sporting events across the world.
This fall has already seen a slew of monumental and thrilling upsets. The college football world has been turned upside down from the get-go, starting with Appalachian State University and continuing all the way to the University of Illinois upsetting the No. 1 Ohio State University Buckeyes this past weekend.
College basketball has gotten off to an equally unpredictable start. Ohio State lost to Division-II University of Findlay in exhibition play only days after Grand Valley State University, another Division-II school, beat No. 8 Michigan State University.
The little-known Atlantic Sun conference had a sensational week providing several colossal upsets with Belmont University overthrowing the University of Cincinnati and Gardner-Webb University shocking University of Kentucky at Rupp Arena.
Some of the greatest moments in sports revolve around upsets.
The "Miracle on Ice," when a team of amateur and collegiate hockey players from the U.S. defied the odds to beat the long-dominant U.S.S.R. team in the height of the Cold War at the 1980 Winter Olympics. Sportscaster Al Michaels immortalized the moment with a simple question: "Do you believe in miracles?"
Super Bowl III, when a cocky quarterback named Joe Namath boldly predicted his New York Jets would beat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts. Many thought he was crazy, but after a gritty 16-7 victory, Broadway Joe became legendary.
The list goes on and on.
Cheering for the underdog goes beyond the movie Rudy, all the way back to David and Goliath. It's a timeless storyline that continues every day at sporting events across the world.
This fall has already seen a slew of monumental and thrilling upsets. The college football world has been turned upside down from the get-go, starting with Appalachian State University and continuing all the way to the University of Illinois upsetting the No. 1 Ohio State University Buckeyes this past weekend.
College basketball has gotten off to an equally unpredictable start. Ohio State lost to Division-II University of Findlay in exhibition play only days after Grand Valley State University, another Division-II school, beat No. 8 Michigan State University.
The little-known Atlantic Sun conference had a sensational week providing several colossal upsets with Belmont University overthrowing the University of Cincinnati and Gardner-Webb University shocking University of Kentucky at Rupp Arena.
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