Top Five Biggest Upsets in Sports History

Upsets happen pretty often in sports, but some of them are much bigger deals than others. On any given day there can be a regular season upset in baseball, football, basketball, or any smaller sport. On the other hand, there are some particular upsets that just stick out in your mind because of the magnitude of the game and how large of an underdog the winning team was. These are the types of games where you remember where you were when this upset happened. Let's take a look at my top five upsets in the history of sports.

5. North Carolina State Defeats Houston for the NCAA Championship- The Wolfpack had been given absolutely no chance against the juggernaut that was the Houston Cougars. After all the Cougars had both Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler on their team, and they were untested through the tournament. Lorenzo Charles and his last second put back of a 30 feet heave by Dereck Whittenburg will be forever etched in our memories, but probably not as much as the late Coach Jim Valvano who was running around the court beaming with a smile from ear to ear. It was a great moment in college basketball!

4. Buster Douglas Knocks Out Mike Tyson- This was supposed to be just a tune up for Mike Tyson. Tyson was like a machine in 1990 and Buster Douglas was a no name, but that changed very quickly after this shocking knockout. Douglas put the previously undefeated Tyson on his back, despite being a 42-1 underdog. Tyson's career was never quite what most thought it would be after this moment. Buster Douglas was a man on a mission this day, and it is the single best upset in boxing history.

3. The Jets and Joe Namath defeat the Colts- At this time the Jets came from the much weaker AFL and were matched up against a dominant Colts team. Joe Namath guaranteed that his 17 point underdog Jets would win this one and everyone thought he was crazy, until they actually did pull off the victory. This win meant a lot to the overall NFL and its future.

2. The Giants Defeating the Unbeaten Patriots- Eli Manning and the Giants were matched against the unbeaten New England Patriots, who many thought was the best NFL team ever. The Giants put together an 83 yard touchdown drive in the final minutes to absolutely stun the football world. Perfection was just minutes away, but the Giants had other ideas. It was arguably the best Super Bowl of all time.

1. The Miracle on Ice- There is no way I can put any other game at the number one spot. The young Americans were up against a USSR team that was stocked full of professionals who didn't know what it was like to lose, especially in the Olympics. Mike Eruzione scored the game winning goal with 10 minutes left and Al Michaels famous call of "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" is still the best call of all time. No one gave the Americans a chance except their own team and their great Coach Herb Brooks. This was absolutely one for the ages!