In sports, a lot of people root for the underdog. The team that is weaker or has an almost zero chance of winning the contest has a lot of people cheering for it, because they feel for it and want the team to cause an upset. The recent World Cup match between Spain and Switzerland falls under the same category, because the Swiss won the match and defeated the mighty Spanish team. This happens often enough in sports, and is one of the reasons why sports are so entertaining to watch and follow. The biggest upset in sport has many contenders, but is there one specific match that can lay claim to this crown.
So many sports games can hold up a finger to being the biggest upset of all time that it becomes difficult to pick a winner. The Spain vs Switzerland match is definitely up there for the position. "Switzerland pulled off a shock victory at the World Cup on Wednesday, beating European champion Spain 1-0 in their opening group match," (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/video/2010-06/17/c_13354546.htm). This quote calls it a ‘shock victory’, but it can be labelled as the biggest upset of the tournament so far. Upsets are rare but very satisfying when they do occur because even though everyone wants the favourites to win, a lot of them are secretly cheering the small fry on. The reason for this, perhaps, is personal affinity; people empathize with teams and players struggling their way to make it up the ranks, as this is faced by individuals from all walks of life.
A sporting upset that has the strongest case of being at the top spot happened during the 1980 Winter Olympics. "The USA beat the USSR in Ice Hockey in the 1980 Winter Olympics. USA's team was made up of all college players and the USSR had won every Gold Medal in Ice Hockey since 1964" (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_greatest_sports_upset_ever). This was some feat: using a team of college amateurs, the US team managed to dethrone the best Ice Hockey team in the world. An important footnote to add to this victory was that it happened in the backdrop of the Cold War era, and by beating the Russians, the US team had the entire population of America behind them. It was as much a political victory as it was a sporting one. The event is even called the Miracle on Ice.
Another great upset that surges to the top of the list was in 1990 when James 'Buster' Douglas beat Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson was the undisputed world champion at the time, and he had laid waste to all in his path up until that point. He was supposed to face Evander Holyfield next and was using Douglas as basically a sparring partner. Douglas wouldn't go down without a fight (literally), and fought hard in the early rounds, and even though he was knocked down in the 8th round, came back and knocked out Tyson in the tenth round. By doing so, he became the world champion with one blow and ruined all of Tyson's plans. (Information taken from: http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-upsets-in-sports-history.php.)
The reason that we root for the underdog is that a lot of emotions are present during sports and we like to connect with the person or team that is losing or having the odds heavily stacked against them. It could be this very reason that causes them to claim the victory over the favourites. By cheering for the losing team or the underdogs, fans are able to instil some confidence in the team, and in some cases will them on to victory. Since sports is all about the mental battle that goes on between opponents, having a lot of support can empower the losing team and demoralise even the strongest of teams. This aspect of being demoralised leads them to make mistakes and eventually lose the match.
As great sporting upsets will keep taking place in all kinds of different sports, we should get used to them happening. We could all find ourselves rooting for the underdog once in a while, and don't be surprised if that underdog pulls off a shock victory in the process.
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