This most recent Superbowl taught us how thrilling an upset can be. Not too many people thought the Giants had it in them to take down the undefeated Patriots. In honor of this momentous occasion, let us—starting with the Superbowl—take a trip back in time and examine some of the most stunning upsets in the history of mankind:
Last weekend
The favorite: Patriots
The underdog: Giants
The location: Arizona
The key play: Eli gets loose, Tyree clings to the pass using his helmet
1980
The favorite: Soviet Olympic ice hockey team
The underdog: Americans
The location: Lake Placid
The key play: enormous crocodile eats most of the communist first line and their second string goalie
1948
The favorite: Thomas Dewey
The underdog: Harry Truman
The location: voting booths across America
The key play: Dewey makes the first Holocaust joke in the spring of 1948. Too soon, Dewey, too soon.
1912
The favorite: RMS Titanic
The underdog: the wrath of the seas
The location: the North Atlantic
The key play: Leonardo DiCaprio declares himself “king of the world.” Poseidon decided that this hubris must be punished.
circa 1010 BCE
The favorite: Goliath
The underdog: David
The location: Juda
The key play: David proclaims, “This day the LORD will deliver you [i.e. Goliath, not you, the reader] into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head,” and then does so.
long, long ago
The favorite: Galactic Empire
The underdog: Rebel Alliance
The location: far, far away
The key play: Luke Skywalker, not deceived by his senses, destroys the Death Star