Greatest Sports Upsets: Miracle on Ice
With a potential NFL upset looming in Super Bowl 48 between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, many NFL fans are looking forward to a possible big pay day. This got us to thinking about some of the biggest sports upsets of all time in American sports.
The Miracle on Ice was the name coined for the Ice Hockey match between the Soviet Union and the United States of America in the 1980 winter Olympics, which the United States had officially boycotted.
The match defines the term “upset win” on so many levels. Firstly, it was during the cold war, when tensions were at a sky high between the two superpowers at that time; the Soviet Union and the United States of America. This was more than just a hockey match; it was a war for supremacy between the two mighty titans.
The Russians had dominated the ice rink, with a spotless track record and experienced players who had more than a few years of working together. The Americans on the other hand, were a group of amateur hockey players, most of them on the collegiate level, with little to no experience working as a team on the rink. Being the 7th seed among the 12 teams in the 1980’s Olympics, the odds were heavily against them. To add to the odds, the Russians had already beaten the Americans once, with a score of 10-3. Things definitely weren’t looking good for Uncle Sam.
What followed, however, went completely against predictions. With a tied score of 3-3 and a little time left on the clock, the legendary words of Al Michael “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” resonated television sets as the Americans scored a final score for a 4-3 win, proving that miracles really do happen.