Upset

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U.S. President Harry Truman holds up an edition of the Chicago Tribune prematurely declaring his defeat in the 1948 Presidential election.

Upset ("Zebra" in Brazil) is a term used when referring to a competition, frequently in electoral politics or sports. When an upset occurs, the party popularly expected to win (the favorite) the competition is defeated by an underdog the majority expects to lose, defying the conventional wisdom.

Examples of major upsets

1948 - Unpopular Democratic United States President Harry Truman defeats the highly favored Republican candidate Thomas Dewey.
1950 - Football (soccer) - In the World Cup, the United States shocks England in a legendary match considered one of the biggest surprises in World Cup history.
1950 - In the same competition Uruguay defeats Brazil with the latter nation needing only a draw to win the World Cup; this game is known as the Maracanazo (or Maracanaço)
1969 - American football - Super Bowl III - The New York Jets shock the Baltimore Colts to win 16-7 when they were the heavy underdog, representing the lightly-regarded American Football League.
1980 - Ice hockey - In the Miracle On Ice, the United States beats the Soviet Union in the semifinals at the 1980 Olympics.
1985 - U. S. college basketball - 1985 NCAA Men's Tournament - Villanova University, an 8 seed, upset Georgetown, the defending champion and consensus #1 team in America.
1990 - Baseball - 1990 World Series - The 91-71 Cincinnati Reds sweep the 103-59 Oakland A's in 4 games
1990 - Boxing - James "Buster" Douglas knocks out then-undefeated Mike Tyson in 10 rounds.
2002 - American football - Super Bowl XXXVI - The New England Patriots, 14-point underdogs, shock the St. Louis Rams to win 20-17 on an Adam Vinatieri field goal as time expired.
2004 - Baseball - 2004 American League Championship Series , The Boston Red Sox, down 0-3 against the New York Yankees in the best of 7 series, come back and win the next 4 games straight to defeat the Yankees on their way to the club's first World Series title since 1918.

The first \"upset\" victory

1919 - Horse racing - The term "upset" is falsely thought to derive from a horse of the same name. In the 1919 Sanford Memorial Stakes, 100-1 longshot Upset handed racing hegemon Man O' War the only loss of the stallion's career. Man O' War had suffered an uncharacterisric poor start — he was still circling behind the starting line when the race began. (This was before mechanical starting gates were widely used. Horses circled behind the starting line, then lined up behind a cord strung across the track, which was jerked out of the way when the race starter dropped a flag. Race courses which do not use a starting gate still use this method today. Steeplechase races do this due to the high number of starters.)

2002 - George Thompson, a lexicographic researcher, used the full-text online search capabilities of the New York Times databases to disprove the classic 1919 horse race. The verb to upset and the noun upset, were traced to the years 1865 and 1877, respectively.

Upset

Examples of major upsets

The first \"upset\" victory

See also