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Cards WS win: The biggest postseason upset since Villanova?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by BYH, Oct 28, 2006.

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Is the Cardinals World Series win the biggest postseason upset since Nova in 1985?

  1. Yes!

    4 vote(s)
    6.5%
  2. No!

    58 vote(s)
    93.5%
  1. pallister

    pallister Guest

    It's the biggest World Series upset seen by less that 47 people, yes.
     
  2. jagtrader

    jagtrader Active Member

    Not even close.

    The Cards were better than the Tigers. I don't think it was an upset.
     
  3. fever_dog

    fever_dog Active Member

    pats over the rams in the super bowl in 2002. pats were 14-point underdogs.
     
  4. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Considering the h-u-g-e step the Tigers took during the year, no. They werent expected to win at the beginning of the year, they didn't at the end...
     
  5. Trey Beamon

    Trey Beamon Active Member

    I agree, Oz. [/fanboy loosers unite]

    No one, not even the homers on Pittsburgh television news, gave the Steelers much chance to beat Indy.

    It's perhaps the biggest NFL upset since Rams-Pats SB, or maybe some mid-to-late 90s playoff game (ATL over MIN - NFC Championship; JAX over DEN - AFC Divisional Playoff...I'm too lazy to look up the exact years)
     
  6. Sly

    Sly Active Member

    Are you kidding? No one thought the Bengals could have won the Super Bowl.
     
  7. pallister

    pallister Guest

    Well, Junkie's post should be followed bysteelersSportsJournalists.com posting about 100 responses.
     
  8. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    OK I think I'm being misunderstood here. This hasn't happened since my controversial autobiography. :D

    Yes, the Steelers became the first team to win three straight road games and the Super Bowl. But they were also 11-5 and ended the regular season on a helluva roll. They were the last playoff team in a stacked AFC. Though they took an unconventional route to the Super Bowl and were underdogs every step of the way (except maybe in the actual SB) and had to beat the top three seeds in the AFC, they were viewed as a formidable foe entering the playoffs. When they won it all, it was an acknowledgment of how deep the NFL was. They also were one year removed from going 15-1.

    Yes, the Cardinals had back-to-back 100-win seasons, but it feels a lot further from 100 to 83 than 15 to 11. And, again: The Cardinals were viewed as the 10th or 11th best team in baseball heading into the playoffs. That they won the NL Central with 83 wins--the, what, third-fewest wins ever by a division winner--only lent credence to the argument that a handful of AL also-rans could have easily made the playoffs in the NL. This is like Nova all over again...the equivalent of the last team in running the table and winning the whole thing.

    And I believe that if this happens in NCAA hoops or the NFL, it's held up as an example of why parity is great and how a single-elimination tournament creates the greatest drama in sports...instead of being called the worst and most boring World Series in eons.

    Some more points:

    The 1990 Reds went wire-to-wire in the NL West. Their championship was nowhere near as shocking as the Cardinals.

    The Patriots might have been 14-point underdogs to the Rams, but they also ended the regular season on a seven-game winning streak, beat the Raiders in one of the most unforgettable playoff games ever and had an unbelievable amount of momentum going into the Super Bowl.

    And my argument the Bengals would win the Super Bowl last year was more of a good-natured back-and-forth with Oz than a serious belief. Yeah, I got a little excited about them early in the year and didn't think too much about their flaws. Sticking with them was more of a joke than anything else.

    (Oh yeah and I also won a bet with Spnited. Mets suck!!!!!!!!!!!)
     
  9. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member

    Uh, the Steelers were FAVORED to beat the Seahawks.

    Pats/Rams and Broncos/Packers were both MUCH bigger upsets than the Tiger choke job.
     
  10. The 'Nova thing is just a bit overrated on the grounds of horses-for-courses. In the Big East regular season that year, Villanova played Georgetown (as I recall) an overtime game at home and a five-point game on the road. The title game's becoming a mismatch happened during the postseason, when Villanova went out early in the conference torunmanrt and Georgetown beat up everyone. Nevertheless, that Villanova team was uniquely suited to play THAT Georgetown team, moreso than was the St. John's team that was No. 2 most of the season.
     
  11. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    At the start of the season weren't the Cardinals among the favorites to win not only their division but the whole NL? So they underachieve most of the year (injuries and the sort, sure) and then get credit for pulling off a huge upset at the end?
     
  12. fanboy

    fanboy Member

    A division champion beat a toothless wild card team. What's so big about that?
     
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