1. LEICESTER CITY WINNING 2015-16 PREMIER LEAGUE
Leicester’s run during the 2015-16 Premier League season may go down as the biggest longshot championship in sports history. The club defied the odds—literally, they had 5,000-to-1 odds of winning the title this season—and clinched their first trophy in team history.
How'd they pull it off? The small-market club took advantage of down years for the “big” teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Arsenal to become the most unlikely champions in English football. Even more amazing? The Foxes were nearly relegated to the Football League Championship—English football's equivalent of Triple-A ball—in 2015 before earning enough points to stay in the Premier League
Serena Williams was attempting to become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to complete the calendar Grand Slam. The No. 1 ranked player in the world lost to unseeded Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open semifinals 2–6, 6–4, 6–4. It was the first Grand Slam in her last five appearances that Williams had lost.
For 31 matches, dating to his debut on May 23, 2005, Nadal never truly was challenged, much less defeated, at the French Open, allowing him to win four consecutive titles and close in on becoming the first player in history with five in a row. Until the fourth round of the 2009 French Open, when the 23rd-seeded Soderling, a 24-year-old from Sweden who never had won so much as a third-round match at any major tournament before this one, defeated Nadal 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2). Soderling finished with 61 winners, 28 more than Nadal.
Pick a storyline, this series had it all. Golden State becoming the first No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 in a seven-game series. Coach Don Nelson getting revenge on his former team and bitter enemy, Mavs owner Mark Cuban. The Warriors winning their first playoff series in 16 seasons. Baron Davis, on a gimpy hamstring, pulling a Willis Reed to score 20 points in the Game 6 clincher.
The Greek team came into the 2004 Euro Cup without much hope but with plenty of enthusiasm—the nation was back in the tournament for the first time in 24 years. That long layoff had tempered expectations, and nobody expected much from them against the powerhouse French squad they faced in the quarterfinals. But Greek striker Angelos Charisteas nailed a shocking goal in the 65th minute, and the Greeks stunned Les Bleus, 1–0.
From there, the Greeks rode the wave of that upset past the Czech Republic in the semis, and then again versus host-team Portugal in the final, sealing one of the most remarkable victories in the history of European soccer
A 42-1 underdog against unbeaten ''Iron Mike," Buster Douglas scored a knockout in the 10th round and the undisputed heavyweight title.
The United States' improbable 1-0 victory over England in the World Cup — thanks to Joe Gaetjens' 37th-minute header — has become known as the "Miracle on Grass." That may be an understatement, considering the English were considered the "Kings of Football" and the Americans had lost their previous seven international matches by the combined score of 45-2.
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