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Impossible dreams live in college football
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When I caught up with Dale Earnhardt Jr. late Saturday afternoon, the first thing he wanted to talk about was Appalachian State’s upset of Michigan. And this was with Leeann Tweeden standing across from him.
Sunday afternoon I was sitting around with some of my peers – you know, Brent Musburger, Brad Daugherty, Rusty Wallace – and we were all trying to register the magnitude of the Mountaineers’ 34-32 conquest of Michigan in
Ann Arbor.
The first thing Musburger mentioned was Buster Douglas’ knockout of Mike Tyson in Tokyo. Daugherty offered Chaminade’s upset of Ralph Sampson’s Virginia team during the 1982-83 season.
Of course, the USA “Miracle on Ice” victory over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympic semifinals was tossed out.
My mention of Wallace winning the 1989 Winston Cup drew a
mixed response.
The point is that everybody is trying to find something to compare to Appalachian State’s stunning triumph. There was no betting line on the game.
Finally, it occurred to me that this is what makes college football such a special thing. Deep into its second century, the game still delivers magical upsets like no other sport.
And now, transitioning from the name-dropping portion of the column to the actual point to be made this morning, we hope to illustrate why five of these all-time special upsets that are drawing comparison to Appalachian State are no longer even possible.
“Miracle On Ice:”
It’s everybody’s favorite upset even though it’s hockey, which makes it even more of an upset.
Before the New York Yankees came to represent the Evil Empire in some minds, a real one existed in the Soviet Union. For U.S. college kids to beat the veteran Soviet players was almost unthinkable.
Now?
The New York Islanders only wish Alexei Yashin had stuck
with socialism.
With the end of the Cold War, Russians have shed their Communist roots and proven to be rather adroit capitalists, collecting some of the NHL’s largest paychecks. While Olympic hockey is a great event (carefully hidden by NBC), it’s just American pros vs. Canadian pros vs. Swedish pros vs. Russian pros. While USA gold would be nice, it would not take a miracle.
Buster Douglas KOs Mike Tyson:
It’s hard to remember the invincibility we ascribed to Tyson in his younger days. No one was going to beat this ruthless hitting machine, certainly not a 42-1 long shot we had never heard of.
Tyson ended up on his back, just the beginning of his downward spiral with no end.
And today? Quick, name the four (yes, four) heavyweight
champions.
Of course. It’s Wladimir Klitschko, Oleg Maskaev, Ruslan Chagaev and Sultan Ibragimov.
If you’ve heard of any of these other than Klitschko, you need to get out more. It’s hard to register a big upset when sports fans don’t even know the players.
Chaminade beats Virginia, Dec. 23, 1982:
This is the game most similar to Appalachian State’s upset in that Chaminade was an unknown NAIA school playing a respected No. 1 team in the nation.
Why respected? Because we had seen 100 games from Virginia’s 7-foot-4 Ralph Sampson, who was clearly bound for NBA greatness. And we were familiar with Sampson because he was … a senior?
Are you kidding me?
In today’s college world, Sampson stars as a freshman at Virginia, then enters the NBA as the No. 1 pick. He doesn’t get near his senior year and we, as fans, never become familiar enough with him to think that his losing a game, to any team, is a big deal.
Jets 16, Colts 7:
In Super Bowl III, Baltimore was an 18-point favorite over the Jets. Outside of Joe Namath’s immediate circle of friends, no one really believed the AFL had a chance.
Try to compare the magnitude of that image-changing game with, say, the Patriots’ first Super Bowl win over St. Louis. Yes, the Rams were a solid favorite.
No, it wasn’t remotely the same.
The Jets’ victory changed the way we viewed the AFL, setting the stage for a second, but not nearly as big, upset the next year, when the Kansas City Chiefs beat Minnesota in Super Bowl IV before the two leagues officially merged.
Villanova 66, Georgetown 64, 1985 NCAA championship game:
Have to include at least one major upset I attended. Like Sampson, Patrick Ewing was a household name, a senior we had seen get to the NCAA final as a freshman.
Surely, the powerful Hoyas were going to make it back-to-back NCAA titles for John Thompson.
Didn’t happen. Villanova shot an unrealistic 78.6 percent from the field against a great defensive team. Any reason why can’t we see a repeat of this?
Beyond the same reason cited for Sampson, we don’t get to invest four years with great college players any longer, Villanova won the game with a slowdown attack. There was no shot clock and the Wildcats took full advantage of it.
Shot clocks speed up games, increase possessions and decrease the likelihood of major upsets. With the Greg Odens and Kevin Durants leaving after one season, the Goliaths are gone before we can even identify just who might serve as David.
So long live college football. It’s just about the only place we can still visit to witness the impossible.
TIM COWLISHAW
The Dallas Morning News