What Do You Call An Underdog Defeating A Favorite?

Upset Defeating Man O'War

This past weekend was a gambler's worst nightmare. For most gamblers, they usually put money on the favorites, and in this case, it was in the NBA Playoffs but was not limited to just basketball. However, when the teams projected to win, do not, it is considered an upset. The word upset originated in the sport of Horse Racing, during its golden era, around the early 1900s. Story goes: A horse by the name of Upset defeated Man O'War, a horse that had an unblemished record and was considered to be unbeatable, in a race that had gamblers dumbfounded of the outcome. The outcome had many people, not only gamblers, scratching their heads asking each other how was that Man O'War lost to a 'no name.' As a result of such a gran feat, the word upset later became to mean - to defeat unexpectedly. Upsets are what exactly happened in the first round of NBA playoffs and in a highly touted boxing bout. 

All across the NBA, in the Eastern and Western Conferences, there were upsets. Two upsets occurred in the Western Conference and one in the Eastern Conference. The two teams in the West that were upset were the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs. The reason behind the 'shock' of these two teams losing were the fact that both teams had some of the best records in the NBA, and losing to 'lesser' teams in the first game of a five game series, was by many experts not expected. The Memphis Grizzlies were the team that everyone wrote off because their record was below average, but as they proved, records mean nothing. Paralleling the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs efforts, were the Orlando Magic. But the Orlando Magic did not have that 'shock' factor because they were playing a team, in which, according to the NBA seeds were 'equal.' 

The NBA Playoffs were not the only sport that upsets happened, for an upset also happened in Boxing. The magnitude of the upset that occurred in boxing can be paralleled to the Memphis Grizzlies defeating the San Antonio Spurs. In this case, Andre Berto would be that of The Spurs and Victor Ortiz would be that of The Grizzlies. As with both The Grizzlies and Ortiz, no one, especially gamblers, gave them the chance to defeat such 'giants' in their respective sport, because of their previous outcomes. Unblemished record, top three fighter in the weight class, Andre Berto was the heavy favorite against Victor Ortiz, especially after Ortiz's previous fight, in which, he 'quit', but as the sports world knows and what this article insinuates; being the favorite is merely a praise and not a guarantee. 

The favorites should not underestimate any opponent because, as history has shown, an upset can occur to anyone and/or any team at a moments notice, which would give way for Freddy Krueger to stalk the dreams of those gambler's, who put money on the favorites to win.