I know that recency bias is a thing, but has there ever been an odder year than 2016? Here is a list. Some of these might have been described as close-to-impossible before they happened. I’m leaving out the Cubs winning the World Series, since they were actually one of the favorites. But they should be mentioned since it was a century old drought.
Donald Trump gets voted US president
Leicester City wins the EPL
Bob Dylan wins a Nobel prize
Those are the easy ones. Please add to the list.
Just to clarify, this is one of the situations in which “voted” and “elected” aren’t synonymous.
Trump was elected President, but he wasn’t voted President. (By contrast, Obama was voted & elected into office.)
As for your question as a whole, I’m not sure if it was improbable or the exact opposite, but Zsa Zsa dying.
I mean, on one hand, she was Zsa Zsa & on her death bed for 6 years with constant medical emergencies.
On the other hand, she was on her death bed for 6 years with constant medical emergencies–I thought for sure that she’d defy all medical logic and just keep going.
Over here in UK:-
)Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs both come ridiculously close to winning every game in the regular season (except against each other), then fail to win the playoffs.
Cubs win the World Series. I mean not necessarily improbable at the start of 2016, but certainly so by long-running precedent.
Colombian voters surprisingly voted to reject a peace deal with the terrorist FARC group, by the narrowest of margins (50.22% to 49.78%.) It had been widely expected to pass.
A PowerBall jackpot surpassed $1 billion.
Leonardo DiCaprio won an Academy Award for Best Actor. (Not exactly improbable, but overdue.)
What? Golden State lost 8 games and the Spurs lost 13 games in the regular season ***not ***against each other. Some were losses by pretty sizable margins, too. That is not “ridiculously close to winning every game.”
Carolina Hurricanes equipment manager Jorge Alves plays the last 7 seconds of the year in goal in an NHL game.
21 losses in 160 games is, I believe, as close as any two NBA teams have ever come to sweeping the entire season. As I recall, the Spurs didn’t lose a home game until the second-last game of the seson.
I know he was sick and I know he was old, but Castro finally dying felt odd. Like he’d never die, or if he did, they’d never announce it.
Mother and daughter major celebrities died, 24 hours apart. How improbable was that?
Also, Iceland not only advanced to the knockout stage of Euro 2016, but beat England in the knockout stage, too.
Martha Stewart and Snoop Dog have a tv show together!
(And it’s kinda great!)
Russia interferes in U.S. election (not weird that they tried, but weird they had an impact).
Cleveland Cavaliers come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the NBA while the Cleveland Indians blow a 3-1 lead to lose the World Series.
As improbable as the Trump victory was, a Socialist candidate made a very strong showing and might well have beaten him.
The issue of a candidate’s “hand” size is raised for the first time in presidential politics.
The Conservatives gaining more seats than Labour in the elections for the Scottish Parliament.
Cossack wizards gathering in Krrasnodar to raise a giant monument to Alistair Crowley on the banks of the Kuban. The monument was on fire.
The TN Vols beating UGA .