# The Most Shocking Result in Sport **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 26, 2017, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816 "2017-02-26T09:18:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/1 "2017-02-26T09:18:44Z")
So I’m watching Ger v Bra from WC 2014. From Rio. Germany went on to win 7-1. Surely one if not the most dominating performances in sport. Can anyone think of any similar performances on a world stage? And kudos to the BBC announcers who are world class. Although their shock at the German domination perhaps can tell us how unexpected this result was. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/2 "2017-02-26T09:23:51Z")
After 10 minutes…‘we are going to see what Brazil is made of now…’…:o ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/3 "2017-02-26T09:28:56Z")
“Shock” has different flavors. There’s the “David beats Goliath” shock of an underdog stunning a heavily favored team, such as Appalachian State defeating Michigan, the Giants beating the 16-0 undefeated Patriots in SBXLII or the USA defeating the Soviet Union in the Miracle on Ice. There’s the “Germany 7-1 Brazil” shock you mentioned, where the two teams were actually a fair match for each other and a German victory would have been no surprise, but the outcome was far more lopsided than expected. I suppose for that variety, you could nominate also Chicago 73, Washington 0, in the 1940 NFL championship game. Another “shock” might be a team overcoming a big deficit to win from behind; the Bills overcoming a 35-3 deficit to the Oilers in the 1992 playoffs, or the Red Sox overcoming a 3-0 deficit in the 2004 ALCS. That kind of “shock” is only shocking mid-game or mid-series, because before the game or series began, a Bills or Red Sox victory would have been no surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/4 "2017-02-26T09:35:34Z")
Oh, sorry, I re-read your post, you mean “on a world stage.” Not merely US sports. Well then - maybe: [ul] [li]1980 Miracle on Ice. US defeats the Soviet Union.[/li][li]South Korea advances all the way to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup (prior to this, South Korea had never even won a single World Cup match)[/li][li]Germany 8, Saudi Arabia 0, in the 2002 World Cup.[/li][li]Chile 7, Mexico 0, in the 2016 Copa America.[/li][li]Iceland advancing out of its group, then beating England, in the 2016 Euro tournament, was pretty shocking too.[/li]Leicester City winning the championship was beating 5,000-to-1 odds before the season began.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/5 "2017-02-26T09:37:00Z")
And Canada’s 7-3 ice hockey victory over Russia in the 2010 Winter Olympics was surprisingly lopsided, although that is not the same as Germany 7-1 Brazil. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/6 "2017-02-26T09:43:33Z")
I do agree about the Appalachian St game. Shocking. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/7 "2017-02-26T10:02:37Z")
Germany finished off Brazil after 24 minutes 4-0. I can’t remember anything like it .and played in Brazil. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/8 "2017-02-26T14:57:30Z")
[quote=“Velocity, post:4, topic:780816”] [ul] [li]1980 Miracle on Ice. US defeats the Soviet Union.[/li][/quote] A one-off game [quote] [li]South Korea advances all the way to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup (prior to this, South Korea had never even won a single World Cup match) [/li][/quote] Home seeding advantage and knock-out football (plus some…helpful…officiating) [quote] [li]Germany 8, Saudi Arabia 0, in the 2002 World Cup.[/li][/quote] a one-off game and SA are pretty poor [quote] [li]Chile 7, Mexico 0, in the 2016 Copa America.[/li][/quote] a one-off game and Chile are pretty good [quote] [li]Iceland advancing out of its group, then beating England, in the 2016 Euro tournament, was pretty shocking too.[/li][/quote] Iceland were second in their qualifying group only just behind the czechs. Turkey and Netherlands were behind them. Those results were only a shock to those who didn’t look at the qualifying tables. [quote] [li]Leicester City winning the championship was beating 5,000-to-1 odds before the season began.[/ul][/li][/QUOTE] I think The Leicester city one is the biggest shock. Look at where they came from, look at how they are doing now. The odds did not lie. And this was a 38 game season in which they didn’t just squeak home, they were the best pretty much all season. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/9 "2017-02-26T15:07:29Z")
Bob Beamon, Mexico City Olympics 1968 Breaks the world record in the long jump by 22 inches. Stood as the world record until 1991-23 years later. Still stands as the Olympic record-48 years and counting. ETA: His jump had to be measured by hand as he jumped beyond the range of the optical system. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/10 "2017-02-26T17:22:43Z")
[quote=“Velocity, post:4, topic:780816”] Oh, sorry, I re-read your post, you mean “on a world stage.” Not merely US sports. Well then - maybe: [ul][li]Leicester City winning the championship was beating 5,000-to-1 odds before the season began.[/ul][/li][/QUOTE] So world stage eliminates US sports, but includes this? ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/11 "2017-02-26T17:26:24Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > A one-off game > … > a one-off game and SA are pretty poor > a one-off game and Chile are pretty good > … > I think The Leicester city one is the biggest shock. Look at where they came from, look at how they are doing now. The odds did not lie. And this was a 38 game season in which they didn’t just squeak home, they were the best pretty much all season. Why eliminate one-off games? The OP was about a one-off game. One might equally argue that by the end of the 38 game season, it was no longer a shock. Perhaps seasons should be eliminated form this discussion? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/12 "2017-02-26T18:04:45Z")
I don’t remember who played but a long time ago I was watching a basketball game on TV where at the last fraction of a second a player shot the ball from way down the court–and made the shot and that shot won the game. Does this ring a bell with anyone? These final desperation shots are not at all uncommon, but they never go in. This was something I considered shocking. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/13 "2017-02-26T18:09:29Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > Why eliminate one-off games? The OP was about a one-off game. One might equally argue that by the end of the 38 game season, it was no longer a shock. Perhaps seasons should be eliminated form this discussion? Yeah, I noticed that too. Even if you think that a full season championship is more impressive, there certainly is no shortage of single games that have had very unexpected outcomes. Not sure why anyone would dismiss “one-offs” as unimportant or meaningless. I would argue for the US/Russia Olympic upset for the simple reason that the Soviet hockey team was made up of professionals–including some of the very best players in the world, with a ton of international experience–while the US hockey team was made up of amateurs, mostly young and with little or no international experience. Only about two thirds of them ever went on to play professionally in the NHL, few of them were especially good, and virtually none were stars as soon as they came into the league. --No disrespect to Leicester City, or to “miracle” teams in other professional sports leagues; obviously what they did was extremely impressive and completely unexpected; but these are situations in which experienced professionals beat out other experienced professionals. There’s a big difference between that situation and one in which a professional team loses to a bunch of amateurs. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/14 "2017-02-26T18:17:14Z")
Oh, I dunno. I’m still a little partial to that Super Bowl that ended the ‘Perfect Season’. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/15 "2017-02-26T18:20:17Z")
With the running of the Daytona 500 today, a couple winners in the past were shocking surprises. Derrike Cope winning the 1990 500 and Trevor Bayne winning in 2011. Neither was expected to even contend, much less win. Cope won one other race later that year and so far Daytona is Bayne’s only win. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/16 "2017-02-26T18:39:16Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > I would argue for the US/Russia Olympic upset for the simple reason that the Soviet hockey team was made up of professionals–including some of the very best players in the world, with a ton of international experience–while the US hockey team was made up of amateurs, mostly young and with little or no international experience. Only about two thirds of them ever went on to play professionally in the NHL, few of them were especially good, and virtually none were stars as soon as they came into the league. --No disrespect to Leicester City, or to “miracle” teams in other professional sports leagues; obviously what they did was extremely impressive and completely unexpected; but these are situations in which experienced professionals beat out other experienced professionals. There’s a big difference between that situation and one in which a professional team loses to a bunch of amateurs. The main reason I think that wasn’t as big of a deal as most people make it out to be was, the same thing happened 20 years earlier at the 1960 Winter Olympics. I think the main difference was, the Lake Placid game aired live, at least to the eastern half of the country. > [@running\_coach](#): > > Bob Beamon, Mexico City Olympics 1968 > > Breaks the world record in the long jump by 22 inches. Stood as the world record until 1991-23 years later. > > Still stands as the Olympic record-48 years and counting. > > ETA: His jump had to be measured by hand as he jumped beyond the range of the optical system. I think the main reason it was measured by hand was, it was required by IAAF to be counted as a world record. I remember a shot put world record set in the 1970s not accepted because, while it was measured by hand, it wasn’t with a measuring tape that was certified accurate. Also remember that it was (a) at altitude, and (b) with the maximum allowed tailwind - exactly 2.00 m/sec (about 4.47 mph). ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/17 "2017-02-26T19:00:29Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > The main reason I think that wasn’t as big of a deal as most people make it out to be was, the same thing happened 20 years earlier at the 1960 Winter Olympics. I think the main difference was, the Lake Placid game aired live, at least to the eastern half of the country. Right, the US unexpectedly won the gold in 1960 as well, but my understanding–and I could be wrong–is that the Soviet “machine” was only just getting started around that time. The gap between the Soviets and the rest of the world wasn’t nearly as large as it would be twenty years later. (Also–I just looked it up–the USSR actually finished third that year, behind Canada as well as the US.) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/18 "2017-02-26T19:30:44Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > The main reason I think that wasn’t as big of a deal as most people make it out to be was, the same thing happened 20 years earlier at the 1960 Winter Olympics. I think the main difference was, the Lake Placid game aired live, at least to the eastern half of the country. > I think the main reason it was measured by hand was, it was required by IAAF to be counted as a world record. I remember a shot put world record set in the 1970s not accepted because, while it was measured by hand, it wasn’t with a measuring tape that was certified accurate. > > Also remember that it was (a) at altitude, and (b) with the maximum allowed tailwind - exactly 2.00 m/sec (about 4.47 mph). It wasn’t aired live anywhere. I watched it thinking it was live but it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/19 "2017-02-26T19:47:40Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > I think the main reason it was measured by hand was, it was required by IAAF to be counted as a world record. I remember a shot put world record set in the 1970s not accepted because, while it was measured by hand, it wasn’t with a measuring tape that was certified accurate. > > Also remember that it was (a) at altitude, and (b) with the maximum allowed tailwind - exactly 2.00 m/sec (about 4.47 mph). [From here.](http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/the-jump-for-the-ages/) > [@](#): > > The jump was so long, so unexpected, that the measuring device couldn’t extend far enough to record it. It took about a half-hour to locate and lay out tape to confirm what Beamon figured, that he’d broken the world record of 27 feet, 4 3/4 inches. 2 meters/second is only 4.5 mph. While it could make a few inches difference, I don’t see almost 2 ft. Especially as no one else came near under the same conditions. Altitude and wind combined only add up to an estimated 12 inches. ETA: [From here.](http://speedendurance.com/2013/05/12/windy-records-in-track-and-field/) > [@](#): > > Similar studies (see for example [2]), have shown that the increase in the range of a long jump for a maximum allowable wind, is of the order of 0.12m to 0.16m. Assuming a jump of 8m, we can estimate the percentage increase in range as approximately 0.14/8 = 1.6%. In fact other studies show that the actual increase may be three times less, in which case we would obtain an increase of just 0.5%. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816/20 "2017-02-26T22:14:43Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > Why eliminate one-off games? The OP was about a one-off game. One might equally argue that by the end of the 38 game season, it was no longer a shock. Perhaps seasons should be eliminated form this discussion? I don’t get the reasoning here. The OP is about the most shocking result. The winning of a league is a “result” An unfancied team beating a superior rival in a single match is notable, but not surprising. Doing it to multiple superior rivals over the course of a full 8 month season is moreso. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-shocking-result-in-sport/780816.md?page=2)