How about Amir Khan getting to the final at last year’s Olympics?
Somebody I talked to last night brought up the American pros getting beat from some weird team from nowhere in basketball in one of the recent Olympics. I don’t follow b-ball and no nothing about it, but the guys telling me this seemed to think it was at least as stunning as the Miracle on Ice.
Well, that was thanks to the mysterious “offsides” call that was made that invalidated one of Hungary’s goals. 
There were rumors that FIFA did not want a communist country to win the World Cup title, lest it be used as propaganda purposes by the Soviet Union to proclaim the world “triumph” of socialism… :rolleyes:
Doesn’t anyone remember Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson. Tyson always knocked out whoever he was boxing, most of the time in the first round. According to this site the odds were 42-1. It also lists the 69 mets as being 100-1 at the beginning of the season though.
September 3, 1972. For the first time Canadian NHL players were able to play against a Russian squad that heretofore was only able to play against minor leaguers. The Russians stunned Canada with a 7-3 victory. It was unbelievable and shattered Canada’s smug superiority.
Given that NHL players and the Russians had never played each other before, it was not possible to say for sure what was going to happen. It’s true that many Canadians simply assumed out of sheer arrogance they’d win all eight games, but that wasn’t based in any sort of experience or logic. It was therefore not really an “upset” in the sense the OP was asking. The Soviets were in fact an outstanding, professional-all-star-game-level team.
I think a key part of an Amazing Upset is that it shouldn’t be expected to be repeated. It was quite obvious after Game 1 of the Summit Series that the Soviets were an outsanding team and could beat anyone. Similarly, it was quite obvious after the Buster Douglas - Mike Tyson bout that if they got together a few weeks later and fought again, Douglas might beat him again; it became apparent during the fight that Tyson was not the fighter he had once been. A victory being the first evidence of the rise of a new champion (the Soviets against Canada) or the demise of an old champion (Douglas whipping Tyson like a rented mule) is not quite the same thing as a result that didn’t make any sense before OR AFTER.
Had the USA team that beat the Soviets in 1980 played them again two weeks later, and had you set them at even odds, every single hockey fan on Earth would have bet on the USSR. The Miracle on Ice simply should not have happened.
Nitpick:
I agree with the meat of your argument, but I think you’re misreading the Tyson/Douglas fight. Douglas never would have beat Tyson again (IMO) and he didn’t “whip” him either (Douglas was down two rounds earlier). Douglas beat him fair and square but Tyson went on to rip through his next several opponents, including two clear victories over a very good Razor Ruddock. It wasn’t until Tyson got out of jail and then not until the first Holyfield fight was it clear that Tyson "was not the fighter he had once been.
But then again…I’ve been known to be wrong. 
But all that being said, I think your argument about Canada/USSR is correct.