2016 Sports Moments That Had No Business Happening

Leicester City had no business winning the Premier League in 2016, right?

Well, they did in the sense that they completely earned it.

However, in a historical/general likelihood sense, it was unreal. Leicester's preseason odds were an astronomical 5,000-1. It was almost as outlandish as someone suggesting pre-Theo Epstein that the Chicago Cubs might soon win a World Series.

The truth is, 2016 was an unbelievable year in sports. Not one, not two, but at least 10 completely outrageous things happened—things no one would have predicted five years ago. 

Like Leicester's title, they had no business happening, as in, they were far more notable and incredible than usual—curses were ended, records were broken and a 37-year-old veteran scored 60 points in his final NBA game. But to be clear, they were not flukes. No, in each of the following instances, the spoils were earned and deserved.    

It's just that people will also tell their grandkids about these ones.

Golden State Warriors Win 73 Games

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

They say records are made to be broken, so it's not completely outlandish that a big one fell in 2016. Still, it was, indeed, a big one.

The Golden State Warriors started the 2015-16 season by winning 24 straight games. Dating back to 2014-15, they achieved a 28-game regular-season win streak, the second-longest such streak in NBA history.

And they didn't stop there. With such a historic start—and a 2015 NBA title in their back pockets—it was no surprise the Warriors had a shot at 73 wins.

The previous record for regular-season wins was 72, set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr played on that Bulls team, and when his Warriors were five wins shy of the record, he said, "I think it'd be cool [to break the record], but we all know what our focus is. We want to win a championship," per Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com.

Of course, the Dubs got the record but not the championship. That honor went to another team featured on this list.

Kobe Bryant Scores 60 in His Last Game

Juan Ocampo/Getty Images

Kobe Bryant retired in 2016 after 20 NBA seasons.

The legendary Los Angeles Laker won five titles and finished his career third on the all-time NBA scoring list (33,643 points), trailing only Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Bryant's Lakers struggled in his final three seasons and only won 17 games in 2015-16. With the playoffs long out of the question, it was certain the April matchup against the Utah Jazz would be Bryant's final game.

And he dropped 60 points, a feat that managed to be both unbelievable and totally believable at the same time. Bryant, one of the game's best scorers, and a man who carried a "ball hog" label for much of his career, scored 60 points on 50 shots.

Bryant's former teammate Shaquille O'Neal said, per ESPN's Rachel Nichols, "I challenged him to get 50 and the motherf--ker got 60."

Only 14 players in NBA history have ever dropped 60 or more in a game. For Bryant to do it at 37 years of age, long past his prime? Sure he took a lot of shots, but that's still incredible. 

Usain Bolt's Triple Threat

DAMIEN MEYER/Getty Images

Usain Bolt is the fastest human on the planet, but that's not news.

When someone wins with such frequency as Bolt, his success can become almost expected, watered down even. And yet, his performance in Rio was truly extraordinary.

The Jamaican sprinter won gold in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 4x100-meter relay events—each for the third time in a row.

When Bolt won the 100-meter event in 9.81 seconds, he became the first person to ever win the event three straight times. He said, per Sam Dean and James Stafford of the Telegraph, "I am a living legend. Somebody said if I win these three gold medals I would be immortal and I kind of liked it. So I'm going to run with that one."

Besides the historic performance, Bolt also became the subject of what will possibly go down as one of sports' greatest photographs. Cameron Spencer of Getty Images captured Bolt, mid-stride during the 100-meter event, just casually glancing back at the competition, of which he was comfortably ahead of. Unreal.    

New Zealand Loses to Ireland

Phil Walter/Getty Images

The New Zealand All Blacks are one of the most dominant sports teams in the world. 

They are the only nation to win consecutive Rugby World Cups. In October, they won a record 18th straight Test match. In 2013, they won every Test match they played in an entire calendar year. (!)

Per the Telegraph, "In New Zealand, where rugby is almost a religion, Test losses usually cause national mourning and the more surprising the loss the bigger the hurt."

Compound the All Blacks' general dominance with Ireland's absolute inability to beat them, and it makes the events of an early November day in Chicago even more incredible.

Really, before 2016, the Irish had not defeated New Zealand in a Test match in 111 years—that's longer than the Chicago Cubs' recently vanquished World Series drought.

And yet, on that day in Soldier Field, Ireland finally snapped the streak with a 40-29 win. 

Cleveland Cavaliers Win First NBA Title

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

In June, the Cleveland Cavaliers won their first NBA title. Not only that, but it was also the city of Cleveland's first major sports title in over half a century.

Oh and not only that, but the Cavs beat the best regular-season team in history—the 73-win Golden State Warriors—to take the title. Oh and not only that, but they also came back from a 3-1 NBA Finals deficit. 

Pretty incredible.

LeBron James averaged 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and 8.9 assists per game in the Finals en route to the series MVP.

James' teammate, Richard Jefferson, later said, per Janie McCauley of the Associated Press (via the Morning Journal), "I've never seen a man in my life tell an entire state: 'Get on my back, I got you. Get on my back and I'm going to carry you.'" 

An estimated 1.3 million people flooded the streets of Cleveland for the parade. 

Peyton Manning Goes out on Top

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/Getty Images

How many sports legends get to go out on top? How many times has the final game of an iconic career been the clincher in a title win?

Not often. John Elway, David Robinson—it's a relatively short list.

And really, what were the odds Peyton Manning—an NFL quarterback who underwent four neck surgeries and experienced finger numbness in his final seasons—would join that elusive club in 2016?

It seemed especially unlikely since Manning's play wasn't exactly earth-shattering. He threw for just 2,249 yards all year and was actually benched for backup Brock Osweiler at one point. His secret? He was backed by one of the best defenses in the history of the NFL.

The unit held the Carolina Panthers to 194 yards of total offense in Super Bowl 50, and linebacker Von Miller strip-sacked Cam Newton twice in the Broncos' 24-10 victory. And Manning, the all-time leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns, went out on top.

Rookie Wins Indy 500 on Fumes

Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

The 2016 Indianapolis 500 was monumental before the green flag ever flew—it was the 100th running of the historic event.

Many IndyCar fans likely expected one of the big names to win—a veteran like Tony Kanaan or perhaps the young pole winner, James Hinchcliffe.

And for much of the race, it looked like a big name would win. Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay jockeyed for position early on, and Kanaan, Carlos Munoz and Josef Newgarden were in the mix toward the end as well.

And yet, the finish of the race was as temporarily confusing as it was shocking. The winner was not a big name, but a rookie—American Alexander Rossi—who previously raced in Formula One but lost his ride after 2015. It was his first Indy 500.

How did he do it? Two words: fuel strategy.

While most of the leaders were forced to pit in the final laps, Rossi's crew strategically conserved fuel and miraculously coasted into the finish on fumes.

Michael Phelps Breaks 2,168-Year-Old Record

MARTIN BUREAU/Getty Images

If Michael Phelps was a country, he would have more Olympic medals than Portugal.

The American swimmer won 28 Olympic medals—23 gold—over the course of his historic career.

David Johnson of Time pointed out, "Since the modern Olympics began in 1896, 66 countries have taken home fewer gold medals in all than the 23 golds accrued by Phelps in his past four appearances at the Summer Olympics. And that doesn't include the 42 countries that have participated without winning any gold medals."

For many Americans, Phelps' dominance has likely become expected, (daresay) commonplace even. But in taking a step back, one can begin to glimpse the utter absurdity that was his entire career and, specifically, his performance in Rio.  

Phelps won five of his 23 golds in Rio, the last of his incredible five Olympic Games. For the icing on the cake, he casually broke a 2,168-year-old record by winning a 13th individual Olympic title.

Leicester City Wins Premier League

ADRIAN DENNIS/Getty Images

Since the Premier League was founded in 1992, 22 out of 24 titles have been won by Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea or Arsenal. Ho hum.

One of those outlier years came in 2016, and boy was it an outlier.

To open the 2015-16 season, Leicester City were 5,000-1 odds to win the title, per English bookmaker William Hill (via Paul Carr of ESPN.com). The Foxes had in fact narrowly escaped relegation after the 2014-15 season. To put the odds in perspective, Richard Innes of the Mirror reported Ladbrokes put 1,000-1 odds on Hugh Hefner announcing he is a virgin.

So, unlikely.

And yet, they did it. The Foxes won the Premier League with a new coach (Claudio Ranieri) and some savvy signings (such as N'Golo Kante and Jamie Vardy).

The Guardian's Stuart James wrote, "Leicester City have completed one of the most remarkable stories in the history of English football by winning the Premier League title."

Chicago Cubs Win World Series

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

One hundred and eight years.

In many ways, the Chicago Cubs had all kinds of business winning the World Series in 2016. They were the odds-on favorites the entire season (per OddsShark.com). Historically speaking, however, it was absolutely monumental. 

It started in 2011 when Theo Epstein became the president of baseball operations. Epstein—the same man who served as general manager of the Boston Red Sox in 2004—has been called a "curse breaker." That Red Sox title snapped an 86-year World Series drought, and in 2016, the Cubs bested that mark by breaking a 108-year curse of their own. 

Epstein and his team did it by bringing in an experienced manager in Joe Maddon, bolstering the farm system and making savvy trades and signings.

After five years, it all came together. The Cubs won an MLB-best 103 games and dispatched the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers in the playoffs before winning the World Series in perhaps the greatest Game 7 in the history of sports.

It's a story to tell the grandkids about—that's for sure.