The zebra killed the lion yesterday. Fresno State pulled off what could possibly be the biggest upset of the 21st century.
Their regular season record was 33-27. They wouldn't have had any chance to make the College World Series if they hadn't won their conference tournament. They were a four seed which is basically like a 15 seed scrub basketball team, from a minor conference. Georgia was eighth in the nation.
Yet, Fresno is standing alone with the trophy. They were the better Bulldogs.
Fresno's win was Buster Douglas over Mike Tyson, minus the blood, but with all the sweat and tears. Appalachian State has nothing on them. George Mason? Don't even talk. Fresno State gave us a lesson on what it truly means to be Cinderella.
Except Bulldogs don't wear glass slippers. That improbability only makes this story that much more unbelievable.
Don Imus has a better chance of getting invited to Barrack Obama's birthday party than Fresno State did of winning the College World Series. Stuff like this isn't supposed to happen.
Tiger Woods doesn't lose.
Bill Belichick doesn't talk to reporters.
Pigs don't fly.
33-27 college baseball teams don't win championships.
The Bulldogs beat countless teams that they didn't deserve to touch.
Arizona State was third in the country and lost to Fresno in the Super Regionals.
Rice was sixth, but Fresno downed them.
North Carolina was the second best college baseball team in the land. Fresno State beat them twice.
It was a Cinderella story of massive proportions. The Bulldogs played their last 22 games of the season on the road. They had one player taken in the first five rounds of the draft.
They won the College World Series.
28 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Greg Howe about 1 year ago
This truly was one of the greatest upsets in this decade, if not in sports history. What made it even better was that this team was just so fun to watch! They played with so much passion that you couldn't help but root for them (unless you're a Georgia fan of course). This truly was amazing and Fresno State deserves everything that it gets!
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Tosten Burks about 1 year ago
It really was awesome.
It's always great to see a team win doing something that they seem to be having so much fun doing.
That's why people love college sports.
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Lisa Horne about 1 year ago
This was awesome, and funny to boot! You have a great talent at writing.....and you are so young! Looking into my crystal ball....I foresee a writing profession for you! Keep up the nice work! :)
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Tony Salazar about 1 year ago
The Fresno State victory is truly an upset for the ages. However I will say this, baseball in the Cental Valley of California has always been a very good brand of baseball. Baseball can be played almost all year round in the central valley. Great things can happen when a TEAM like the Bulldogs get hot at the right time.
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Allison Manter about 1 year ago
As Lisa said you are a talented writer, but the way you speak of the Bulldogs is upseting. Yeah they were an underdog but this IS NOT the biggest upset of the decade. This is probably the greatest story and most inspirational for all teams that aren't seen as the best of the best. I'm from Fresno and these last 2 weeks brought our town together like no one has seen before! and that's what it is about! Our hometown hero's.
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Tosten Burks about 1 year ago
You probably are right. I'm sure that as a local, you would know a lot more about the talent level of the team than I do. They certainly showed that they're great in this year's College World Series. They probably were a great team all along, and for their fans, this isn't as much of a surprise because you guys had confidence in them all along.
But, considering what the general public thought of them, for them to accomplish what they did is one of the most amazing upsets, to the average fan, in a long time.
Thanks for the feedback.
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B D about 1 year ago
Hey. I have really taken notice you your articles so far. I really hope you can continue to write like this here, and I hope you get your chance to climb the ranks and hopefully be on the front page. Keep up the great work.
But, I do not think this ranks as the best upset of all time, or even the decade. But, I will tell you I don't have the answer to the best of the decade or all time. If you think about it, there HAS to be a bigger upset than this. There are more than a ton of collegiate championships, and most of them we know nothing about. I would have to imagine there was a bigger upset in one of them.
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Lew Wright about 1 year ago
Hey Tosten,
Awesome prose! You had me hanging on every analogy and metaphor.
Though Fresno State is great school on a number of levels, still don't understand why they are constantly cast in the role of the underdog. Year in and year out they have some truly competitive teams. And the baseball program is no exception to that.
This time around for the Bulldogs, it's the slipper that fits them....quite nicely.
Cougar Lew
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B D about 1 year ago
Of one's I am aware of, I would put it best of the decade, but not all time.
All time:
1. Villanove 1985 over Georgetown in NCAAB championship
2. NC Stave 1983 NCAAB Championship
3. Fresno State wins CWS
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Justin Goar about 1 year ago
awesome stuff. congrats to fresno, they shook up the world!!
i met some great fresno fans at the LSU-fresno st game in '06. great people.
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Jason Spangenberg about 1 year ago
Had i not watched PTI yesterday, i would've agreed with you, but they made some great points. Fresno ended the season (after CWS) with more wins than Georgia. Fresno was ranked in the preseason top 20, but after a poor start to the season, fell out. Being a lower seed in baseball is much different than in basketball because baseball teams seemingly alwyas have a chance to win (depending on the pitcher--a pitcher always will have a couple of bad days in a year), while in football or basketball, the top team usually always prevails (ex: the Cubs have the best recored in baseball and, entering the series against the Orioles, had won 14 straight home games, only to lose 2 out of 3 to the team just over .500). Anyways, it was a fantastic upset, but not better than the Pats over the Rams. The Pats won with a rookie QB from the 6th round, HB Antowain Smith, and top reciever Troy Brown. If thats not winning with nothing, I dont know what is. The Giants this past year was full of big, household names, so SB XXXVI beats that.
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Justin Goar about 1 year ago
i don't agree its easier in baseball especially in a double elimination format which is put into place so that fluke games don't eliminate good teams. this team beat the 2nd ranked team twice and the 3rd ranked team twice. the fifth ranked team once
in march madness one bad bounce means you're team is out of it. in football especially the NFL you just need to be hot and healthy towards the end of the season (i.e. the 2007 g men)
however i do agree with you that fresno was no slouch and probably underacheived for most of the season and were probably a better team than their record indicated.
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B D about 1 year ago
How could SB XXXVI beat a 10-6 team defeating a 16-0 team, 18-0 heading in to the game? The Patriots may have been the most prolific offense in NFL history, and their defense was also pretty good. They were 18-0! Nobody has ever done that! So how could a little upset like the Pats beating the Rams beat that? It doesn't.
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Jason Spangenberg about 1 year ago
I still believe that the Pats over the Rams was bigger. The 2007 Pats may have been 18-0, but the last couple of weeks and playoffs, they barely won (and should have lost vs. the Ravens). Their defense was old and slow. Going 18-0 must have worn out Tedy and Junior greatly. The Giants were not a bad team at all. They had big names and great players like Eli, Plaxico, and Strahan.
The SB XXXVI Pats were, like I said, made up of complete nobodies. Of course we know now that Brady is one of the best QBs ever, but that was his first year with any play time. They went 11-5 that year, so they were similar to the Giants. I just believe that a 6th round rookie with nobody else beats a 1st round semi-vet with plenty of great players to help him.
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Tosten Burks about 1 year ago
I agree with you in saying that the lack of resources that the Pats had in their win over the Rams makes that upset more impressive than the Giants' win this year, but that theory only opens up questions and discussions about Fresno State's situation.
In NFL, teams for the most part have very similar assets. They all have about the same money, they all have world class level athletes, and they all have an equal opportunity at every player in the league.
In college, better schools always get the better players. You can't sign whoever you want, you recruit who will come to you. The elite class of teams like North Carolina, Rice, Georgia, etc had the elite class of players. A Fresno State is a much lesser university. They don't have the same resources.
In my opinion, that's why college upsets and cinderella stories are above and beyond more impressive than any upset in a pro sports setting. Pro teams have equal resources, college teams don't. That's why Fresno State is a better story than the Giants. That's why George Mason's run is greater than that of the Rockies. That's why App. State's win is a lot crazier than the Patriot's win.
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Alan Bass about 1 year ago
unbelievable!! i can't believe they actually pulled this off!!
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Kevin Paul about 1 year ago
Good stuff Tosten... and good of you to write about this team. This was an unbelievable upset and Fresno State's baseball team deserves to be talked about more... so kudos to you for doing so.
By the way, do your best to avoid those bad reality TV shows. Fight it! Later... kp
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dave jenkins about 1 year ago
1)George Mason over UConn
2)App State over Michigan
both were more of an upset than the Fresno State win. Six months from now, Fresno State beating Georgia won't be remembered while G.Mason and App.St. will be discussed year in, year out.
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Tosten Burks about 1 year ago
I see people don't remember that George Mason was in the top 25 for a little bit during their Cinderella season just like Fresno State.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but George Mason wasn't a walkover team either. I'm sure some GM fans could verify this just as the Bulldog fans jumped up and defended their Fresno State team.
So really, you got two teams that were good, but under appreciated and under valued in the general public's eye, in George Mason and Fresno State. One of them pulled off an upset or two and eventually lost. The other one beat 4 top 8 teams on their run to the championship.
Just throwing that out there.
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Paul T about 1 year ago
This is no where near the greatest upset ever... not even the best upset this year (which is still Giants over Pats)
While Fresno State did have over 30 losses.... they still have over 45 wins which is a decent winning percentage... they won a conference championship and they beat the #8 team in the finals. The #8 seed... not some undefeated #1 seed. Hell, the had beaten better teams on their way to the final series so its not like beating Georgia is that amazing.
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Larry G about 1 year ago
The Giants over the Pats? Come on...you're talking about pro athletes...the greatest in the sport. How can you possibly think that's a bigger upset than FSU? Besides, it's one game...and as was stated earlier, anything can happen in one game (one team/player gets hot and the other not quite on their game). If you think about it, it's not that big of a shocker.
FSU on the other hand, you are doing a huge discredit to them by only considering the championship series vs. Georgia (which they still had to beat twice by the way after losing the first game...if you were even paying attention). The reason why this IS the biggest upset of the decade (at the very least) is because of who they had to beat, and more than once, to win it all (#3, #6, #2 AND #8 national seeds). Without their ace pitcher, with a group of other pitchers with out of this world high ERA's, a player with one good thumb, and another with a bum throwing hand. Dig a little deeper and you will truely see how great of an accomplishment this really was.
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Tosten Burks about 1 year ago
Amen!
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Chris D'Aniello about 1 year ago
I have an insane amount of respect for Fresno State pulling a gigantic upset and bringing college baseball more media coverage than I can ever remember. And I do understand that Fresno as a 4 seed was an insanely huge underdog, but I have to believe Villanova not only upsetting the top ranked defending champions Georgetown, but becoming the lowest seed to ever win the NCAA Tournament as an 8 seed, was the biggest upset in modern sports history.
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L.J. Burgess about 1 year ago
this will make top 10 ... maybe top 5 upsets all time ... forever.
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Michael McMaster about 1 year ago
Appalachian State? Navy over Notre Dame? George Mason? The Giants over the Patriots?
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Lisa Horne about 1 year ago
Congrats on pick of the day! Well-deserved!
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Tosten Burks about 1 year ago
Hey thanks.
And thanks everyone for the positive feedback.
Check out my other stuff too!
Sorry, sorry, when I have the stage, I can't pass up an opportunity to do some blog pimping...
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Sam Manning about 1 year ago
Like Allison said It brought together are town like none other it seemed that way with the whole state of Colorado as the Rockies came back from 4 1/2 games down with 2 weeks to go to make it to the world series. This definately wasnt the greatest upset of the past decade but it was definately one of them
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