Championship Underdog Teams of the 2000s That Had Everyone Rooting for Them
The underdogs. A team we all fall in love with at one point in our lives. Without those scrappy underdogs, we wouldn't have anything exciting to cheer for in sports.
Since the year 2000, plenty of franchises have fallen into that category—from the world of football to baseball, hockey and beyond. Those teams have either reached the title game and walked away victorious or fallen just short.
Those criteria allowed us to unleash 10 excellent choices. Together, let's cruise down memory lane and relive some of the top underdogs in sports since 2000.
2001 New England Patriots
1 of 10
Coming off a 5-11 season, the 2001 New England Patriots weren't even considered a choice to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Who would have guessed then that 2001 was the year everything would change?
Tom Brady emerged from the bench, thanks to New York Jets linebacker Mo Lewis decimating Drew Bledsoe, and the rest, as they say, was history. Under head coach Bill Belichick, the Pats flipped their previous record. An 11-5 mark was good enough to launch the team into the playoffs.
Behind nine straight wins, the Patriots stunned the world and took down the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.
This was obviously before the Spygate and Deflategate scandals and the heel turn made by Coach Belichick and Brady. People wanted an upset, and the Patriots were a team worth cheering for.
2015 New York Mets
2 of 10
The New York Mets have been lurking in the Yankees' shadow for what feels like an eternity now. Dating back to the 2000 Subway Series, the Mets have constantly played second fiddle to the Bronx Bombers.
That's not the case anymore. With the Mets now firmly planted in the 2015 World Series, the orange-and-blue-hat-wearing younger brother from New York is finally ready to become the talk of the town.
Minus Kansas City Royals fans, it's tough not to pull for the Mets. They came from seemingly nowhere to win the National League crown in dramatic fashion. Behind tremendous pitching and exciting bats, the Mets will look to secure themselves a championship.
They've already become a National League underdog worth cheering for.
2009-10 Butler Bulldogs
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The 2009-10 Butler Bulldogs were certified bracket-busters. Who would have believed at the start of that season this team, coached by Brad Stevens, would make it to the national championship game against a robust program like Duke?
Butler entered the tournament as a No. 5 seed and traveled through the likes of Syracuse and Michigan State on their way to face off against Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils.
That cataclysmic war of hardwood attrition went down to the wire. When the clock finally expired, Duke sneaked away with a 61-59 win.
Rooting for Butler was the way to go that season. Dethroning major programs is always a nice way to win over casual fans. Considering Duke was their final foe, it made cheering for the Bulldogs that much sweeter.
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2014 Ohio State Buckeyes
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Last year, we got to see the new College Football Playoff system in place. It turned out to be a great change of pace from the BCS nonsense that viewers had been accustomed to enduring.
Four of the best teams in the country went to war in order to prove which squad was the best.
The Ohio State Buckeyes were one team that few people expected to win it all. Faced with a grueling opening matchup against Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide, Urban Meyer's squad pulled a stunning 42-35 upset in the final four.
After that, they marched on and destroyed the Oregon Ducks 42-20 in the national title game.
Ohio State winning a national title proved that this was an effective way of doing business. Now we all love the College Football Playoff. It gives underdogs everywhere a chance to shine.
2003 Florida Marlins
5 of 10
In their own mask-breathing ways, the New York Yankees represented the dark side of the Force to many baseball fans during the late '90s and early 2000s.
The Bronx Bombers were at the top of baseball's food chain. Out of all the teams that tried to boot them from that pedestal, it turned out to be a young Florida Marlins squad that finally got the job done.
A lowly payroll of $64.4 million, according to Baseball-Reference.com, and a wild-card finish was exactly what this club needed. Behind the likes of Josh Beckett, Dontrelle Willis and Ivan Rodriguez, the Marlins scraped and clawed their way to the top.
Defeating the Yanks 4-2 in the '03 World Series turned out to be slight work for these dudes, and it made underdogs relevant again in the world of baseball.
2008 Arizona Cardinals
6 of 10
There were so many reasons to root for the Arizona Cardinals going into Super Bowl XLIII. Having Kurt Warner as the team's starting quarterback, finishing a paltry 9-7 during the regular season and having Ken Whisenhunt as head coach were three excellent choices.
Entering that Super Bowl, the Cardinals were pitted against the Pittsburgh Steelers—a fierce 12-4 AFC team.
Watching Arizona's gunslinging mentality on offense made for great pigskin. Warner heaved the ball 43 times that game, completing 31 passes for 377 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
The game itself was a certified classic. A back-and-forth affair ended with a dramatic touchdown pass from Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger to Santonio Holmes in the corner of the end zone.
Warner attempted to battle back, but the contest ended when the Steelers defense recovered a fumble with less than 10 seconds to go. The Cinderella story had come to an end for the scrappy Cardinals.
2006 Boise State Broncos
7 of 10
Boise State's underdog-inspired run to win the 2007 Fiesta Bowl concluded with a little bit of tomfoolery. The Broncos' epic clash with the Oklahoma Sooners ended by paying tribute to one of America's greatest landmarks: the Statue of Liberty.
That beautiful Statue of Liberty trick play was unleashed as then-Broncos head coach Chris Petersen decided to go for a game-winning two-point conversion.
Clearly not expecting such witchcraft, the Sooners surrendered the game-winning points. That gave way for a Boise State victory and one heck of an underdog tale.
Everyone outside of Sooner Nation had to be cheering for the Broncos. A small-school team beating a longtime powerhouse is always good for the soul.
2011-12 Los Angeles Kings
8 of 10
There's always room for firsts in sports. The Los Angeles Kings achieved one when they became the first No. 8 seed in NHL history to win a Stanley Cup.
What Los Angeles did was remarkable. As a team, it entered the playoffs in a challenging Western Conference and peeled off a 16-4 record in order to secure Lord Stanley's silver shrine.
Losing four games over the course of four separate series is crazy. The Kings were smoldering-hot, and no club had a chance to stop them.
This was one of those rare underdog tales that happened to turn into a narrative full of utter dominance.
2009 New Orleans Saints
9 of 10
New Orleans was a few short years removed from the devastating destruction of Hurricane Katrina when the Saints were able to capture their first—and only—Super Bowl title.
This Saints weren't traditional underdogs in the sense that they won 13 games that season. But when they took to the field against Peyton Manning's Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV, it felt like a mountain was placed in front of them.
Manning's team was favored by four points leading up to the game. But dynamic coaching from Sean Payton—the onside kick we'll never forget—and Drew Brees picking apart the Colts secondary led the Saints to a 31-17 victory.
They shattered the odds, and solely from a sports and entertainment perspective, they also gave the city of New Orleans something to cheer about.
2007 New York Giants
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How did they do it? How on earth did the New York Giants stop the New England Patriots from finishing the season a perfect 19-0?
The 10-6 Giants came into that Super Bowl as massive underdogs in terms of historical importance. New England was on a roll, and it really looked like no one could stop them.
Giants fans will remember Week 17 of the 2007 season. That was the week in which the Giants and Patriots met for the first time that season. Belichick's team escaped New York with a 38-35 victory, but the seed had been planted. The Giants wanted more.
Redemption came in the form of a Lombardi Trophy. The 17-14, "helmet catch" victory was one we will always remember. It turned Eli Manning into a legend and the Giants into the ultimate underdogs.
All stats and information provided by Sports-Reference.com unless noted otherwise.
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