15 Champions Who Proved All the Haters Wrong
Winning a championship in any sport is a difficult task, but when there are millions of so-called haters around the world who add doubt to a team's quest, it can make it even more challenging.
Of course, that's if players take the words to heart.
Fortunately, not all players, coaches and teams are created equal, giving us moments in sports history where a championship team overcame all the external hate and pressure to prove everyone wrong to become a champion.
It takes a special group to do so, and these are the best of the bunch who have done it.
2015-16 Leicester City F.C.
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Unlike a few other franchises on this list—who simply got hate for being a loaded superteam with star players—what makes this year's Leicester City F.C.'s English Premier League title so insane is that no one, and I mean no one, foresaw it ever happening.
And it's one of the many reasons why sports are so beautiful.
Entering the season with 5,000-1 odds to win the EPL, Leicester City shocked the world and silenced any haters who didn't think they could ever do it.
2011-12 Miami Heat
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As I mentioned in the previous slide about hate being thrown toward teams because they were loaded with talent, there might not be a more apropos team on this list than the 2011-12 Miami Heat.
Of course, it was easy to dislike that team and root against it considering it constructed a roster made up of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, who all took a little less money than a max contract to try to build a dynasty.
After losing in the NBA Finals in their first season together—a year in which James openly admitted he hated playing the villain role—NBA fans outside of South Beach hoped the Heat would fall on their face again the following season.
Rather than play mad, though, James and his amigos were able to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games to capture the first title for both himself and Bosh, while giving Wade his second.
1997 Denver Broncos
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Entering the postseason after a 12-4 regular season, the Denver Broncos finished with the best scoring offense in the league during the 1997 campaign, but the main question was simple—could then-quarterback John Elway get the monkey off his back and win a Super Bowl?
Guiding his team through the postseason thanks to the help of a running game that included explosive runner Terrell Davis, Elway had more help than he ever did in his previous three trips to the Big Game.
Matched against that season's league MVP, Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers, Denver entered as 11-point underdogs, leaving many skeptics wondering if it could even hang with the Pack.
Silencing the doubters, the Broncos rode Davis' legs to a title, as he scooped up 157 yards and scored three touchdowns for the first title in franchise history with a 31-24 victory.
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2013-14 Connecticut Huskies Men's Basketball
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It wasn't as if the 2013-14 Connecticut Huskies men's hoops team didn't have talent, it did, but the team's play never seemed to come together until March rolled around.
A bubble team who needed a solid showing in the AAC tournament to even be considered for the Big Dance, the Huskies rode the exceptional play of Shabazz Napier through the NCAA tourney, eventually reaching the national title game as a No. 7 seed.
Battling an underachieving team in its own right—the eighth-seeded Kentucky Wildcats—UConn was able to hold off the talented Cats roster to capture its second national title in four seasons.
The tourney that season wasn't expected to end that way when the brackets were first announced, so the Huskies shocked everyone by cutting the nets down when all was said and done.
2003 Florida Marlins
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Prior to the 2003 season, only two franchises had gone on to win the World Series as wild-card teams—the Florida Marlins in 1997 and Los Angeles Angels in 2002. The Marlins kept that stat alive in '03, becoming the first organization to ever win the Fall Classic as a wild-card team twice.
It's not as if anyone expected it to happen, though.
While the team finished with a 91-71 regular-season record and had a good mix of budding stars and All-Star veterans, the Marlins escaped the NLCS against the Chicago Cubs because of a series of errors following some incident involving a Steve Bartman fella.
And when they did reach the World Series against the New York Yankees, few gave Florida any hope of winning it all.
Behind the gutsy pitching off series MVP Josh Beckett, the Marlins stunned the baseball world and silenced any haters who didn't think they stood a chance against the mighty Yanks, grabbing the franchise's second title in seven seasons.
1988-90 Detroit Pistons
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Following their first NBA title in franchise history in 1988-89, the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons became the most hated team in the league by the time the '89-90 campaign rolled around, using tricky tactics and straight-up bullying against their opponents.
With big men like Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman and Rick Mahorn, Detroit instituted a style of play that resembled wrestling more than it did basketball, knocking players to the hardwood any time an opponent came too close the basket.
And the team reveled in the hate.
Repeating as champs the following year put the Bad Boys on the top of the hoops world once again, showing everyone that the finesse style of the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics wasn't the only way to win championships.
2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers
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This wasn't supposed to happen the way it did, guys.
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers—who were the most dramatic team in recent memory thanks to sub-tweets and rumors of near self-destruction—were supposed to fall to the mighty Golden State Warriors and have an offseason of soul searching and questions.
That's not how this story ended up, though.
Rather than face the very real possibility of a complete overhaul of the roster this season, the Cavs overcame a 3-1 series deficit for the first time in NBA history to fend off the Dubs' repeat quest and win the city of Cleveland's first title in a major sport since 1964.
What a fitting ending to a story that began in July 2014 when James proclaimed his return to the franchise was bigger than basketball, hoping for just one title for the city.
1998 New York Yankees
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It's the New York Yankees, so everything they do is either going to be magnified, scrutinized or revered, depending on which side of the fence a fan is on.
And the 1998 version of the Yanks just happened to be the best regular-season team in MLB history—until broken a few years later by the Seattle Mariners—finishing with a 114-48 record, which included five All-Stars and a balanced lineup and pitching rotation.
Blocking out the typical hate directed toward them, the guys in the pinstripes marched through the playoffs by going 11-2 and made light work of the San Diego Padres in the World Series to win the second title in three seasons.
The championship became the first in a three-peat, but many believe that the '98 Yanks were the best of all time.
2014 New England Patriots
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More than the fact that they were the New England Patriots and already made a living reaching the playoffs and annually challenging for Super Bowls, the 2014 version of the Pats became hated because of one simple word—Deflategate.
After humiliating the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship, 45-7, New England was questioned for its role in footballs being deflated during the game, leading many to, once again, believe the team had cheated.
Quieting the critics by literally stealing a second straight title from the Seattle Seahawks, the Patriots might be hated, but they don't mind playing the role of villain if results end with championships.
Even to this day, over a year later, Deflategate still isn't resolved, which only goes to show how hated this team really is.
2013-14 San Antonio Spurs
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While most of these teams had haters because they were either loaded with talent, were cocky or had something else that irked fans, the 2013-14 San Antonio Spurs didn't have to deal with any of that.
No, the reason the Spurs had so many haters entering the NBA Finals in a rematch against the Miami Heat was simple—they blew it the season before against the same team.
After the Heat beat the Spurs in the 2013 Finals in devastating fashion—hello, Ray Allen in Game 6—San Antonio had to deal with its own psyche as it played Miami in the 2014 version, with some wondering how the squad would respond.
The Spurs showed their mettle, though, absolutely playing with revenge on their minds and all but breaking up Miami's Big Three by winning the title in five games.
People had their doubts, but the Spurs stayed the course and walked away as champs for the fifth time in franchise history.
2011-12 Los Angeles Kings
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Anytime something as rare as a No. 8 seed winning the Stanley Cup happens, fans know that there was plenty of doubt being tossed that team's way. In the 2012 NHL playoffs, though, the Los Angeles Kings showed that they were no ordinary team, putting together a phenomenal run few had seen before.
Coming into the postseason, the Kings were the heavy underdogs as they battled the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks. No matter, the Kings became just the 10th team in NHL history to knock off a No. 1 seed in the first round, riding that momentum throughout the postseason.
While the victory over the Canucks was great, doubt still surfaced since no seed that low had ever finished it off with a championship.
The Kings did just that, though, proving everyone wrong by hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup.
1994-95 Houston Rockets
12 of 15The 1994-95 Houston Rockets may have been defending champs, but after going just 45-37 during the regular season and falling into the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference, few believed they could make much noise come the postseason.
In the words of then-head coach Rudy Tomjanovich, though: "Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion."
After battling their way through the conference playoffs with wins against battle-tested teams such as the Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs, Houston reached the NBA Finals to play an upstart Orlando Magic squad.
What was supposed to be a Magic victory turned into a Rockets romp, as the reigning champs swept Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway's Orlando team to capture Houston's second straight title, becoming the lowest seed in NBA history to win a ring.
2001 New England Patriots
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While I mentioned the New England Patriots earlier after winning the 2014 Super Bowl, the 2001 Pats were a completely different story, being doubted because, quite frankly, they weren't supposed to be in the Super Bowl that season.
Following an injury to then-starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe, some unknown backup named Tom Brady led the team all the way through the playoffs and to the big game against the St. Louis Rams.
Entering as a 14-point underdog New England wasn't expected to put up much of a fight. But that's not how sports always work.
Brady did just enough to move the ball offensively, and the defense kept the Rams' Greatest Show on Turf offense in check, setting up a now-iconic game-winning kick by the Pats' Adam Vinatieri to earn the first Super Bowl in franchise history.
2007 New York Giants
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Here's yet another Super Bowl in which the New England Patriots were involved. This time, however, the team was on the losing end thanks to a New York Giants team that overcame all the doubters to shock the world.
In what ended up being, arguably, the best Super Bowl ever, the G-Men silenced the haters who had them as 12.5-point underdogs against a Pats team that entered the game with a perfect 18-0 record and looking to become the first 19-0 team in NFL history.
While the 1972 Miami Dolphins are the only undefeated team the league has ever seen, the Pats hoped to best that squad.
It wasn't meant to be, though.
After a remarkable, "How'd he catch that?" catch by David Tyree, Giants quarterback Eli Manning tossed a touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress that gave his team the lead for good, shocking the world by winning a ring for the Big Apple.
2004 Boston Red Sox
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It's easy to look back on the 2004 Boston Red Sox now and smile because of the way they won their first World Series in 86 years, but no one can say with confidence that they ever saw it coming.
Following a heartbreaking American League Championship Series loss in 2003 to the hated New York Yankees, the Sox thought they had what it took to overcome their past demons and defeat the Bronx Bombers in '04.
But when they fell behind 0-3 in the best-of-seven series, everyone outside of their clubhouse had already claimed the Yanks as AL champs, writing off Boston and believing the Curse of the Bambino was alive for at least another year.
Then, it happened. A gutsy steal by Dave Roberts. A walk-off by David Ortiz. A belief that the team could become the first in MLB history to overcome the series deficit and reach the World Series.
Captivating the country by pulling off the feat by winning four straight to stun the Yanks, the Red Sox ended 86 years of pain by sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals and giving Boston a champion like no one had ever seen before in baseball.
All odds courtesy Odds Shark.
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