Most Shocking Sports Surprises of 2016

Sports mirrors life in that you may make plans, but unexpected things happen that you can’t account for, and that’s what makes the most shocking sports surprises of 2016 so fascinating. These were results that few had predicted or the fulfillment of giant expectations that threatened to overwhelm an athlete or a team.

Let’s be honest, Cubs fans, how many of you really thought the Curse wasn’t going to rear its ugly head in Game 7 of the World Series when the Cleveland Indians tied the game? The result was not only shocking, but also it validated 108 years of loss and disappointment, and even baseball fans rooting for other teams felt good about Chicago’s victory.

The teams and athletes on this list gave us the most shocking surprises of 2016, not just because they were unexpected or the fulfillment of crushing expectations, but because they represented something that deep down many fans weren’t sure would happen.

And that’s what makes sports the best gig going.

Cleveland Defeats Golden State : NBA

No one saw it coming.

In fact, a large number of ESPN.com’s basketball experts predicted that the Golden State Warriors would vanquish the Cleveland Cavaliers, and who could blame them?

Coming off a record-breaking regular season of 73 wins, the Warriors were a juggernaut, a candidate for Greatest of All Time. They played with a swagger of a team that would not be denied.

Until LeBron James happened. And Kyrie Irving. And an all-time defensive sequence by the slow-footed-suddenly-turned-nimble Kevin Love on MVP Stephen Curry in the waning moments of Game 7 that Cleveland fans will replay to their children 30 years from now.

And from the ashes of 3-1, the Cavs won three straight—aided in no small part by the Game 5 suspension of the Warriors' Draymond Green—and history was made.

The Cavs shocked the basketball world by beating the Warriors, and James fulfilled his promise to his beloved city and cemented his legacy as the best player on the planet.

Villanova Wins the NCAA Championship: College Basketball

In the 1985 NCAA championship, the Villanova Wildcats shocked the world.

The team defeated the Georgetown Hoyas, a perennial powerhouse, and stamped its name into college basketball history.

History repeated itself in 2016 when the Wildcats completed the same shocking feat.

It was shocking because Villanova had always been the ultimate tease in the past decade—talented and capable but always disappointing at the biggest moments.

The 2015-16 version of the Wildcats used a smothering defense and timely offense to upset the Kansas Jayhawks in the Elite Eight.

And then they played an all-time classic against the storied North Carolina Tar Heels, a game the Wildcats won, then lost then improbably won again 77-74 on a buzzer-beating three-pointer by junior forward Kris Jenkins.

The 31 years between championships is the second-longest in NCAA tournament history, and what made it so sweet for the Wildcat players is that so few sportswriters predicted their triumph.

In fact, not one of SI.com’s experts even had Villanova as a Final Four pick, a testament to how little was expected of this eventual juggernaut.

Just weeks before the tournament, ESPN.com’s Dana O’Neil wrote about the team consistently falling short in a piece titled, “Villanova can't hide from NCAA tournament failures.”

“We don’t want to be known as the team that’s always high-ranked but gets knocked out of the tournament early,” stated star senior forward Daniel Ochefu.

Thanks to a shocking freeze-frame three-pointer, the Wildcats will only be known as champions for the foreseeable future.

Usain Bolt Completes the Triple-Triple: Olympics Track and Field

It wasn’t shocking that Usain Bolt won the 100 meters at the 2016 Rio Olympics. And it wasn’t at all shocking that Bolt followed that up with a gold medal in the 200-meter race. And it didn’t take anyone by surprise that Bolt anchored the Jamaican 4 x 100-meter relay team to another victory in the final.

But what was shocking was that Bolt accomplished all three of those things at a third consecutive Olympics, because it has never been done before and likely won’t be done again for many years.

Every sports fan watching that 100-meter final saw American sprinter Justin Gatlin burst from the blocks like a gazelle with perfect form.

Two-thirds of the way down the track, Gatlin could already feel the tape breaking across his chest, signaling victory.

And then Bolt did what he always does, what we expect him to do, using those long inimitable strides to close on his foe then inch out a victory.

It was shocking because several months before the Olympics, Bolt had suffered a hamstring injury that had slowed his pace and made him rusty coming into the competition.

And it wasn’t as if everyone was convinced that the legendary Bolt could pull off the triple-triple.

Sports writers such as SI.com’s Brian Cazeneuve believed that the American team would triumph in the 4 x 100-meter relay final, and Paul Myerberg of USA Today predicted that Bolt would lose to American LaShawn Merritt in the finals of the 200 meters.

But despite turning 30 (old for track and field) on the last day of the Olympics, Bolt pulled off the unprecedented feat and became the “the greatest track and field athlete of all time,” per Sarah Holt of CNN.com.

Peyton Manning Wins the Super Bowl : NFL

With a large assist from a defense that ESPN.com’s John Clayton called among the finest in NFL history, the Denver Broncos delivered Peyton Manning one last, shocking victory, enabling him to hoist the Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl 50.

Shocking because Manning had missed six games during the season, and according to Neil Paine of FiveThirtyEight, Manning had the worst statistical season of any Super Bowl quarterback in history.

Moreover, the Broncos went into the Super Bowl against the surging and dominant Carolina Panthers who had rampaged to a 17-1 record—playoffs included—and were just one game away from being declared one of the best teams in the Super Bowl era.

In fact, only two out of the 10 SI.com football writers and editors polled picked the Broncos to win the Super Bowl.

The Broncos were decided underdogs, and the conventional wisdom was that only a miracle performance by Manning (highly doubtful based on past evidence), or a miracle performance by the defense (probable but perhaps not enough) would give the team a chance.

Guess which miracle happened?

Conor McGregor Loses to Nate Diaz

Credit Conor McGregor for trying to cash the checks his volcanic mouth writes, because up until the moment Nate Diaz choked him out at UFC 196 on March 5, 2016, he had put his John Hancock on every big-mouth check he’d ever written.

The result was shocking because McGregor is the rare athlete whose skills outclassed his elite-level trash talking, so prior to UFC 196, very few MMA fans thought he would have any trouble dispatching the dangerous-but-inconsistent Diaz.

And although it was a non-title fight contested at 170 pounds, which was several weight classes higher than McGregor’s usual bouts, anticipation reached a fever pitch for the event.

The betting line prior to the fight was all in McGregor’s favor at -400, per OddsShark, and many MMA experts such as ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto predicted McGregor would win via TKO.

Diaz proved everyone wrong by utilizing his size, reach and superior boxing skills to batter McGregor until the fight went to the ground and Diaz’s world-class jiu-jitsu took over, forcing McGregor to tap.

Despite the fact that McGregor exacted revenge during the rematch at UFC 202 on August 20, 2016, winning a furiously contested five-round majority decision, his defeat to Diaz at their first bout remains one of the most shocking MMA results of 2016.

Kevin Durant Signs with the Warriors: NBA

Most fans and sportswriters figured Kevin Durant would kick the tires on some of the teams pursuing him during the 2016 NBA free agency, then ego satisfied that he was truly wanted, re-sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Never happened.

Because the Golden State Warriors.

And that’s the rub, isn’t it? The fact that Durant left was shocking enough, but the suitor he chose spoke volumes about his desire to win and, more importantly, to ride the coattails of other superstars to win a championship.

Anyone who thinks Durant’s apostasy wasn’t shocking or unexpected may need a reminder of some of the headlines in the wake of his announcement:

Jordan Heck of The Sporting News titled his piece “NBA players shocked by Kevin Durant-to-Warriors move."

Jared Dubin of CBSsports.com titled his piece “NFL players react with shock and awe to Kevin Durant choosing the Warriors,” and that’s not a typo. Dubin polled NFL players because the story was that big.

It says here that the Durant-to-Golden State story will rank as one of the top five NBA stories of 2016, somewhere in between the Cavs shocking the world to win the title and Russell Westbrook’s assault on every triple-double stat in the history of the NBA.

Cubs Win Game 7 of the 2016 World Series

Admit it, Cubs fans.

Even you were shocked to see your team pull off the historic Game 7 win in the World Series after the Cleveland Indians had rallied to tie the game 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth inning after Chicago had led 6-3 going into that inning with their ace Jon Lester on the mound as a relief pitcher.

Knotted at 6-6 and headed to extra innings, Cubs players were undoubtedly staring into the face of yet another failure, which in retrospect shouldn’t have been a surprise, given the team’s history.

But a timely rain delay prior to extra innings provided a much-needed breather, and by the time the game resumed, nervous Cubs fans wondered which version of the team would take the field.

It turned out to be the shockingly clutch version of Chicago, the same one that had rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie the World Series and set up a winner-takes-all contest that Jayson Stark of ESPN.com called the "greatest World Series Game 7 ever played."

The Cubs won 8-7, exorcised their demons forever and in the process shocked their fans into believing that the confluence of talent, luck and self-belief can trump 108 years of self-doubt and failure.

Shocking sports events have never been quite as pleasing to all sports fans as the Cubs' triumph because it showed the value of sticking to it even when all seems lost.

Si se puede, indeed.

Leicester City Wins English Premier League Championship

Shocking would probably be an understatement when it comes to the out-of-nowhere campaign that put Leicester City at the top of the English Premier League table in the 2015-16 season.

The Leicester City Miracle was astonishing by every sports calculus, from fan expectation to betting, and we may never see the likes of it again.

According to Alex Smith of the BBC, the club was given 5000-1 odds to stand at the top of the table, greater odds apparently than a sighting of the Loch Ness monster and Simon Cowell becoming the British prime minister.

More shocking than the fact that Leicester City won the title is how they did it, 10 points clear of second-place Arsenal, a dominant run in which the club won 23 games, lost three games and had 11 draws with a 32-plus goal-differential.

Ian Chadband of Reuters described the club’s triumph as "one of sustained and fantastic improbability, stretching into incredulity, that has nurtured a nation’s imagination and its love of an underdog for almost nine marvelous months."

Enough said.