2023: The Year of the Underdog?

Photo Credit: outsider.com

We are more than halfway through 2023, and there has been a sudden resurgence when it comes to the underdogs in the world of sports. It’s always fun to see Davids knock off the Goliaths, but nobody could’ve seen 2023 produce THIS MANY upsets. In March, college Basketball fans got a chance to witness not one but TWO men’s hoops programs from South Florida make surprising runs to the Final Four- The Miami Hurricanes and the Florida Atlantic Owls. Both defied the odds and busted brackets everywhere.

Elsewhere in that same NCAA tournament, 16^th seed Farleigh Dickinson, who barely made it into the Big Dance courtesy of an NCAA rule and by winning its first round game, shocked the sports world by knocking off the team many fans and analysts picked to make it to the Final Four and/or National Championship: The Purdue Boilmakers. The Knights, a small school from New Jersey and plays in the Northeastern Conference, became just the 2^nd ever 16^th seed to defeat a one seed, joining the UMBC Retrievers in 2018, when they now famously stunned the Virginia Cavaliers.

This was just the tip of the iceberg: In the NBA and the NHL Playoffs, two more Miami teams played the role of underdog, making deep runs in their respective postseasons. The Miami Heat and Florida Panthers, two 8th seeds, each avoided first round elimination threats and, in the case of Jimmy Butler and company, survived a near historic 3-0 meltdown against the Boston Celtics, advancing to the 6th NBA Finals in franchise history. The Heat would go on to lose in 5 games to the Denver Nuggets. Florida, on the other side, fell behind the mighty Boston Bruins 3-1 before coming back to shock the President's Cup Trophy winners in the 1st Round, then proceeded to dominate the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes in the last two rounds before falling to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights.

Oh, and in the world of tennis, Spain's Carlos Alcaraz proved he belonged on the big stage by taking down heavy favorite Novak Djokovic in a classic 5-set battle- 1-6, 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. Djokovic was classy and humble in his defeat, crediting Alcaraz on a very well-played match.

One other notable sports upset in '23 includes the Jacksonville Jaguars storming all the way back from a 27-7 first half deficit in the AFC Wild Card game to, pun intended, SHOCK the Los Angeles Chargers 31-30. Once again, it was a Florida sports team. These were unprecedented and unthinkable runs for teams that were written off and disrespected by the national media. No one could've ever seen these Cinderella stories come true. Will we see more in the future? You better believe it!

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