In honor of Maverick Monday, we’ve decided to close out the NBA season with a celebration of the biggest “surprise” teams to win a title. Let’s be honest, 50% of all NBA fans picked the Mavs to lose in the first round and those who didn’t probably thought the Lakers would take care of them. So saying the Mavericks coronation was a surprise is somewhat of an understatement. But where do they rank against other “surprise” teams? Let’s see. 
5- 2003 Florida Marlins – With a very young pitching staff and veteran lineup, the Marlins shocked the baseball world in the fall of 2003 when they triumphed over the much favored end of the New York Yankees Dynasty. In 2003, the Yankees dynasty of the 90’s was all but dead when the Yanks survived a Game 7 thriller against the Red Sox on Aaron f#$king Boone’s 11th inning homer and arrived in the Fall Classic a heavy favorite against the surprising Marlins. The Marlins struggled to finish second in the NL east with 93 wins after a terrible start to the season that saw them change managers early. They fired Jeff Torborg and hired the 107 year old Jack McKeon and went on to claim the NL Wild Card. They defeated NL West champs, SF Giants, in a dramatic Game 4 when JT Snow was thrown out at the plate on the final play of the series. Then came the Cubs, and the Steve Bartman game that resulted in the Cubby curse sending the Marlins to the Series in 7 games. This is where the Marlins young pitching staff of Josh Beckett and AJ Burnett befuddled the powerhouse Yankee lineup of Jeter, Giambi, Williams, Posada, Soriano and Matsui. The Marlins won the series in a dominant six games.
4- 2011 Dallas Mavericks – Well it happened just this week, but let’s relive it shall we. It appeared to me that everyone including the Mavs, were ready to coronate King James and the Heat-les champ before this series even started. Most people who follow the NBA thought the Blazers would take the Mavs out let alone giving them any chance to beat the Lakers or the Spurs. The Mavs received about as little respect a 57 win team could get going into the postseason. I heard more about the Thunder’s chances at 55 wins than I did about the Mavs. The word out was that they were soft and didn’t play good Defense. If teams went into this postseason with that idea, they were very mistaken. Jason Kidd and the Mavs showed a stingy hard-nosed D throughout the postseason, but they saved their best for the 2 toughest opponents; the Lakers and the Heat. The shocking thing to me was when the Mavs completed their sweep over the defending champion Lakers, people talked more about the chances the OK City Thunder had at a championship than the team who just swept the Lakers. WTF? Anyway, notice was served when the Mavs stunned everyone by taking Game 2 in Miami in very dramatic fashion by erasing an 8 pt. lead in less than 5 minutes to go. Even though the Mavs had one Game 2 in Miami, with the series tied at 2, after another monumental Heat collapse, most analysts still gave the Mavs little shot to win this series. It got to be so bad, that in the closing moments of Game 6, with the Mavs up 12, Dirk and Jason Terry were on the court with their hands on their head and a very shocked look on their faces. They couldn’t even believe they had done it. You know it’s a surprise victory when the team that’s winning is shocked.
3- 1988 LA Dodgers – This team was one of two on this very list that snuck up and bit me personally. The ’88 Dodgers not only produced drama and historical upsets in the postseason, but even in the NL MVP race as well. I was robbed twice by these bastards. So as you know by now, I’m a huge Mets fan; I live and die with that team. Well in 1988, they were in the middle of some glory years. They had won the World Series in ’86, missed the postseason in ’87 despite winning 92 games that year (could’ve used the Wild Card in ’87, because the Cards won 95 that season) and won the NL east by 15 games in 88. They were prepared to meet a Dodger team they had man handled all season long to the tune of a 10-1 record during the regular season. So to say it would have been a shock to see the Dodgers beat the Mets that year was an understatement. But the Mets couldn’t handle Gibson’s clutch hitting and Hershiser’s complete dominance en route to a 7 game defeat thus ending any hope the Mets would have at a dynasty in the 80’s. Let’s take a moment to let that settle…………..Ok so the Mets were heavily favored in the LCS but that was nothing compared to the powerhouse the Dodgers went on to face in the World Series. The A’s had returned to dynasty form in a big way in the late 80’s with the Bash Brothers (Canseco and McGwire) and surly, son of a bitch type pitchers like Dave Stewart and Bob Welch and then the unhittable closer, Dave Eckersley. Coming into the World Series with 104-win regular season and relatively ho-hum 4 game sweep of the Red Sox in the ALCS, very little chance was given to the Dodgers to even compete in this series, let alone win it. You know, very few World Series are over in the Game 1, but this one was. The Dodgers had every reason to concede Game 1. Their ace, Orel Hershiser was unavailable because of Game 7 against the Mets, Gibson was on the shelf because of an injury he suffered in the NLCS giving him two bad knees, and they were facing a very rested A’s squad with their ace, Dave Stewart, on the hill; not a good recipe. The Dodgers hung 2 on Dave Stewart in the 1st inning and it seemed to stun the A’s, but they answered with 4 in the 2nd and it seemed to crush the Dodgers. So the rule in 88 was if the A’s could get to the 9th inning with a lead, IT WAS OVER! Eck was automatic in 88. So here comes the 9th, 4-3 A’s and Eck on the hill. He blew the first two hitters away and then walked a guy bringing up a severely hobbled Gibson to pinch hit. Seriously, the dude looked like he needed a walker or a wheelchair. It could’ve been an AARP ad, it was scary. So you know the rest, Gibson flings his bat out there and somehow hits a 2 run walk-off and the rest is history. That series was over once the mystique of Eck was gone. Eckersley never got another save opportunity, and the A’s went quietly in 5 games. It was a shock that’s for sure.
*So a side story about the 88 Dodgers. Another shocking upset was Kirk Gibson being the NL MVP that season. The voting takes place after the playoffs but is supposed to be for the regular season only. I get Gibson being voted MVP of the postseason, but the regular season? Let’s go to the numbers:
Kirk Gibson - .290, 25 HR, 76 RBI, 106 R, 31 SB
Darryl Strawberry - .269, 39 HR, 101 RBI, 101 R, 29 SB
Kevin McReynolds - .288, 27 HR, 99 RBI, 82 R, 21 SB
The theory is that McReynolds, who finished 3rd in MVP voting, took votes away from Strawberry because they were both on the same team. Either way, how can you justify Gibson that season? The numbers tell the story.
2- 2001 New England Patriots / 2007 New York Football Giants – Wow, this one was a toss-up. I’m going to let you, The Rioters!, make the call on this one. On one hand you have the 2001 Pats, the birth of a dynasty. With a young, fresh faced Tom Brady who was a relative unknown and was quite literally thrown into the deep end of the pool during the 2001 season, and no superstars at any position, this team found a way into the Super Bowl. The only thing they had was a then unproven, mastermind of a coach in Bill Belichek, and a little bit of luck. The luck part was evident early on when Drew Bledsoe, the Pats then starting QB, went down with a serious lung injury in Game 2 of the season. The Pats went to their back-up, a 2nd year, 6th round draft pick Tom Brady. The Pats lost that game, but the seed was planted for a Dynasty to grow. The Pats went on an 11-3 run for the rest of the season and went into the postseason as a 2 seed. The other “luck” moment for the Pats came during the Divisional Round of the Playoffs when the Pats won the now infamous “tuck rule” game in the blinding snow in Foxboro. Not only was the “tuck rule” born with that game, but so was the legend of Adam Vinatieri, who kicked 2 of the greatest clutch field goals in the history of the game. The Dynasty was born officially in Super Bowl XXXVI against the heavily favored St Louis Rams and their “Greatest Show on Turf.” The Pats held arguably the greatest offensive team in the history of the NFL to 17 points, but that wasn’t the story. The story was the birth of the Dynasty of the New England Patriots and the Legend of Tom Brady. Brady had a mediocre game up to that point, but with 90 seconds left, and no timeouts, Brady engineered an all-time drive. Vinatieri kicked another 48 yard legend growing field goal and the rest is history. One of the biggest upsets in the history of sports.
In 2007, the above Dynasty was dominating the NFL like no other team had before. The 2007 Pats had an historic season, with it’s now Hall of Fame caliber leader, Tom Brady, having an all-time season. They added star power with Randy Moss at wide receiver and their fearless leader was now a Hall of Fame caliber coach with the reputation for being a defensive Einstein. On top of that, they came into Super Bowl XLII with an undefeated record looking to shut Mercury Morris up for good. The Giants had your typical ho-hum 10-6 Wild Card season. They had a young unproven Eli Manning at QB and a sick Defense. Strahan, Umenyiora, and company dominated the NFL during the regular season, and then stepped it up a notch during the postseason. Even though the G-Men possessed this staunch D nobody and I mean NOBODY gave the Giants a shot against the 18-0 Patriots. Super Bowl XLII was supposed to be a party, and the Patriots were supposed to be able to just air it out and claim their place in history; like Montana and the Niners did in Super Bowl XXIV when the 49ers pounded the sacrificial lamb Broncos 55-10. But a funny thing happened on the way to the Super Bowl; the Giants showed up and had a plan. See, the Giants had lost the last game of the regular season to the Patriots by 10 points. The Giants gave it all they had, and the Pats were resting some guys, but definitely played with a purpose. I believe that game was the difference in Super Bowl XLII. The Giants came out on D with a very specific plan, KILL BRADY. And kill him they did. Brady hadn’t seen that much grass the whole season. Strahan and Umenyiora were all over Brady. Of course a miracle catch here and a dropped Interception there, and before you know it, Plaxico Burress is in the back corner of the end zone catching the game winning TD. I know based on the betting line this may be the 5th or 6th greatest upset, but in the court of public opinion, and its effect on history this upset was monumental. Now I have to hear Mercury Morris for another 30 years.
1-2006 St Louis Cardinals – This team was possibly the most painful memory I’ve ever had. I can't remember alot of what happened with this team; I may have blocked it out. The Cardinals had won only 83 games during the regular season. They came into the NLCS against the Mets as heavy underdogs. The Mets had beaten them 4 out of 6 times during the year. The offense had put up 53 more runs during the season and their pitching gave up 31 less runs. They won 97 games, and were picked to win it all. Well as the story goes with the Mets, they choked it away with Game 7 in their home park. I can’t talk about it any further. The Cardinals then went on the beat a very strong Tigers squad that had dismissed the Yanks and the A’s in the AL side of the playoffs, in 5 games. The Cards 83 wins was the lowest win total by a World Series winner. The 87 Twins were 2nd with 85.
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