July 15, 2025 • 35 mins
In this episode of the Huddle Within Podcast we go through 8 of the most remarkable underdog stories in sports history, discussing the significance of these narratives and their impact on fans and athletes alike. From the Western Bulldogs' unexpected victory in the 2016 AFL Grand Final to Leicester City's astonishing Premier League win, each story highlights the resilience and determination of teams and individuals who defy the odds.
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Underdog Stories
05:07 Western Bulldogs' 2016 Grand Final Victory
09:14 Cavaliers 3-1 Comback in the 2016 NBA Finals
15:08 Greece's 2004 Euro Championship Win
17:54 Sri Lanka 1996 Cricket World Cup Win
19:51 Muhammad Ali's Rumble in the Jungle
21:46 The Miracle on Ice
24:18 Japan's Historic Rugby World Cup Upset
27:08 Leicester City's 2015/16 Premier League triumph
32:21 Conclusion and Reflection on Underdog Stories
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Huddle Within podcast, where we go beyond the
surface to uncover the real impact of sports on our lives.
Whether it's lessons of resilience, the passion that
fuels us, or the stories that connect us all, This is where
the game gets personal. I am Daniel, a regular sports
fan just like you, and together we'll explore what sports truly
means beyond the surface. So step right into the Huddle
and let's get into it. What is going on, everybody?
(00:40):
And welcome to another episode of The Huddle Within podcast.
Thank you very much for tuning in to another episode.
If you do like this episode, be sure to subscribe wherever you
get your podcasts and if you canalso leave a five star review,
that would help big time for people that see sports just the
way that you do to have exposureto this podcast as well.
(01:03):
Today what we're going to be talking about is a few underdog
stories. And me personally, I love myself
a good underdog story. So today we're going to be
covering 8 of probably my opinions and the subjective view
of a lot of people's opinions onthe best underdog stories in the
(01:29):
history of sport as well. So a lot of different sports to
cover here, but the sports that I know and love and the sports
that majority of you know and love are involved in this list
as well. There's a few biases here, you
understand when I kind of cover it, but it just gives me an
opportunity to talk about a variety of different sports as
(01:51):
well. But I think the first thing I'd
love to talk about is just the the meaning of an underdog.
So for those that pretty much don't know what an underdog is,
I think most of yous would do isthe sporting team or sporting
athlete or individual that is perceived as the non favourite
(02:13):
going into the competition. The fight if it's a fighting
competition, basically all sporting competitions or even in
other competitions as well. They're not likely to be the the
chosen 1 to compete and to win in these sort of matches and
tournaments. But they are rooted for the most
(02:34):
because of the fact that they could possibly get the victory,
but it would come out of sheer chance and maybe a lot of luck
or rocking up on that particularday and just surprising the
world. And the reason why the underdog
kind of phrase came out so, so vividly is because people adhere
(02:57):
to that and they love the using the word underdog, but also
rooting for their underdog as well.
And I think kind of the reason why people love the underdog is
because it sort of gives everyone a sense of hope that if
you really put your work into something, you can achieve that.
(03:17):
And in our lives, there can be times where we're seen as
underdogs going through our everyday lives, trying to kind
of always compete with the person ahead of us, whether it's
in our careers, whether it's in our local sports as well.
And having that kind of underdogmentality gives you that extra
motivation to to really relate to these guys as well.
(03:39):
Because if they're able to go out there, perform and compete
despite the odds against them, then we can have the confidence
to feel the same or you can individually have the confidence
to feel the same. Me personally, I've always loved
underdogs and I've always been fascinated by a very good
underdog story. So really honestly excited to
cover all these underdog storiesthere.
(04:00):
But for me, just looking at underdog stories are simply
inspiring. You can see the hard work that
goes into it and just that surprise factor just gives you
that kind of wow moment. And it also just restores what
sport is. And I've mentioned this
previously, that we embrace imperfections and seen in a bad
(04:21):
way, seeing teams that are supposed to win, not win because
a team out of nowhere have come and surprised everyone.
And that's just something truly amazing to me personally.
So we're going to cover the stories now.
We're going to rank them down from 8 to 1.
And these are my opinions in thecomments.
Again, feel free to interact onto the podcast wherever you do
(04:41):
get your podcasts and kind of give me your sort of order.
Or if there's any underdog stories that I've missed, please
put them down in the comments and let me know your kind of
mindset and thought behind that as well.
But starting off, we're going togo with #8 and it's going to
start with AFL, Australian rulesfootball, and that's going to be
(05:02):
the Western Bulldogs winning the2016 Grand Final.
So for context, the Bulldogs, Western Bulldogs are located in
the western suburbs in Melbourne, Vic, which
technically is my local area. I go for Collingwood.
I'm pointing the wrong way. I go for Collingwood but the
Bulldogs are actually the local team in in my area and they
(05:26):
actually haven't won at the timea grand final for 62 years.
The last time they won it was in1958.
They finished 7th on the ladder and no one really gave them a
chance. They managed to defeat Hawthorne
in the first kind of eliminationfinal and off the back of that
Hawthorne won their last kind ofthree premierships.
(05:48):
So that's when they started to sort of get noise when it was
when they defeated Hawthorne, but there were only 6 on the
table. So Hawthorne weren't like a top
four or a top two team at the time.
They then got into the preliminary final.
So in AFL, there's the preliminary final is basically
the semi final, but for some reason they've changed it to the
preliminary final. They had the chance to verse GWS
(06:12):
in a preliminary final and this ultimately would have got them
to the grand final. They were actually playing the
GWS Giants at their away ground.So in Sydney, hostile
conditions, terrible ground for those that are big AFL fans and
not many supporters. They're obviously a lot of
travelling Bulldog supporters, but in general not a big support
(06:35):
base there, but a terrible ground.
They ended up getting the victory there by I think 7
points from memory was such a close thriller match, but that
put them in place to win the grand final, to potentially be
in the grand final and they werecoming up against a very strong
Sydney team. Now what I will say, although
(06:55):
Sydney were the clear favouritesto win the grand final, the
Bulldogs were at a bit of an advantage when it came to going
to the grand final. But the reason why I still say
they are the underdogs is because they came from a 7th
place position. And in AFL it's extremely hard
to get far into finals if you are 7th place, especially
because the top 4 have a second chance if they do lose their
(07:18):
first match. So going through that, all your
games are pretty much away from home.
The only time they managed to really have a home grand final
quote UN quote was the grand final because of the fact that
it was hosted in Melbourne at the MCG.
However, I will say the Bulldogsdo play in another stadium just
up the road called Marvel now. But at the time I'm pretty sure
(07:40):
it was Eddie had stadium. Nevertheless, they obviously had
the fans. They didn't have to travel
unlike Sydney, but they were still the the least favourite
going in Sydney were commanding that year.
They had Buddy Franklin who was simply unstoppable as a forward
player in his sort of going towards the end of his prime,
but still at his prime in that moment.
And they ended up winning the match and ultimately breaking
(08:02):
down that 62 year grand final streak which was quite
spectacular. And that was probably the first
time as an AFL watcher and a Collingwood supporter that I was
really gravitating towards another team and I never
gravitated towards another team than the Western Bulldogs.
And I was so happy they won the grand final.
(08:24):
I was with two of my friends that were Bulldog supporters.
They were extremely happy and over the moon.
It just felt very, very positiveand there was some really good
energy in the room and I was extremely happy for for the
Bulldogs fans as well, 'cause I could imagine waiting 62 years,
imagine you were 62 or 70 or 80 years old waiting that long for
(08:45):
a grand final and finally happened is, is simply amazing.
And it's such a a very big underdog story, especially the
fact that as I mentioned, there were 7th and they also were
strive 62 years of of winning a grand final.
So that's placed in eighth position.
Only reason is because it hasn'tgot the worldwide coverage, but
(09:06):
had to fit an AFL story in therebecause this one is probably a
really, really powerful one. The next one is the Cavaliers
versus Warriors finals 2016 NBA Finals.
Now the reason why this one isn't so as high as others is
because the Cleveland Cavaliers did finish first in their
(09:27):
conference. However, they were down 31 to a
73 win nine loss Golden State team, which mind you for
everyone's reference is the NBA record for the best ever season.
So Golden State was that team. They already won 1 championship
the year before. They had Steph Curry who was a
(09:49):
back to back MVP, they had Klay Thompson and Draymond Green all
in their primes. Their team was virtually
unstoppable only losing 9 games.And they were up against a
pretty strong Cavs team with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving as
well as Kevin Love, but were realistically no match for this
Golden State Warriors team. And it went to a point where
(10:12):
they were actually down three games to one.
For those that haven't supportedNBA, sorry for NBA supporters
that have but just need to breakdown the context for for
people that don't support it. The best team though?
The first team to win four gamesultimately wins the NBA
championship. And because Golden State were
ranked higher than Cleveland, I'm not going to go into a full
(10:34):
breakdown of the rest, but basically to the Finals, Golden
State was seeded higher than theCleveland Cavaliers.
That meant that Golden State would have 4 home games or the
Cleveland Cavaliers would have 3.
So if you do the math, two home games in Golden State and two
home games in Cleveland Cavaliers.
That's four games played. The score is 31.
(10:56):
Golden State Warriors are three one down.
So after the two games in Cleveland's match or Cleveland's
home field, the 5th game was actually located in Golden
State's home ground homecourt. So essentially what that meant
was for everyone, and I do remember watching this in high
school at lunchtime for everyoneincluding myself.
(11:18):
This was basically the coronation game for the Golden
State Warriors playing in their home floor in front of all their
passionate fans. 73 and 9, so only losing 9 games throughout
the whole season. It was pretty much a write up
for the Cleveland Cavaliers, butthe power of LeBron James and
Kyrie Irving came down in full force, both players dropping 40
(11:41):
points. I'm pretty sure it was both of
them in that game, which is kindof I think one of the biggest
playoff records in the Finals. And they won Game 5 still being
32 down. The Warriors still had another
opportunity to close the series and win the championship on the
Cavaliers floor, and they did that in the previous year when
(12:02):
they won their first championship against Cleveland.
So people were still kind of rooting for Golden State to win.
They thought this was an anomalyand there were only one win away
still while still having a three, two advantage.
What happened then was that Cleveland ended up winning on
their home floor, which was probably expected at the time,
but people were still optimisticgiven the fact that surely the
(12:25):
Cleveland Cavaliers wouldn't be able to go back to back in
Warriors home floor and win another game there.
So going into Game 7, the Warriors were seen as the
massive favourites and if you watch the fourth quarter of
that, I encourage everyone to dothat.
Those that are not sporting fansof basketball, you must watch
(12:46):
that fourth quarter. Essentially, the game was pretty
much in the balance in Game 7 and there was some just
unbelievable magic moments in that game.
The block on Iguodala, in the inthe stadium, in the Warriors
stadium, pretty much silent, thewhole crowd.
That was an opportunity for Warriors to take a bit of a lead
going forward. And everyone talks about that
(13:09):
legacy block. But we can't forget the most
underrated moment in possibly NBas Finals history when Kyrie
Irving had the ball with less than a minute to go in an ISO
situation, hit a massive 2 pointer shot over Steph Curry to
take the lead and they won. And it was the most craziest
(13:30):
underdog story we've ever seen in possibly NBA Finals history.
Now, as mentioned from the startof this, it doesn't go higher
only because Cleveland Cavalierswas still a very good team.
But if you if given the situation, going 31 down to the
greatest regular season team of all time, the team that won the
championship last year and having the big, the brains and
(13:53):
the and like the confidence to come out and take a Game 5 in
your in your away from home, take a game six at home and then
take another away floor game. It was massive.
And what it meant to the the city of Cleveland was even
bigger because the fact that LeBron James was drafted, born
and raised in Akron, OH, which is obviously Ohio as the state
(14:13):
of of Cleveland. He came back from his super team
Miami to to try bring a championship home to his city.
And the fact that he did it in this manner really cemented his
legacy as one of the greatest place to ever play basketball.
And whether you love him or hatehim, I still think Jordan is the
best. But I have to respect what
LeBron has done here and what he's done in his whole career to
(14:35):
do that and to also do it while you're 31 down on the opposition
floor and producing that game saving block is just simply
incredible. And that stuff we live for in
sports. And that was such a massive
pivotal moment in basketball andwas a massive pivotal moment in
LeBron James's career and also Cleveland Cavaliers franchise
(14:58):
history as well. So for that alone, that's why
that's going to be #7 on our underdog list now, going on to
number six. We're moving on to football now.
So in 2004, this one is, is, is quite crazy.
I'm unfortunately, I was only 6 years old when it happened, but
(15:18):
going through kind of the, the history here, it's it's pretty
crazy. Greece winning the 2004 Euros.
For those that have a football knowledge and context, Greece
have no right to win any international comp, especially
World Cup and especially Europe.Reason being you have all the
(15:40):
European powerhouses, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain,
Portugal. Those are probably the six and
if I'm missing out anyone, I'm extremely sorry.
Croatia deserves a bit of creditthere, but I don't think they've
won a Euro so I will put them inconsideration.
But those six are the powerhouses of European
(16:00):
football. They tend to win most of the
euro trophies. They're normally the favourites.
And in this moment, Greece endedup defeating Portugal in the
final. And what made this more special,
and what people forget to realise is that the tournament
was hosted in Portugal itself. So going into the final, they
(16:22):
were obviously won not clear favourites given that they're
Greece. So verse in Greece, averse in
Portugal despite where the ground is.
Probably The only exception would be Greece because they
have the home advantage is an advantage to Portugal given that
they have a much better side. However, the fact that they
played in Lisbon made more of a reason for Portugal to win.
(16:47):
However, Greece won the game 21 in Lisbon, which is simply
incredible. The fact that they were able to
score two goals against Portugalaway from home and their defence
being very strong, very disciplined the whole game,
taking so much pressure from thePortuguese attack is just simply
(17:10):
one of the most incredible understog stories for the ages.
And I did mention they have no right ever being in the final.
They beat France and they beat Czech Republic as well, which
Czech Republic was a pretty solid team back in the day too.
And they beat Portugal in the final in Lisbon.
And it was crazy scenes here in Melbourne.
We have a massive Greek community here and the streets
(17:32):
went crazy, especially in that sort of eastern side of Oakley
as well. So an unbelievable story for
football, showing that if you really have discipline,
determination and grit, you can overcome all odds and that's
what Greece did in this one and it was quite simply incredible
there. We then move on to #5 and this
(17:55):
is 1 is pretty incredible as well.
It's Sri Lanka winning the 1996 Cricket World Cup and this one
is pretty crazy because no one really took them seriously.
They were the Co host but still seen as the minor ones.
They beat India in India, which is one of the hardest things to
do in cricket. For those that don't know,
(18:17):
playing in India is extremely difficult.
You've got the the terrain, you've got all the fans that are
crazy cricket fans, 100 thousands of them and managed to
beat them. And then they had Australia in
the final, who Australia was a master class there, but
essentially they won the cricketWorld Cup final.
And I kind of miss Sri Lanka. I remember Sri Lanka, it used to
(18:39):
be a powerhouse. I'm not sure what happened to
them now, but the fact that theywon the Cricket World Cup back
in 1996, despite being the Co host, despite India and
Australia who are massive cricket powerhouses, being
involved in this World Cup tournament is simply incredible.
So big credits to Sri Lanka there.
It was the start of a bit of a renaissance in there as well.
(19:03):
They were able to get in some new players such as Jay Wardner,
Sangakkara and good old Malinga as well, who are some incredible
Sri Lankan cricketers. But since then, as mentioned,
there unfortunately haven't beenable to to reach those heights
as they once did before. But best of luck and hopefully,
if they do win, Sunning will be another underdog story and maybe
(19:25):
another innocence in the future.Just want to take a real quick
second to just have a bit of a break on what we're talking
about. But if you do like the episode
so far, don't forget to leave a five star review and subscribe
wherever you get your podcasts. It would mean the world.
We have more obviously stuff as well on previous episodes if you
want to take a look at that as well.
But without further ado, let's get back into it.
(19:46):
All right, so #4 is and we're going to boxing now.
It's Muhammad Ali's Rumble in the Jungle, the greatest of all
time in boxing, proving it once again.
At 32 years old, he came up against George Foreman.
He was undefeated and just basically knocked out everyone
in front of him. Everyone said that Ali was done,
(20:07):
given that he was 30 years, 32 years old and way above his his
prime, but he ended up knocking Foreman out in the eighth round.
And it wasn't just a boxing win,it was a global moment of
identity for resilience. It wasn't a team story like all
these other teams, but it was possibly one of the most iconic
(20:28):
single performance underdog stories in history.
Now we know Muhammad Ali before that was probably the greatest
boxer of all time and still is in my opinion.
But this moment really cemented his legacy given that he was an
extreme underdog, being past hisprime, going up against a
knockout machine in George Foreman and still managing to
(20:49):
get the victory. And as far as I can remember off
the top of my head, I'm pretty sure the photo that everyone is
accustomed to and symbolises this fight.
So another amazing story to cover as well and something that
will probably happen in the future in terms of underdogs
coming in and winning fights. But this really changed the
(21:10):
landscape of boxing and cementeda legacy in a person that was
passed it apparently, but showing that he still was the
GOAT. So reason why it doesn't go
higher is because obviously it doesn't equate to the probably
the next two that I'm going to or the next three that I'm going
to talk about. However, the fact that it was
such a singles performance and people were writing him off
(21:31):
already still is valued of a underdog story.
And there it is. That's your 4th place in or my
4th place in terms of the underdog rankings.
Here at 3, we've got the Miracleon Ice.
So the Miracle on Ice is something simply incredible.
(21:52):
In the 19 80s US men hockey team, it was pretty much made of
college kids and they faced the Soviet Union who hadn't lost in
years. They were on a roll in the
Winter Olympics. The fact was that the the US
hockey team being made up of young college athletes going up
(22:14):
against professionals and especially professionals that
have been winning for so many years, made it such a big
underdog score. But what made this kind of more
tense was the political climate.We had the Cold War happening
between Russia and us, the E 1stWest powers that were occurring
at the time. And this was a big moment in in
(22:37):
sort of settling this political debate in form of sports, which
we don't like to bring politics into our games and we don't like
to bring those tensions. But what I do like about having
this kind of moment is that there is a place where you can
kind of dispute this in a non violent way.
And that's through sport. So I find that pretty powerful
(22:58):
that that's able to be done. Obviously, if the taunting and
the respect is provided on both sides, it makes things a lot
easier and a lot better. And that's what we hope for in a
human race. But this is a lot better than a
war happening, if I would say, even though they're still doing
it. I would much prefer all scores
to be settled in sports much rather than than people passing
(23:20):
away. But besides that, getting away
from the political stuff, this was one of the biggest miracles
ever. They ended up winning 4, three,
and it was just an incredible disbelief.
Like no one expected this. The fact that the fact that they
won despite having so many college athletes, despite having
(23:41):
a Russian powerhouse or a SovietUnion powerhouse that's built up
of more countries around Russia,and then being professionals is
extremely, extremely inspiring and shows that if you work hard,
if you're young, if you have that hunger.
And maybe they just came out andrepresented the States and they
really want to put the flag on their back and the whole nation
(24:02):
was behind them. The passion was there.
The fact that the Cold War was kind of at stake in this moment,
I think really gave us that extra oomph and that extra kind
of resilience and determination to go out and beat a powerhouse
Soviet Union side. So an incredible and incredible
story, and it will forever be named the Miracle on Ice and and
(24:23):
for great reason as well. So we're now down to the final
two and the second greatest underdog story in my opinion,
and I never thought I'd ever talk about rugby on this podcast
because I have no knowledge or any bar of it, is Japan beating
South Africa in the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
(24:45):
This one was pretty crazy. South Africa were two time
champions, physical giants and one of the most dominant teams
in rugby history. And Japan, they never had won a
World Cup match in 24 years before.
Actually looking at this, I actually never thought Japan had
a rugby team. So it's already crazy in
themselves. In terms of the betting odds,
(25:06):
they were at 80 to one odds. So in Australia pretty much
paying $80.00 to win this match,but pretty much this basically
unfolded in pure heart and history.
Japan refused to settle down fora draw and down by the final by
three in the final second, sorrythey had a penalty and what they
(25:27):
could have done was kick it to go for the tie.
But instead of doing that, they actually went for the try in
order to just make history and get a World Cup win, something
that they were striving for in 24 years.
And guess what? They got it.
They ended up winning 34 to 32. Tears, belief and instant
(25:49):
respect for the team that showedpure courage.
And why I've put it #2 is because this is just wasn't a
tip off UPSTAIR. It redefined how the world saw,
I guess, rugby nations such as Japan.
Historically for me, it didn't really repair anything.
When I saw it personally, it wasjust a massive surprise seeing
that Japan, who I never thought was a rugby team, be a
(26:12):
powerhouse of South Africa. And I knew South Africa was a
powerhouse because I've sort of followed a bit of the rugby
nations and I and I saw a bit ofa Murphy on Mandela and rugby
too. I can't even remember the name
of it. But I did know that South Africa
was a powerhouse and that Japan would have been pretty, pretty
low in terms of rugby. So the fact that they ended up
(26:32):
getting a victory here and how much it meant for them is pretty
crazy as well. And not sure if it did much for
Japanese rugby, but it's definitely something that I
think the nation would be talking about worldwide.
So I had to get in here as my #2ranked, given the the difference
in teams in terms of China, the strengths and weaknesses, just
(26:53):
edging out the Miracle on Ice only because of the fact that
America still have some pretty solid hockey players.
But still, that's still a miracle.
But this one is a massive miracle.
But we're going to get into the greatest underdog miracle story
of all time. And if you thought I'd forget
about this moment, then you clearly don't know me.
(27:15):
As a football head, as someone that loves the Premier League, I
could not go past Leicester Citywinning the Premier League in
2000 and 1516. And the reason why this is the
number one most common and greatest underdog story is
because this was probably the most consistent performance
(27:37):
across all the other sports thatI've mentioned.
The Bulldogs obviously ended up going to the end and winning the
grand final, but throughout the season they ended up finished
7th, finishing 7th. A lot of these other events and
sports have come through just one off performances, versing
teams. So obviously Greece in the in
the Euros is pretty solid. However, if you set up shop, if
(28:01):
you park the bus, you have a likelihood and a better chance
of getting the victory or at least getting towards penalty
shootouts and whatnot to get a win.
In tournament football it's quite different.
If you want to debate me on that, that's fine, but that's
what I think. The fact that Leicester City
were able to play 38 Premier League matches against both
teams home and away with the team that they had and win the
(28:25):
Premier League just shows pure consistency there.
Before that, they were on the verge of relegating to the
Second Division. They just came from the Second
Division the year before. There are teams like Manchester
City who blow their budgets, Manchester United, Arsenal,
Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, who are all massive foundational
(28:45):
clubs. And for those that don't know
about the Premier League or football as a whole, the way
that you win a Premier League orwin a trophy and be successful
in football is when you have chaching, cha ching money.
And these clubs had so much money built throughout the
years. This wasn't a cup run.
As mentioned, it wasn't a fluke.They won 38 games of football
(29:06):
and the fact that you've won 38 games of football, just all not
won all 38 games. They played 38 games of
football. Sorry, getting the passion away
from me. The fact that they played 38
games of football and was able to get the most points in
comparison to everyone else really shows that they were
truly the best team that season.For context, they were ranked
(29:29):
probably the worst and were the favourites to relegate along
with two other teams and their betting odds were 5000 to 1.
So if you put one single dollar on Leicester City to win the
Premier League, you would have won five grand which was crazy.
They had no stars at the time. They were built and became stars
(29:52):
and people realised that and that was re admirers Jamie Vardy
and Goloconte. But these guys were extreme
misfits and Goloconte 4 years before that was playing in low
level French division and was working as a cleaner.
Yeah there's photos of him literally picking up garbage in
France. Jamie Vardy was playing non
league football so he wasn't even a professional footballer
(30:14):
three to five years before he came to Leicester.
And Riad Mirez was just a randompickup signing Algerian winger
who no one knew about either. And these three kind of headed
the team. But the person that really got
this team going was their manager Claudio Ranieri.
He was someone that believed in the squad and gave everything
(30:34):
and the squad just had so much belief and the fact that they
were able to just be this consistent in the greatest
league in football history or and currently the greatest
league in the world is just simply incredible.
And you can't fathom, like I can't even describe to you how
hard it is to win a Premier League in general when you have
(30:57):
teams, as I mentioned, they're competing for it, yet alone a
team that was borderline relegating, a team that had no
stars, a team that was just how did the blue randomly winning
the league? And I just think, imagine being
a Leicester City fan and experiencing that moment.
That would have been the greatest moment of a sporting
(31:17):
moment for for a fan ever. Like you can't actually get
better than that. And that's why it's clear as
day. Number one, there is literally
you cannot argue with me and I'mtrying to make debates and we go
through the deeper meaning. You cannot argue with me on this
one being the number one. The fact that, as I mentioned,
the consistency, the fact that they were able to do it over a
(31:40):
38 game span is simply incredible.
And you know what that takes, that takes unity, that takes
discipline, that takes like resilience and all those things
to be able to do that. And they won the Champions
League. I mean, not the Champions
League. They got to the quarterfinals of
the Champions League. And they also won an FA Cup a
few years later. But they won the Premier League.
(32:02):
And the Premier League is one ofthe hardest leagues to win.
And they did it at 5000 to one odds.
And that is why Leicester City is the greatest underdog story
of all time, coming in at #1. So I do want to reiterate my
order. It is Leicester Cities coming in
at #1 and #2 We've got the WorldCup rugby upset, Japan beating
(32:27):
South Africa on the last play. We've got the Miracle on Ice USA
as US as college team beating the powerhouse of the Soviet
Unions. We've got the Rumble in the
Jungle with Muhammad Ali gettingthe victory there.
We've got Sri Lanka's 2019, 96 World Cup victory over
Australia. We've got Greece as 2004 win
(32:48):
away from home against Portugal,we've got the Cavaliers 31
comeback against the Golden State Warriors, and we top it
off at the end at the start withBulldogs winning the 2016 grand
final. And just to kind of wrap that
up, those underdog moments are simply incredible.
I do expect more underdog stories in the future and I
(33:09):
really hope that it will be the case because it'll be great to
once again cover those in the future as well.
And hopefully that does happen. But you can see how big and how
how amazing underdog stories are, especially when the
situations are so daft and like these are not just a team was
better than another team. These were just teams that were
(33:30):
simply miles clear and extremelyexpected to win better than the
teams that ended up winning and the individuals if we can,
Muhammad Ali. But anyway, what do you guys
think of the list? I'd love to know.
Leave comments down below if youwant to reshuffle the rankings
if you'd like that. As I mentioned at the start of
the episode, if you have any other underdog stories that I
(33:52):
haven't covered, feel free to address that in the comments and
discuss that with me if you don't agree with my decisions.
I'm open to understanding and debating as to why that's the
case as well if you truly like. But overall, this has been my
top 8 most underdog stories in sporting history.
So thank you very much for tuning in.
(34:13):
And once again, I'm going to sayit.
If you did like the episode, be sure to leave a five star
review. You also check out our episodes
that I have on my podcast as well.
Wherever you do get your podcastand be sure to subscribe as well
wherever you get your podcasts too.
I also got YouTube as well if you guys prefer to watch it on a
bigger screen with better quality.
I know Spotify doesn't have the best quality on video.
(34:35):
You can do that on YouTube as well.
So feel free to check that out too and follow me on my social
medias as well, which will be LinkedIn the description.
That way you can have a look andinteract with me on some reels I
do. I also have things like
emergency huddle or I breakdown the latest Sporting News.
I also have a bit of other content pillars that I'm looking
at as well. So be sure to check those out as
(34:57):
well. But anyway, it's been your boy
Daniel from The Huddle Within. Thank you very much for tuning
in, and I'll catch you guys on the next one.
Cheers. So that's a wrap for this week's
episode of the Huddle Within podcast.
I appreciate you for tuning in and being part of this community
where we go beyond the game and into what really matters.
If this episode resonated with you, make sure to subscribe,
leave a review, and share it with someone who sees sports
(35:19):
just the way that we do. And hey, I'd love to hear from
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even be part of a future episode.
Until next time, keep that passion alive, stay in the
huddle, and remember it's alwaysdeeper than the game.
Cheers.
Welcome to the Huddle Within podcast, where we go beyond the
surface to uncover the real impact of sports on our lives.
Whether it's lessons of resilience, the passion that
fuels us, or the stories that connect us all, This is where
the game gets personal. I am Daniel, a regular sports
fan just like you, and together we'll explore what sports truly
means beyond the surface. So step right into the Huddle
and let's get into it. What is going on, everybody?
(00:40):
And welcome to another episode of The Huddle Within podcast.
Thank you very much for tuning in to another episode.
If you do like this episode, be sure to subscribe wherever you
get your podcasts and if you canalso leave a five star review,
that would help big time for people that see sports just the
way that you do to have exposureto this podcast as well.
(01:03):
Today what we're going to be talking about is a few underdog
stories. And me personally, I love myself
a good underdog story. So today we're going to be
covering 8 of probably my opinions and the subjective view
of a lot of people's opinions onthe best underdog stories in the
(01:29):
history of sport as well. So a lot of different sports to
cover here, but the sports that I know and love and the sports
that majority of you know and love are involved in this list
as well. There's a few biases here, you
understand when I kind of cover it, but it just gives me an
opportunity to talk about a variety of different sports as
(01:51):
well. But I think the first thing I'd
love to talk about is just the the meaning of an underdog.
So for those that pretty much don't know what an underdog is,
I think most of yous would do isthe sporting team or sporting
athlete or individual that is perceived as the non favourite
(02:13):
going into the competition. The fight if it's a fighting
competition, basically all sporting competitions or even in
other competitions as well. They're not likely to be the the
chosen 1 to compete and to win in these sort of matches and
tournaments. But they are rooted for the most
(02:34):
because of the fact that they could possibly get the victory,
but it would come out of sheer chance and maybe a lot of luck
or rocking up on that particularday and just surprising the
world. And the reason why the underdog
kind of phrase came out so, so vividly is because people adhere
(02:57):
to that and they love the using the word underdog, but also
rooting for their underdog as well.
And I think kind of the reason why people love the underdog is
because it sort of gives everyone a sense of hope that if
you really put your work into something, you can achieve that.
(03:17):
And in our lives, there can be times where we're seen as
underdogs going through our everyday lives, trying to kind
of always compete with the person ahead of us, whether it's
in our careers, whether it's in our local sports as well.
And having that kind of underdogmentality gives you that extra
motivation to to really relate to these guys as well.
(03:39):
Because if they're able to go out there, perform and compete
despite the odds against them, then we can have the confidence
to feel the same or you can individually have the confidence
to feel the same. Me personally, I've always loved
underdogs and I've always been fascinated by a very good
underdog story. So really honestly excited to
cover all these underdog storiesthere.
(04:00):
But for me, just looking at underdog stories are simply
inspiring. You can see the hard work that
goes into it and just that surprise factor just gives you
that kind of wow moment. And it also just restores what
sport is. And I've mentioned this
previously, that we embrace imperfections and seen in a bad
(04:21):
way, seeing teams that are supposed to win, not win because
a team out of nowhere have come and surprised everyone.
And that's just something truly amazing to me personally.
So we're going to cover the stories now.
We're going to rank them down from 8 to 1.
And these are my opinions in thecomments.
Again, feel free to interact onto the podcast wherever you do
(04:41):
get your podcasts and kind of give me your sort of order.
Or if there's any underdog stories that I've missed, please
put them down in the comments and let me know your kind of
mindset and thought behind that as well.
But starting off, we're going togo with #8 and it's going to
start with AFL, Australian rulesfootball, and that's going to be
(05:02):
the Western Bulldogs winning the2016 Grand Final.
So for context, the Bulldogs, Western Bulldogs are located in
the western suburbs in Melbourne, Vic, which
technically is my local area. I go for Collingwood.
I'm pointing the wrong way. I go for Collingwood but the
Bulldogs are actually the local team in in my area and they
(05:26):
actually haven't won at the timea grand final for 62 years.
The last time they won it was in1958.
They finished 7th on the ladder and no one really gave them a
chance. They managed to defeat Hawthorne
in the first kind of eliminationfinal and off the back of that
Hawthorne won their last kind ofthree premierships.
(05:48):
So that's when they started to sort of get noise when it was
when they defeated Hawthorne, but there were only 6 on the
table. So Hawthorne weren't like a top
four or a top two team at the time.
They then got into the preliminary final.
So in AFL, there's the preliminary final is basically
the semi final, but for some reason they've changed it to the
preliminary final. They had the chance to verse GWS
(06:12):
in a preliminary final and this ultimately would have got them
to the grand final. They were actually playing the
GWS Giants at their away ground.So in Sydney, hostile
conditions, terrible ground for those that are big AFL fans and
not many supporters. They're obviously a lot of
travelling Bulldog supporters, but in general not a big support
(06:35):
base there, but a terrible ground.
They ended up getting the victory there by I think 7
points from memory was such a close thriller match, but that
put them in place to win the grand final, to potentially be
in the grand final and they werecoming up against a very strong
Sydney team. Now what I will say, although
(06:55):
Sydney were the clear favouritesto win the grand final, the
Bulldogs were at a bit of an advantage when it came to going
to the grand final. But the reason why I still say
they are the underdogs is because they came from a 7th
place position. And in AFL it's extremely hard
to get far into finals if you are 7th place, especially
because the top 4 have a second chance if they do lose their
(07:18):
first match. So going through that, all your
games are pretty much away from home.
The only time they managed to really have a home grand final
quote UN quote was the grand final because of the fact that
it was hosted in Melbourne at the MCG.
However, I will say the Bulldogsdo play in another stadium just
up the road called Marvel now. But at the time I'm pretty sure
(07:40):
it was Eddie had stadium. Nevertheless, they obviously had
the fans. They didn't have to travel
unlike Sydney, but they were still the the least favourite
going in Sydney were commanding that year.
They had Buddy Franklin who was simply unstoppable as a forward
player in his sort of going towards the end of his prime,
but still at his prime in that moment.
And they ended up winning the match and ultimately breaking
(08:02):
down that 62 year grand final streak which was quite
spectacular. And that was probably the first
time as an AFL watcher and a Collingwood supporter that I was
really gravitating towards another team and I never
gravitated towards another team than the Western Bulldogs.
And I was so happy they won the grand final.
(08:24):
I was with two of my friends that were Bulldog supporters.
They were extremely happy and over the moon.
It just felt very, very positiveand there was some really good
energy in the room and I was extremely happy for for the
Bulldogs fans as well, 'cause I could imagine waiting 62 years,
imagine you were 62 or 70 or 80 years old waiting that long for
(08:45):
a grand final and finally happened is, is simply amazing.
And it's such a a very big underdog story, especially the
fact that as I mentioned, there were 7th and they also were
strive 62 years of of winning a grand final.
So that's placed in eighth position.
Only reason is because it hasn'tgot the worldwide coverage, but
(09:06):
had to fit an AFL story in therebecause this one is probably a
really, really powerful one. The next one is the Cavaliers
versus Warriors finals 2016 NBA Finals.
Now the reason why this one isn't so as high as others is
because the Cleveland Cavaliers did finish first in their
(09:27):
conference. However, they were down 31 to a
73 win nine loss Golden State team, which mind you for
everyone's reference is the NBA record for the best ever season.
So Golden State was that team. They already won 1 championship
the year before. They had Steph Curry who was a
(09:49):
back to back MVP, they had Klay Thompson and Draymond Green all
in their primes. Their team was virtually
unstoppable only losing 9 games.And they were up against a
pretty strong Cavs team with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving as
well as Kevin Love, but were realistically no match for this
Golden State Warriors team. And it went to a point where
(10:12):
they were actually down three games to one.
For those that haven't supportedNBA, sorry for NBA supporters
that have but just need to breakdown the context for for
people that don't support it. The best team though?
The first team to win four gamesultimately wins the NBA
championship. And because Golden State were
ranked higher than Cleveland, I'm not going to go into a full
(10:34):
breakdown of the rest, but basically to the Finals, Golden
State was seeded higher than theCleveland Cavaliers.
That meant that Golden State would have 4 home games or the
Cleveland Cavaliers would have 3.
So if you do the math, two home games in Golden State and two
home games in Cleveland Cavaliers.
That's four games played. The score is 31.
(10:56):
Golden State Warriors are three one down.
So after the two games in Cleveland's match or Cleveland's
home field, the 5th game was actually located in Golden
State's home ground homecourt. So essentially what that meant
was for everyone, and I do remember watching this in high
school at lunchtime for everyoneincluding myself.
(11:18):
This was basically the coronation game for the Golden
State Warriors playing in their home floor in front of all their
passionate fans. 73 and 9, so only losing 9 games throughout
the whole season. It was pretty much a write up
for the Cleveland Cavaliers, butthe power of LeBron James and
Kyrie Irving came down in full force, both players dropping 40
(11:41):
points. I'm pretty sure it was both of
them in that game, which is kindof I think one of the biggest
playoff records in the Finals. And they won Game 5 still being
32 down. The Warriors still had another
opportunity to close the series and win the championship on the
Cavaliers floor, and they did that in the previous year when
(12:02):
they won their first championship against Cleveland.
So people were still kind of rooting for Golden State to win.
They thought this was an anomalyand there were only one win away
still while still having a three, two advantage.
What happened then was that Cleveland ended up winning on
their home floor, which was probably expected at the time,
but people were still optimisticgiven the fact that surely the
(12:25):
Cleveland Cavaliers wouldn't be able to go back to back in
Warriors home floor and win another game there.
So going into Game 7, the Warriors were seen as the
massive favourites and if you watch the fourth quarter of
that, I encourage everyone to dothat.
Those that are not sporting fansof basketball, you must watch
(12:46):
that fourth quarter. Essentially, the game was pretty
much in the balance in Game 7 and there was some just
unbelievable magic moments in that game.
The block on Iguodala, in the inthe stadium, in the Warriors
stadium, pretty much silent, thewhole crowd.
That was an opportunity for Warriors to take a bit of a lead
going forward. And everyone talks about that
(13:09):
legacy block. But we can't forget the most
underrated moment in possibly NBas Finals history when Kyrie
Irving had the ball with less than a minute to go in an ISO
situation, hit a massive 2 pointer shot over Steph Curry to
take the lead and they won. And it was the most craziest
(13:30):
underdog story we've ever seen in possibly NBA Finals history.
Now, as mentioned from the startof this, it doesn't go higher
only because Cleveland Cavalierswas still a very good team.
But if you if given the situation, going 31 down to the
greatest regular season team of all time, the team that won the
championship last year and having the big, the brains and
(13:53):
the and like the confidence to come out and take a Game 5 in
your in your away from home, take a game six at home and then
take another away floor game. It was massive.
And what it meant to the the city of Cleveland was even
bigger because the fact that LeBron James was drafted, born
and raised in Akron, OH, which is obviously Ohio as the state
(14:13):
of of Cleveland. He came back from his super team
Miami to to try bring a championship home to his city.
And the fact that he did it in this manner really cemented his
legacy as one of the greatest place to ever play basketball.
And whether you love him or hatehim, I still think Jordan is the
best. But I have to respect what
LeBron has done here and what he's done in his whole career to
(14:35):
do that and to also do it while you're 31 down on the opposition
floor and producing that game saving block is just simply
incredible. And that stuff we live for in
sports. And that was such a massive
pivotal moment in basketball andwas a massive pivotal moment in
LeBron James's career and also Cleveland Cavaliers franchise
(14:58):
history as well. So for that alone, that's why
that's going to be #7 on our underdog list now, going on to
number six. We're moving on to football now.
So in 2004, this one is, is, is quite crazy.
I'm unfortunately, I was only 6 years old when it happened, but
(15:18):
going through kind of the, the history here, it's it's pretty
crazy. Greece winning the 2004 Euros.
For those that have a football knowledge and context, Greece
have no right to win any international comp, especially
World Cup and especially Europe.Reason being you have all the
(15:40):
European powerhouses, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain,
Portugal. Those are probably the six and
if I'm missing out anyone, I'm extremely sorry.
Croatia deserves a bit of creditthere, but I don't think they've
won a Euro so I will put them inconsideration.
But those six are the powerhouses of European
(16:00):
football. They tend to win most of the
euro trophies. They're normally the favourites.
And in this moment, Greece endedup defeating Portugal in the
final. And what made this more special,
and what people forget to realise is that the tournament
was hosted in Portugal itself. So going into the final, they
(16:22):
were obviously won not clear favourites given that they're
Greece. So verse in Greece, averse in
Portugal despite where the ground is.
Probably The only exception would be Greece because they
have the home advantage is an advantage to Portugal given that
they have a much better side. However, the fact that they
played in Lisbon made more of a reason for Portugal to win.
(16:47):
However, Greece won the game 21 in Lisbon, which is simply
incredible. The fact that they were able to
score two goals against Portugalaway from home and their defence
being very strong, very disciplined the whole game,
taking so much pressure from thePortuguese attack is just simply
(17:10):
one of the most incredible understog stories for the ages.
And I did mention they have no right ever being in the final.
They beat France and they beat Czech Republic as well, which
Czech Republic was a pretty solid team back in the day too.
And they beat Portugal in the final in Lisbon.
And it was crazy scenes here in Melbourne.
We have a massive Greek community here and the streets
(17:32):
went crazy, especially in that sort of eastern side of Oakley
as well. So an unbelievable story for
football, showing that if you really have discipline,
determination and grit, you can overcome all odds and that's
what Greece did in this one and it was quite simply incredible
there. We then move on to #5 and this
(17:55):
is 1 is pretty incredible as well.
It's Sri Lanka winning the 1996 Cricket World Cup and this one
is pretty crazy because no one really took them seriously.
They were the Co host but still seen as the minor ones.
They beat India in India, which is one of the hardest things to
do in cricket. For those that don't know,
(18:17):
playing in India is extremely difficult.
You've got the the terrain, you've got all the fans that are
crazy cricket fans, 100 thousands of them and managed to
beat them. And then they had Australia in
the final, who Australia was a master class there, but
essentially they won the cricketWorld Cup final.
And I kind of miss Sri Lanka. I remember Sri Lanka, it used to
(18:39):
be a powerhouse. I'm not sure what happened to
them now, but the fact that theywon the Cricket World Cup back
in 1996, despite being the Co host, despite India and
Australia who are massive cricket powerhouses, being
involved in this World Cup tournament is simply incredible.
So big credits to Sri Lanka there.
It was the start of a bit of a renaissance in there as well.
(19:03):
They were able to get in some new players such as Jay Wardner,
Sangakkara and good old Malinga as well, who are some incredible
Sri Lankan cricketers. But since then, as mentioned,
there unfortunately haven't beenable to to reach those heights
as they once did before. But best of luck and hopefully,
if they do win, Sunning will be another underdog story and maybe
(19:25):
another innocence in the future.Just want to take a real quick
second to just have a bit of a break on what we're talking
about. But if you do like the episode
so far, don't forget to leave a five star review and subscribe
wherever you get your podcasts. It would mean the world.
We have more obviously stuff as well on previous episodes if you
want to take a look at that as well.
But without further ado, let's get back into it.
(19:46):
All right, so #4 is and we're going to boxing now.
It's Muhammad Ali's Rumble in the Jungle, the greatest of all
time in boxing, proving it once again.
At 32 years old, he came up against George Foreman.
He was undefeated and just basically knocked out everyone
in front of him. Everyone said that Ali was done,
(20:07):
given that he was 30 years, 32 years old and way above his his
prime, but he ended up knocking Foreman out in the eighth round.
And it wasn't just a boxing win,it was a global moment of
identity for resilience. It wasn't a team story like all
these other teams, but it was possibly one of the most iconic
(20:28):
single performance underdog stories in history.
Now we know Muhammad Ali before that was probably the greatest
boxer of all time and still is in my opinion.
But this moment really cemented his legacy given that he was an
extreme underdog, being past hisprime, going up against a
knockout machine in George Foreman and still managing to
(20:49):
get the victory. And as far as I can remember off
the top of my head, I'm pretty sure the photo that everyone is
accustomed to and symbolises this fight.
So another amazing story to cover as well and something that
will probably happen in the future in terms of underdogs
coming in and winning fights. But this really changed the
(21:10):
landscape of boxing and cementeda legacy in a person that was
passed it apparently, but showing that he still was the
GOAT. So reason why it doesn't go
higher is because obviously it doesn't equate to the probably
the next two that I'm going to or the next three that I'm going
to talk about. However, the fact that it was
such a singles performance and people were writing him off
(21:31):
already still is valued of a underdog story.
And there it is. That's your 4th place in or my
4th place in terms of the underdog rankings.
Here at 3, we've got the Miracleon Ice.
So the Miracle on Ice is something simply incredible.
(21:52):
In the 19 80s US men hockey team, it was pretty much made of
college kids and they faced the Soviet Union who hadn't lost in
years. They were on a roll in the
Winter Olympics. The fact was that the the US
hockey team being made up of young college athletes going up
(22:14):
against professionals and especially professionals that
have been winning for so many years, made it such a big
underdog score. But what made this kind of more
tense was the political climate.We had the Cold War happening
between Russia and us, the E 1stWest powers that were occurring
at the time. And this was a big moment in in
(22:37):
sort of settling this political debate in form of sports, which
we don't like to bring politics into our games and we don't like
to bring those tensions. But what I do like about having
this kind of moment is that there is a place where you can
kind of dispute this in a non violent way.
And that's through sport. So I find that pretty powerful
(22:58):
that that's able to be done. Obviously, if the taunting and
the respect is provided on both sides, it makes things a lot
easier and a lot better. And that's what we hope for in a
human race. But this is a lot better than a
war happening, if I would say, even though they're still doing
it. I would much prefer all scores
to be settled in sports much rather than than people passing
(23:20):
away. But besides that, getting away
from the political stuff, this was one of the biggest miracles
ever. They ended up winning 4, three,
and it was just an incredible disbelief.
Like no one expected this. The fact that the fact that they
won despite having so many college athletes, despite having
(23:41):
a Russian powerhouse or a SovietUnion powerhouse that's built up
of more countries around Russia,and then being professionals is
extremely, extremely inspiring and shows that if you work hard,
if you're young, if you have that hunger.
And maybe they just came out andrepresented the States and they
really want to put the flag on their back and the whole nation
(24:02):
was behind them. The passion was there.
The fact that the Cold War was kind of at stake in this moment,
I think really gave us that extra oomph and that extra kind
of resilience and determination to go out and beat a powerhouse
Soviet Union side. So an incredible and incredible
story, and it will forever be named the Miracle on Ice and and
(24:23):
for great reason as well. So we're now down to the final
two and the second greatest underdog story in my opinion,
and I never thought I'd ever talk about rugby on this podcast
because I have no knowledge or any bar of it, is Japan beating
South Africa in the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
(24:45):
This one was pretty crazy. South Africa were two time
champions, physical giants and one of the most dominant teams
in rugby history. And Japan, they never had won a
World Cup match in 24 years before.
Actually looking at this, I actually never thought Japan had
a rugby team. So it's already crazy in
themselves. In terms of the betting odds,
(25:06):
they were at 80 to one odds. So in Australia pretty much
paying $80.00 to win this match,but pretty much this basically
unfolded in pure heart and history.
Japan refused to settle down fora draw and down by the final by
three in the final second, sorrythey had a penalty and what they
(25:27):
could have done was kick it to go for the tie.
But instead of doing that, they actually went for the try in
order to just make history and get a World Cup win, something
that they were striving for in 24 years.
And guess what? They got it.
They ended up winning 34 to 32. Tears, belief and instant
(25:49):
respect for the team that showedpure courage.
And why I've put it #2 is because this is just wasn't a
tip off UPSTAIR. It redefined how the world saw,
I guess, rugby nations such as Japan.
Historically for me, it didn't really repair anything.
When I saw it personally, it wasjust a massive surprise seeing
that Japan, who I never thought was a rugby team, be a
(26:12):
powerhouse of South Africa. And I knew South Africa was a
powerhouse because I've sort of followed a bit of the rugby
nations and I and I saw a bit ofa Murphy on Mandela and rugby
too. I can't even remember the name
of it. But I did know that South Africa
was a powerhouse and that Japan would have been pretty, pretty
low in terms of rugby. So the fact that they ended up
(26:32):
getting a victory here and how much it meant for them is pretty
crazy as well. And not sure if it did much for
Japanese rugby, but it's definitely something that I
think the nation would be talking about worldwide.
So I had to get in here as my #2ranked, given the the difference
in teams in terms of China, the strengths and weaknesses, just
(26:53):
edging out the Miracle on Ice only because of the fact that
America still have some pretty solid hockey players.
But still, that's still a miracle.
But this one is a massive miracle.
But we're going to get into the greatest underdog miracle story
of all time. And if you thought I'd forget
about this moment, then you clearly don't know me.
(27:15):
As a football head, as someone that loves the Premier League, I
could not go past Leicester Citywinning the Premier League in
2000 and 1516. And the reason why this is the
number one most common and greatest underdog story is
because this was probably the most consistent performance
(27:37):
across all the other sports thatI've mentioned.
The Bulldogs obviously ended up going to the end and winning the
grand final, but throughout the season they ended up finished
7th, finishing 7th. A lot of these other events and
sports have come through just one off performances, versing
teams. So obviously Greece in the in
the Euros is pretty solid. However, if you set up shop, if
(28:01):
you park the bus, you have a likelihood and a better chance
of getting the victory or at least getting towards penalty
shootouts and whatnot to get a win.
In tournament football it's quite different.
If you want to debate me on that, that's fine, but that's
what I think. The fact that Leicester City
were able to play 38 Premier League matches against both
teams home and away with the team that they had and win the
(28:25):
Premier League just shows pure consistency there.
Before that, they were on the verge of relegating to the
Second Division. They just came from the Second
Division the year before. There are teams like Manchester
City who blow their budgets, Manchester United, Arsenal,
Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, who are all massive foundational
(28:45):
clubs. And for those that don't know
about the Premier League or football as a whole, the way
that you win a Premier League orwin a trophy and be successful
in football is when you have chaching, cha ching money.
And these clubs had so much money built throughout the
years. This wasn't a cup run.
As mentioned, it wasn't a fluke.They won 38 games of football
(29:06):
and the fact that you've won 38 games of football, just all not
won all 38 games. They played 38 games of
football. Sorry, getting the passion away
from me. The fact that they played 38
games of football and was able to get the most points in
comparison to everyone else really shows that they were
truly the best team that season.For context, they were ranked
(29:29):
probably the worst and were the favourites to relegate along
with two other teams and their betting odds were 5000 to 1.
So if you put one single dollar on Leicester City to win the
Premier League, you would have won five grand which was crazy.
They had no stars at the time. They were built and became stars
(29:52):
and people realised that and that was re admirers Jamie Vardy
and Goloconte. But these guys were extreme
misfits and Goloconte 4 years before that was playing in low
level French division and was working as a cleaner.
Yeah there's photos of him literally picking up garbage in
France. Jamie Vardy was playing non
league football so he wasn't even a professional footballer
(30:14):
three to five years before he came to Leicester.
And Riad Mirez was just a randompickup signing Algerian winger
who no one knew about either. And these three kind of headed
the team. But the person that really got
this team going was their manager Claudio Ranieri.
He was someone that believed in the squad and gave everything
(30:34):
and the squad just had so much belief and the fact that they
were able to just be this consistent in the greatest
league in football history or and currently the greatest
league in the world is just simply incredible.
And you can't fathom, like I can't even describe to you how
hard it is to win a Premier League in general when you have
(30:57):
teams, as I mentioned, they're competing for it, yet alone a
team that was borderline relegating, a team that had no
stars, a team that was just how did the blue randomly winning
the league? And I just think, imagine being
a Leicester City fan and experiencing that moment.
That would have been the greatest moment of a sporting
(31:17):
moment for for a fan ever. Like you can't actually get
better than that. And that's why it's clear as
day. Number one, there is literally
you cannot argue with me and I'mtrying to make debates and we go
through the deeper meaning. You cannot argue with me on this
one being the number one. The fact that, as I mentioned,
the consistency, the fact that they were able to do it over a
(31:40):
38 game span is simply incredible.
And you know what that takes, that takes unity, that takes
discipline, that takes like resilience and all those things
to be able to do that. And they won the Champions
League. I mean, not the Champions
League. They got to the quarterfinals of
the Champions League. And they also won an FA Cup a
few years later. But they won the Premier League.
(32:02):
And the Premier League is one ofthe hardest leagues to win.
And they did it at 5000 to one odds.
And that is why Leicester City is the greatest underdog story
of all time, coming in at #1. So I do want to reiterate my
order. It is Leicester Cities coming in
at #1 and #2 We've got the WorldCup rugby upset, Japan beating
(32:27):
South Africa on the last play. We've got the Miracle on Ice USA
as US as college team beating the powerhouse of the Soviet
Unions. We've got the Rumble in the
Jungle with Muhammad Ali gettingthe victory there.
We've got Sri Lanka's 2019, 96 World Cup victory over
Australia. We've got Greece as 2004 win
(32:48):
away from home against Portugal,we've got the Cavaliers 31
comeback against the Golden State Warriors, and we top it
off at the end at the start withBulldogs winning the 2016 grand
final. And just to kind of wrap that
up, those underdog moments are simply incredible.
I do expect more underdog stories in the future and I
(33:09):
really hope that it will be the case because it'll be great to
once again cover those in the future as well.
And hopefully that does happen. But you can see how big and how
how amazing underdog stories are, especially when the
situations are so daft and like these are not just a team was
better than another team. These were just teams that were
(33:30):
simply miles clear and extremelyexpected to win better than the
teams that ended up winning and the individuals if we can,
Muhammad Ali. But anyway, what do you guys
think of the list? I'd love to know.
Leave comments down below if youwant to reshuffle the rankings
if you'd like that. As I mentioned at the start of
the episode, if you have any other underdog stories that I
(33:52):
haven't covered, feel free to address that in the comments and
discuss that with me if you don't agree with my decisions.
I'm open to understanding and debating as to why that's the
case as well if you truly like. But overall, this has been my
top 8 most underdog stories in sporting history.
So thank you very much for tuning in.
(34:13):
And once again, I'm going to sayit.
If you did like the episode, be sure to leave a five star
review. You also check out our episodes
that I have on my podcast as well.
Wherever you do get your podcastand be sure to subscribe as well
wherever you get your podcasts too.
I also got YouTube as well if you guys prefer to watch it on a
bigger screen with better quality.
I know Spotify doesn't have the best quality on video.
(34:35):
You can do that on YouTube as well.
So feel free to check that out too and follow me on my social
medias as well, which will be LinkedIn the description.
That way you can have a look andinteract with me on some reels I
do. I also have things like
emergency huddle or I breakdown the latest Sporting News.
I also have a bit of other content pillars that I'm looking
at as well. So be sure to check those out as
(34:57):
well. But anyway, it's been your boy
Daniel from The Huddle Within. Thank you very much for tuning
in, and I'll catch you guys on the next one.
Cheers. So that's a wrap for this week's
episode of the Huddle Within podcast.
I appreciate you for tuning in and being part of this community
where we go beyond the game and into what really matters.
If this episode resonated with you, make sure to subscribe,
leave a review, and share it with someone who sees sports
(35:19):
just the way that we do. And hey, I'd love to hear from
you. Connect with me on my social
medias, which will be linked below, send in your thoughts and
even be part of a future episode.
Until next time, keep that passion alive, stay in the
huddle, and remember it's alwaysdeeper than the game.
Cheers.
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