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Bucky predicts an upset
and actually gets it right!
By BUCKY FOX
of TheColumnists.com
What’s more exhilarating than a sports upset?
When you pick it.
Consider Joe Namath. Sure, he engineered the Jets’ stunner over the Colts in the 1969 Super Bowl. But what made him a superstar was his pre-game guarantee.
Or Muhammad Ali. No question he displayed towering skill while shocking Sonny Liston in their 1964 title fight. But what woke the masses to The Greatest was Ali’s pre-bout prediction.
Utter confidence. That’s what Namath and Ali bared.
And guts. While Namath and Ali bellowed before the show, they withstood belittling from the press and fans. Beat the mighty Colts? Stop the Bear of a champ in Liston? Anyone promising such nonsense had to be nuts. Then Broadway Joe and Cassius Clay (Ali’s name at the time) produced at nut-cuttin’ time.
I know the feeling, even it was from the cheap seats.
Last week I called the improbable: UCLA over USC. The baby-blue boys over the dynastic Trojans. A college football result that only the fringe saw coming.
How contrary was this UCLA idea? ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit waved it off. Sports talk radio laughed it off. The only regular L.A. media guy who skipped the broken record was Vic The Brick. He boasted rare sanity by swearing the Bruins would hurdle the two-TD spread. Otherwise, the rush to judge USC the winner drove me crazy.
So the night before kickoff I took to the air. Called “Sports Overnight America,” a Sirius radio show that you can also hear on SportsByline.com. The co-hosts are a couple of veteran L.A. sports dudes, Fred Wallin and John Woolard, who doubles as my newspaper colleague.
How did the conversation go?
Here’s the short version:
The show: “Hello, Bucky.”
Me: “UCLA will win and Florida will take the national championship.”
The show: “Are you on drugs?”
OK, Wallin and Woolard were more civil than that. Still, the message was clear: USC would win. The Trojans would play in the national title game Jan. 8 against Ohio State. Keep to the script.
Reminded me of the World Series. Most fans figured Detroit would breeze. One night during Game 3 I entered the locker room at my gym and blared, “St. Louis in five.” You’d have thought I pulled a Michael Richards standup. The guys beaned me with scorn.
That turned out to be one of my rare right predictions. The Cardinals did win in five. Just like UCLA blocked the ridicule and tackled USC 13-9 on Dec. 2.
Thus ended USC’s streak of seven straight years upending UCLA. The coolest cross-town rivalry in sports had maybe its hottest upset.
Throw in the national title theme, and it might rank as one of the top shocks in college history.
I didn’t call any of these, but here are my favorites:
* Notre Dame over Ohio State in 1935. The Buckeyes were a lock for the national title. They were at home. They led 13-12 and had the ball with seconds left. The Irish somehow won 18-13 to establish their miracle mark. My dad promised never to bet against Dame again.
* Notre Dame over Oklahoma in 1957. The Sooners weren’t losing. They had a record 47-game winning streak. They owned the past two national titles. They were a home. The Irish did it again, this time by a 7-0 count.
* Michigan over Ohio State in 1969. Woody Hayes’ Buckeyes owned 22 straight victories and were cruising to a second straight national title. First-year Michigan coach Bo Schembechler ruined all that with a 24-12 triumph in Ann Arbor. A great rivalry was born.
* Missouri over Notre Dame in 1972. Only Mizzou fans revel in this one. Our Tigers came off a 62-0 loss at Nebraska and had zero chance to beat the No. 8 Irish. Zero? Try 35 points, the spread. So what? Mizzou trudged through muddy Notre Dame Stadium and won 30-26.
* UTEP over BYU in 1985. Every fan knows about Texas Western’s basketball title shockeroo of 1966. After the school was renamed Texas El Paso, the Miners produced their football version of “Glory Road.” They were maybe the country’s worst team in '85. They faced reigning national champ and 36-point favorite Brigham Young in west Texas. UTEP came through 23-16, the Miners’ only victory in a 1-10 season.
A few lonely folks had the gall to call
those upsets. And laugh about them.
©2006 by Bucky Fox. The illustration is from IMSI's Master
Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506,
USA. This column first posted Dec. 4, 2006.
You can visit Bucky
Fox's website at www.BuckyFox.com
You
can comment on this column online. Please address your message
to either "The Editors" or Bucky Fox. To send an email,
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