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Zeruphantom -> Dark Horses (5/3/2016 0:50:42)
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Arguably the greatest underdog story of this generation happened in sports today - some may disagree, but I can assure you the majority of people who follow football/soccer will wholeheartedly agree; Leicester City, a relatively small and modest team from England, a team who had entered bankruptcy seven years ago and only just escaped from relegation last season in the Premier League, have defied the 5000-1 odds and actually won the Premier League trophy. Very convincingly too, I must say, only losing an incredible THREE games this season.
To put this into perspective, experts concluded that there was a better chance of:
Kim Kardashian being elected President of the United States (2000-1)
The Loch Ness monster being discovered (500-1)
Piers Morgan as Arsenal manager (2,500-1)
Confirmation of Elvis Presley being alive (2000-1)
So what makes this even more special? Surely, if any team can put their mind to it, they can go far in the Premier League?
Think of it this way. Prior to today, the last time Leicester City won any notable trophy was the Capital One Cup back in 2000. That alone may sound quite good but the Capital One Cup really isn't anything to be excited about. Ever since the installment of the Premier League back in 1992, the trophy has been seasonally shared around by 5 clubs; Manchester United (13 trophies), Chelsea FC (4 trophies), Arsenal FC (3 trophies), Manchester City (2 trophies) and Blackburn Rovers (1 trophy, and arguably the only team that can be compared to Leicester City in terms of sheer club size). Week in week out, minuscule teams like Leicester City consistently have to compete with some of the biggest clubs in Europe - clubs that have individual players worth more than the entire Leicester City team, whose player of the season Riyad Mahrez only cost 400,000 euros, compared to Manchester City's 50 million for Raheem Sterling. The only other team in this season's Premier League who have convincingly challenged for the title are Tottenham Hotspur, who on paper arguably have the much better caliber of players and have also been a consistent Top 8 team for a long time now, compared to Leicester City who are usually way further down the table. Most football experts agree that this is the most extraordinary Premier League season season ever witnessed. Perhaps across any sport too.
With all this being said, I'm quite interested to know about other underdog stories. This is not completely linked to sports. Underdog stories can exist anywhere; one from 500 years ago, in your local community, on a TV show or film that you really enjoyed, in a book, or perhaps you even have your own. Would be cool to learn about other dark horses.
If anybody here follows football or any sport at all, I'd be interested to hear what you think about Leicester City achieving this impossible dream [:D]
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