Top Underrated Sports Moments/Teams/Athletes

[Robbie]

In light of the two active threads going on about most underrated Lions and most memorable sports moments, I will create another thread on what I think are the most underrated sports moments/teams/athletes.

When a particular team/athlete wins a championship, especially in international competition, then the biggest praise should come from those in their home country. Since I don’t live in Europe, Asia, Africa, or South America, then it wouldn’t be fair for me to make an accurate assessment on exactly how much praise the champion received from their home country/city. Therefore, I will make my list based on North American figures only. Because I grew up in Vancouver, Canada, then most of my assessments will be from what I observe when a Vancouver/Canadian athlete/team achieves a major milestone. In all cases, I will say that the said athlete/team doesn’t get nearly the amount of fame and recognition as I feel they deserve. The two American examples I will use involve my observations with American history.

#10. 1919 and 1975 Cincinnati Reds
The 1919 Cincinnati Reds World Series win will forever be overshadowed by the Black Sox scandal. But that’s not the only reason why I say they're underrated. The other reason is because everyone predicted an easy win for the White Sox had they not thrown the series, despite the fact that the Reds were by no means a bad team. At 96-44, the Red Sox had the better regular season record than the 88-52 White Sox. And then in 1975, while the Reds managed to win the World Series in seven games, that won’t be remembered nearly as much as when they lost game 6 to the Boston Red Sox on Carlton Fisk’s home run in the bottom of the 12th inning. The scene of Fisk waving the hit to be fair will forever mask any great plays made by Reds players in the series.

#9. 1982, 1986, 1997 UBC Thunderbirds
If there’s one sport where Canadians are so unpatriotic and apathetic compared to Americans, then Canadian college football would be the best case. Canadians seem much more interested in American college football teams and their annual BCS instead of their local college football teams and their Vanier Cup. In late 1982, I’m sure all the football talk in Vancouver was about “The Play” between Stanford and Cal. But instead, shouldn’t Vancouver be so proud that their local UBC Thunderbirds won their first Vanier Cup? The same goes when they won the Vanier Cup again in 1986 and 1997.

#8. Vancouver 86ers/Whitecaps
When soccer was revived in Canada again in 1987, the Vancouver 86ers became the powerhouse of the Canadian Soccer League, winning four straight CSL titles from 1988 to 1991 while establishing a record for unbeaten games from 1988-89. Their modern Whitecaps team won the 2006 USL Division 1 championship along with the women, but their fame in Vancouver certainly has a glass ceiling. On this board, it looks like I’ve been the only one praising the team after their 2006 championship.

#7. 2000 Vancouver Canadians
In the last year of their AAA existence, the Vancouver Canadians left with a bang by winning both the 1999 PCL championship and then the AAA championship. It looked like nobody tried to stop their move to Sacramento.

#6. BC Lions 1988, 2000, 2006 West Division Finals
There are some WDF’s that the Lions have played that get all the attention, and then there are those that are way too underappreciated. In the 1988 WDF, the Lions met the Eskimos in their invincible Commonwealth Stadium and in a very well-earned effort, came away with a 37-19 win with a fine performance in the fourth quarter. You all know about the 1994 WDF, but I’d say the 2000 WDF should be just as appreciated. The 8-10-1 Lions met the 12-5-1 Stampeders led by 2000 MOP Dickenson, and put on terrific performance that included 17 points in two minutes, 25 seconds in the second quarter on their way to a well-deserved 37-23 win. Finally, the 2006 WDF may still be fresh on your minds, but the reason I say that was underrated is because from my observations on this board, there seems to be only 1/10 of the discussion that has been made about the 2004 WDF.

#5. Canadian Olympic Medalists
Some Canadian medalists will forever be remembered as heroes, while some will soon be forgotten. It would be too numerous for me to list all the examples.

#4. Canadian Women Athletes
I’d say I’m correct in saying that in all countries, women athletes have much less fame and recognition than their male counterparts, and Canada is no exception. While certain Canadian athletes like Cindy Klassen has some recognition, she may not be remembered 30 years from now. In the other thread about most memorable sports moments, none of them involved plays women athletes. In the 2006 Winter Olympics, it was the Canadian women’s ice hockey team that managed to defend their gold medal while the men flopped out in the quarterfinals. So will the women players get much more fame than the men players? I think not.

#3. Grant Connell
Grant Connell becames the world’s number one doubles tennis player in November 1995. But I’d say I speak on behalf of all good doubles players when I say they don’t get nearly the same amount of fame and attention as singles players. It seems like the only doubles players who are well known are the well-established good singles players who occasionally engage in doubles competition. I’d say doubles players are definitely underrated because just like any team sport, in addition to great tennis skills, a good doubles player needs to establish good teamwork, cooperation, and chemistry with their partner and that adds an additional level of difficulty.

#2. Jacques Villeneuve
Canadian drivers have never been powerhouses when it came to auto racing. If a particular country has never had an athlete win a championship in a particular sport, and then suddenly one does, then it’s natural for that athlete to achieve instant fame in that country. I suppose if a Canadian tennis player won the Golden Slam all in one year like Stefi Graf for Germany in 1988, then they would get all the fame. In 1995, Jacques Villeneuve got the distinction of being the first ever Canadian to win the Indianapolis 500 and he also won the 1995 CART and 1997 Forumla One Championships. Yet, Villeneuve doesn’t seem to be getting all the praise and fame in Canada for someone who hold the such distinctions.

#1. 1960 U.S. Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey Team
Everybody knows about the 1980 U.S. Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey team and their Miracle on Ice story. But I really wonder why there has never been any media attention at all on America’s other men’s Olympic ice hockey gold medalists – the 1960 team. It looks like that underrated team has been completely overshadowed by the 1980 team. I dare say that unlike the 1980 team, most Americans cannot name the coach or any players from the 1960 squad. Why is that?

It looks like the 1960 gold medal team is a totally unsung squad that has been totally ignored and forgotten. I think they deserve more attention considering: 1) They were the FIRST U.S. ice hockey team to win an Olympic gold medal. 2) Like the 1980 team, they also won their gold medals in their home country as the 1960 Winter Games were held in Squaw Valley, California.

Would anybody like to share what they know about the 1960 Gold Medal ice hockey team? Did any of them go on to fine NHL careers? I assume some members from the team are now gone. I wonder if the surviving members are jealous over the fact that they don’t get any praise, recognition, and fame compared to their 1980 counterparts.

I’ll share this page that I found on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hockey ... r_Olympics

It looks like the team went a purrfect 7-0 in all the games they played to win the gold. Yet, why have they been completely forgotten and overshadowed?

[notahomer]

Good idea for a thread. Nothings jumping out at me (your suggestions have given a good idea of what you are looking for) but I'm thinking I can dredge up an 'aha' moment from somewhere.

[lion24]

I grew up in Edmonton in the 80's when the Oilers were in their big years and while the team was definitely not underrated there were some players that were and I think the biggest is still Glenn Anderson who should be in the Hall of Fame. I know some may disagree as he benefitted from having Kurri, Messier, Gretzky on his team but you can't argue with his career numbers and especially his playoff stats. Others from the Oilers dynasty years include Tikkanen, Fogolin, McSorley, Muni, MacT etc that were not the caliber of the stars but helped a great deal on those teams.

[Canuck_4_Life]

I'm not sure you consider a beatdown of the hated Riders as "underrated"

[Robbie]

I'm not sure you consider a beatdown of the hated Riders as "underrated"

Well, relatively speaking, I think underrated may still be a good word for the 2006 WDF if you compare it to the 2004 WDF. Or at least underappreciated. There's been 10x more talk about the 2004 WDF on this board compared to the 2006 WDF.

On another thread, someone mentioned that the 2004 WDF contained so many memorable moments, especially those pertaining to the Lions game-tying drive in the end of regulation, McCallum's FG miss, and O'Manony's FG. On the other hand, there's no real defining, memorable moment in the 2006 WDF.

[Lions_Fan_4_Life]

The 1999 Vancouver Canadians weren't underrated at all. In fact, they were overrated.

They left because no one was sitting their butts in the seats, and they had a 100 times better offer in Sacramento. Triple-A will be back here within 10 years, but the fact more people are - 9 years later - going to more local baseball games than in 1999 without a triple a team that was here 10 years ago proves that moving to Sacramento was the best thing for them to do.

With, or without a AAA championship.

[Dan Russell]

The 1999 Vancouver Canadians weren't underrated at all. In fact, they were overrated.

They left because no one was sitting their butts in the seats, and they had a 100 times better offer in Sacramento. Triple-A will be back here within 10 years, but the fact more people are - 9 years later - going to more local baseball games than in 1999 without a triple a team that was here 10 years ago proves that moving to Sacramento was the best thing for them to do.

With, or without a AAA championship.

It has made the lower mainlanders crave some baseball by their departure.

[Lions_Fan_4_Life]

The 1999 Vancouver Canadians weren't underrated at all. In fact, they were overrated.

They left because no one was sitting their butts in the seats, and they had a 100 times better offer in Sacramento. Triple-A will be back here within 10 years, but the fact more people are - 9 years later - going to more local baseball games than in 1999 without a triple a team that was here 10 years ago proves that moving to Sacramento was the best thing for them to do.

With, or without a AAA championship.

It has made the lower mainlanders crave some baseball by their departure.

No, it's promotions. Having short-season gives people two and a half months to got to the Nat, and the Canadians are promoting like hell.

They're going to have a weekly show on the Team starting in June, Rob Fai will broadcast all 76 games (20 of which will be on the Team), and the upgrades at the stadium are insane.

Back in '99? Nothing.

[Robbie]

As a recent example, unlike their American counterparts and their NCAA titles, UBC students, alumni, and locals don't seem to care at all that the UBC CIS Women's Basketball team caputured their third title in five years, or the fact that for the seventh straight year, the CIS Women's Basketball title has been captured by British Columbia-based universities.

2002 - Simon Fraser Clan
2003 - Victoria Vikes
2004 - UBC Thunderbirds
2005 - Simon Fraser Clan
2006 - UBC Thunderbirds
2007 - Simon Fraser Clan
2008 - UBC Thunderbirds

[Robbie]

Speaking of more underrated teams, all the talk in Canada right now seems to be on the NCAA March Madness tournament. Does anybody have any opinions on the huge upset that occurred in the CIS National Championship? No. 7 seed Brock Badgers led by MVP Owen White got past all higher-seeded teams. And then in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport men's basketball final Sunday at Scotiabank Place, they rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to nip the Acadia Axemen 64-61 to win their second ever CIS basketball title, their first since 1992.

[SammyGreene]

Well.... from a Vancouver media perspective... how about Jeff Buttle becoming the first Canadian to win gold in men's singles at the World Championships in nine years?

This athlete will be front and centre in this city less than two years from now and it was a breakthrough win his career. Yet, this feat was buried in Sunday's Province. Instead they went with Canucks coverage on the back cover despite the fact they played Friday and were off for three days.

It did prompt a letter to the editor today:

Buttle Deserves Better

As a big sports fan but a so-so hockey fan, I have a perpetual peeve about the coverage The Province gives hockey and the little attention it pays to other sports and the triumphs of other Canadian athletes.

On Saturday, Jeff Buttle won gold for Canada at the world figure-skating championships, and was it front-page news? No. Was it even the cover story in the sports section? No again. His story was relegated to about a quarter-page deep into the sports section, which I feel is a very big slight on him.

Winning a world figure-skating title is a huge accomplishment and a cause for Canadians to feel extreme pride. I feel it should be given at least the same attention as that paid the Canucks losing a regular season game (albeit an important one with the playoffs looming).

Janet Washburn,
Burnaby

[Robbie]

#3. Grant Connell
Grant Connell becames the world’s number one doubles tennis player in November 1995. But I’d say I speak on behalf of all good doubles players when I say they don’t get nearly the same amount of fame and attention as singles players. It seems like the only doubles players who are well known are the well-established good singles players who occasionally engage in doubles competition. I’d say doubles players are definitely underrated because just like any team sport, in addition to great tennis skills, a good doubles player needs to establish good teamwork, cooperation, and chemistry with their partner and that adds an additional level of difficulty.

Congratulations to Canadian Daniel Nestor along with his partner Nenad Zimonjic for winning the 2008 Wimbledon Men's Doubles Championship. But unfortunately for Nestor, he will never achieve the same amount of fame and popularity compared to the two finalists for the men's singles championship - Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal.



And another note, I wonder why unlike the Williams sisters who were the two finalists for the women's singles championship who then went on to win the doubles women's championship, the highly seeded men's tennis players rarely compete as doubles as well. The last time a famous men's singles players who won as doubles in Wimbledon was in 1992 when John McEnroe-Michael Stich teamed up.

[Robbie]

I grew up in Edmonton in the 80's when the Oilers were in their big years and while the team was definitely not underrated there were some players that were and I think the biggest is still Glenn Anderson who should be in the Hall of Fame.

Well, Glenn Anderson will now be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame along with former Canuck Igor Larionov.

[Soundy]

The 1999 Vancouver Canadians weren't underrated at all. In fact, they were overrated.

They left because no one was sitting their butts in the seats, and they had a 100 times better offer in Sacramento. Triple-A will be back here within 10 years, but the fact more people are - 9 years later - going to more local baseball games than in 1999 without a triple a team that was here 10 years ago proves that moving to Sacramento was the best thing for them to do.

With, or without a AAA championship.

It has made the lower mainlanders crave some baseball by their departure.

No, it's promotions. Having short-season gives people two and a half months to got to the Nat, and the Canadians are promoting like hell.

They're going to have a weekly show on the Team starting in June, Rob Fai will broadcast all 76 games (20 of which will be on the Team), and the upgrades at the stadium are insane.

Back in '99? Nothing.

I suspect it will help, too, that the Nat recently received a MAJOR facelift, so people can feel like they're actually going to a professional ball park, rather than an inner-city dungeon. (Okay, it wasn't THAT bad before, but it WAS getting pretty run-down).

[Soundy]

#8. Vancouver 86ers/Whitecaps
When soccer was revived in Canada again in 1987, the Vancouver 86ers became the powerhouse of the Canadian Soccer League, winning four straight CSL titles from 1988 to 1991 while establishing a record for unbeaten games from 1988-89. Their modern Whitecaps team won the 2006 USL Division 1 championship along with the women, but their fame in Vancouver certainly has a glass ceiling. On this board, it looks like I’ve been the only one praising the team after their 2006 championship.

A Whitecaps game is something I've wanted to check out for a long time, but somehow never managed to. I'll be going to their game vs. the Carolina Railhawks this coming Saturday though, courtesy of my friend whose ABBA tribute band will be playing at halftime

#4. Canadian Women Athletes
I’d say I’m correct in saying that in all countries, women athletes have much less fame and recognition than their male counterparts, and Canada is no exception. While certain Canadian athletes like Cindy Klassen has some recognition, she may not be remembered 30 years from now. In the other thread about most memorable sports moments, none of them involved plays women athletes. In the 2006 Winter Olympics, it was the Canadian women’s ice hockey team that managed to defend their gold medal while the men flopped out in the quarterfinals. So will the women players get much more fame than the men players? I think not.

This is indeed unfortunate. I gotta give props, my buddy and I went to the Canada vs. USA women's hockey game at GM Place when the NHL All-Star Game was in town, several years ago, and damn if that wasn't some of the best hockey I've ever seen in that building (INCLUDING the World Juniors).

#2. Jacques Villeneuve
Canadian drivers have never been powerhouses when it came to auto racing. If a particular country has never had an athlete win a championship in a particular sport, and then suddenly one does, then it’s natural for that athlete to achieve instant fame in that country. I suppose if a Canadian tennis player won the Golden Slam all in one year like Stefi Graf for Germany in 1988, then they would get all the fame. In 1995, Jacques Villeneuve got the distinction of being the first ever Canadian to win the Indianapolis 500 and he also won the 1995 CART and 1997 Forumla One Championships. Yet, Villeneuve doesn’t seem to be getting all the praise and fame in Canada for someone who hold the such distinctions.

Jacques also gained quite a reputation for being everything from an arrogant brat to attempting to ride his (more famous) father's coattails. Deserved or not, these being decidedly un-Canadian traits no doubt hurt his chances of getting any recognition "as a Canadian".

Besides, he's French Canadian, so he's, you know, not a REAL Canadian

#1. 1960 U.S. Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey Team
Everybody knows about the 1980 U.S. Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey team and their Miracle on Ice story. But I really wonder why there has never been any media attention at all on America’s other men’s Olympic ice hockey gold medalists – the 1960 team. It looks like that underrated team has been completely overshadowed by the 1980 team. I dare say that unlike the 1980 team, most Americans cannot name the coach or any players from the 1960 squad. Why is that?

It looks like the 1960 gold medal team is a totally unsung squad that has been totally ignored and forgotten. I think they deserve more attention considering: 1) They were the FIRST U.S. ice hockey team to win an Olympic gold medal. 2) Like the 1980 team, they also won their gold medals in their home country as the 1960 Winter Games were held in Squaw Valley, California.

Would anybody like to share what they know about the 1960 Gold Medal ice hockey team? Did any of them go on to fine NHL careers? I assume some members from the team are now gone. I wonder if the surviving members are jealous over the fact that they don’t get any praise, recognition, and fame compared to their 1980 counterparts.

I’ll share this page that I found on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hockey ... r_Olympics

It looks like the team went a purrfect 7-0 in all the games they played to win the gold. Yet, why have they been completely forgotten and overshadowed?

Well, a lot of people today aren't old enough to remember that, let alone the names of anyone involved. There also wasn't a movie made about it (heck, I never even knew about the "Miracle On Ice" story before the movie came out). And at least as far as Canadians are concerned, 1972 is a much bigger hockey year than 1980 OR 1960!

And as we've seen, a lot of sports are cyclical in their interest level in the public consciousness. Hockey is the "big thing" in Canada these days (much to the chagrin of many here), but that wasn't always so, while it's overshadowed in the US by MLB and the NFL. Soccer enjoyed something of a heyday in this town, brief though it may have been. There was a time when the Canadian national and Olympic ski teams were household names (Ken Reid, Nancy Greene, Steve Podborski ring any bells?) Even the mighty NASCAR was once simply the sport for the good ol' boys; it's huge today, but that won't always be the case.

I think a lot times, the "underrated" teams/sports/athletes are that simply because their accomplishments occurred in a time that the sport was out of the public eye, whereas lesser accomplishments will get more notice and fame if they happen when that sport as a whole is in a more visible position - those are the ones that history will deem "overrated".

Is it right? Not really. But that's the way it is.