Sharing some journaling prompts you can use as we wrap up the last portion of the year.
Hiiii friends! Happy Wednesday! What do you have going on this week? My newest baby niece will be born this week and I can’t wait! I’m excited to put some baby meals together 🙂
Today, I wanted to chat about something that has changed my morning routine: journaling. I always heard people talking about it, but didn’t want to give it a try because it felt awkward and uncomfortable. I’m supposed to just… write?? Write about what? What if it isn’t good? What if someone reads it and was like wth is wrong with this person? It made me nervous to write something so effortlessly, without the power to brainstorm, strategize and delete.
But, during the time that shall not be named, something changed: I needed to dump my thoughts onto paper. I stopped caring about it being good, or perfect, but instead used it as a brain dump because my head was SO full of thoughts. It gave me clarity and peace, and since then, I’ve used it as part of my morning routine.
Usually my morning routine looks something like this (sometimes all of it happens, sometimes it’s in pieces broken up throughout the day, sometimes only one thing might happen):
Meditate on my PEMF Go Mat (code is FITNESSISTA15) listening to binaural beats on Spotify for 7 minutes
Daily devotional/Bible study and prayer 10-15 minutes, listening to worship music on Spotify
Journaling 5-10 minutes about goals, a brain dump of thoughts, or where I see myself in the future. I write about these things like they’ve already happened. It’s been SO wild to go back to some of the things that I wrote in 2020 and every.single.thing has happened, even the ones that felt genuinely impossible.
After this, I’ll have breakfast (usually Daily Nutritional support and Truvani protein pudding topped with berries and hemp seeds or Nuttzo) and supplements, make a coffee and then get started on work
**Feel free to adjust your routine according to your unique beliefs and goals, and set yourself up for a peaceful and energized day.
Journaling prompts to use this fall
If you’re feeling stumped on the journaling portion, here are some prompts you can consider:
Reflect on your spiritual growth this year.
What lessons have you learned, and how have they shaped your beliefs and values? How is the version of you NOW different then the version of you at the beginning of the year?
What are three goals you want to achieve before the year ends?
Write about how you plan to work toward them, and the steps you’ll take to stay on track. Write about these goals as if they’ve already happened, the struggles you faced to acheive them, and how you handled these obstacles.
Visualize your dream life.
Describe it in detail, including your surroundings, relationships, and daily routine. Write about it as if it’s already happened. How can you start working this reality now? Create an action plan.
What spiritual practices make you feel most grounded?
How can you incorporate more of them into your routine? What makes you feel peaceful and calm? What strategies do you like to use each day?
Write a letter to your future self, one year from now.
What advice do you want to give yourself, and what accomplishments do you hope to have achieved? Write about these things as if they’ve already happened, and celebrate these things.
What limiting beliefs are holding you back from reaching your goals?
Explore how you can shift your mindset to one of abundance and possibility. Write down any limiting beliefs that are holding you back and how you can overcome them.
Set an intention for the season.
How do you want to feel throughout the fall and into the holidays? What actions can you take to align with this intention?
How do you nurture your spiritual connection during times of stress?
What rituals or habits can help you strengthen your spirituality this fall? Maybe it’s something like attending church or a Bible study, or even making time to be out in nature, meditating, reading, whatever works for you.
What are the signs that you receive when you’re on the right path?
Reflect on recent events or synchronicities that affirm your goals. When have things *worked out* even when it seemed hopeless?
Write about a personal goal you’ve been putting off.
Why haven’t you started, and what would it feel like to finally make progress? How can you take the first step? Create an action plan that you can follow.
What does your morning routine look like? What do you typically incorporate into your day? Are you a fan of journaling or not so much?
Sharing a round-up of vegan pumpkin recipes to enjoy this fall!
Hey friends! Fall is finally here, and you know what that means—jeans, sweaters, boots, chili, aaaaand pumpkin everything! There’s something about that cozy, slightly sweet flavor that just screams autumn. Our leaves don’t change here in AZ, but the air gets a little crisper, and I love to bake and create pumpkin recipes. The Pilot isn’t a fan of squashes and gourds, but thankfully, I have two little pumpkin-obsessed buddies.
Whether you’re a long-time vegan or just looking to add more plant-based meals to your diet, I’ve got some amazing vegan pumpkin recipes that are perfect for this season. We’re talking everything from comforting soups to indulgent desserts, all with that delicious pumpkin twist. Please let me know if you give any of these a try!
A delicious and healthy high protein breakfast option that tastes like pumpkin pie! It’s gluten-free, vegan, and an awesome breakfast for busy mornings.
This tastes like pumpkin pie in a bowl, minus the crust. It has the creamy texture of pumpkin pie filling but is totally egg-free for my vegan friends out there.
This marvelously moist, springy, and pumpkin-spiced bread is dairy-free, whole wheat, naturally sweetened, and uses a whopping WHOLE CAN of pumpkin (no weird pumpkin leftovers!).
Amazing, creamy, flavorful pumpkin mac ‘n’ cheese made with 10 simple ingredients! The perfect dairy- and gluten-free entrée for fall and the holiday season!
This Vegan Pumpkin Curry with Tofu pairs authentic Indian flavors with a creamy pumpkin-coconut sauce made from whole pumpkin. It’s protein-packed and hearty, vegan and gluten-free, yet so creamy.
These soft and chewy vegan pumpkin cookies have crisp edges, puffy centers, and are packed with pumpkin puree! They are made with simple ingredients and are the perfect Fall treat.
This pumpkin soup recipe is creamy AND healthy! It calls for roasted pumpkin for maximum flavor. This roasted pumpkin soup recipe would look lovely on your holiday dinner table, and leftovers would go great with sandwiches or salads the next day.
Tell me friends: what are your favorite pumpkin recipes? Please link up ALL the good stuff in the comments section! These flourless pumpkin bars are probably my favorites of all time.
Redbreast is considered by many to be one of the best Irish whiskey brands. In fact, we even named the brand’s 12-year-old expression our favorite Irish whiskey, period. That track record should remain intact with the addition of this fantastic new 18-year-old expression.
Redbreast is a single pot still Irish whiskey, a category that has a few specific guidelines: the whiskey is made from a mash bill of malted and unmalted barley (a small amount of other cereal grain is allowed), and it’s distilled in a pot still at one distillery. Compare that to single malt whiskey, which is made from a mash bill of 100 percent malted barley at one distillery, a style that is mostly associated with Scotland.
The pot still mash bill gives a unique fruit-forward flavor profile. And in the case of Redbreast, the types of casks that are used, typically a combination of bourbon and sherry casks, also contribute a great deal to the whiskey’s character.
Redbreast 18 falls just in between the core lineup’s 15- and 21-year-old expressions, but the specific types of barrels it’s aged in make it stand out from the pack.
“The addition of Redbreast 18-Year-Old to the core range beautifully bridges the gap between our older and younger offerings,” said master blender David McCabe in a statement. “By incorporating cream sherry casks, we’ve created a whiskey that boasts a rich profile of dark chocolate, blackcurrants, and hazelnuts.”
Cream sherry is a blend of sweet sherries. The use of these casks, which were sourced from the Antonio Páez Lobato cooperage in Spain, brings something new to the Redbreast portfolio.
The whiskey was made at Midleton, the large distillery, just outside of Cork, where other well-known Irish whiskey brands like Jameson, Powers, and Green Spot are also produced. It’s triple distilled and then aged in several different types of barrels: bourbon, oloroso sherry, and some ruby port casks in addition to the cream sherry casks.
At 18 years old, the whiskey has taken on big notes of oak and tannic spice. But it’s softened and balanced out by the different types of casks in which it spent nearly two decades resting. The resulting whiskey has big notes of cherry syrup, grape, butterscotch, fresh berries, dark chocolate, hazelnut, blood orange, and even a hint of Dr. Pepper on the palate.
The Redbreast portfolio is strong from start to finish, beginning with the 12-year-old that anchors the range all the way up to the outstanding (and expensive) 27-year-old. The new Redbreast 18 sits right in the middle in terms of age and price, $250. It’s not cheap, but still much less than the $700 or more you might pay for the 27.
There is nothing mid about the flavor, however. My advice to longtime Redbreast fans and newcomers to the category? Grab this bottle if you see it in the wild and be sure to share it with friends.
Attitudes about diet are ever changing, and what was once considered healthy might eventually be found to pose a problem, or vice versa. Case in point, a “wellness culture BS busting dietitian” is highlighting three foods that have a bad reputation, but as it turns out, are pretty healthy for you.
The insights come from Abbey Sharp, who serves up “science and sass” on her popular TikTok account, which boasts over 840,000 followers. In her latest video posted this week, Sharp detailed three “bad foods” that she actually thinks people should eat.
First up were potatoes, which have been particularly demonized in recent years in the era of low-carb diets. “Potatoes do not inherently make you gain weight,” she explained, noting that they’re actually a great source of slow digesting carbs with blood sugar-regulating residence starch fiber. Not to mention, they’re also a great source of nutrients such as potassium, vitamin C, and vitamin B6.
Potatoes are actually quite filling as well, as she pointed out that the root vegetables actually topped a satiety ranking of common foods. For comparison, that’s seven times more filling than say, a croissant.
The next food Sharp tackled was egg yolks, which have likewise always gotten a bad rap.
“For too long I feel that diet culture has painted egg yolks, specifically, as these fatty cholesterol bombs that will harden your arteries overnight,” she continued. “But we now know that dietary cholesterol doesn’t actually impact our blood cholesterol all that much.”
Plus, Sharp argued that egg yolks are also a great source of key nutrients such as vitamin D, choline, as well as containing half of the protein of the entire egg. “So definitely do not skimp on the yolks,” she advised.
Finally, the last item on Sharp’s list? Full fat dairy—or specifically, fermented dairy like yogurt—which she says is full of unique compounds like conjugated linoleic acid, butyrate, and gangliosides, that may actually offer a protective effect on heart health.
“Recent research has also found no association with full-fat dairy and cardiovascular disease while other research has found that full-fat dairy may actually reduce the risk of obesity and weight gain,” she added.
“So yeah, I feel like we have a lot of unlearning to do,” Sharp concluded the video, asking her followers which item on the list surprised them most. So next time you’re out at breakfast, don’t pay extra for an egg white omelet; and while you’re at it, get a side of potatoes or a yogurt parfait, as well.
An enduring mystery surrounding a body found buried beneath Notre Dame following the disastrous 2019 fire that destroyed the church may finally be put to rest, Le Monde and La Croix International reported.
The remains were found in 2022 encased in a lead sarcophagus, one of two exhumed from the cathedral by a team of roughly 50 researchers with the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) who have worked since 2019 to preserve the site.
After examining the remains, scientists believe they belong to famed Renaissance poet Joachim du Bellay, who died in 1560 at the age of 37. Du Bellay, founder of the literary group La Pléiade, was believed to have been buried near one of his relatives at a chapel in Notre Dame, but the precise location of his grave was never pinpointed.
Further examination from the Forensic Institute of the University Hospital of Toulouse found that the man had suffered from bone tuberculosis and chronic meningitis during his lifetime. Éric Crubézy, a professor of biological anthropology at Toulouse, believes that du Bellay hinted at both conditions in several of his poems.
“He matches all the criteria of the portrait,” Crubézy explained. “He is an accomplished horseman, suffers from both conditions mentioned in some of his poems, like in ‘The Complaint of the Despairing,’ where he describes ‘this storm that blurs [his] mind,’ and his family belonged to the royal court and the pope’s close entourage.”
However, INRAP’s archaeologist and excavation leader Christophe Besnier contests this assertion. “Certain elements do not support this hypothesis: isotope analysis of the teeth indicates that the individual lived in the Paris region or Rhône-Alpes until he was 10 years old. However, we know that Joachim du Bellay grew up in Anjou,” Besnier said.
The remains are set to undergo further testing to determine the exact age at which the man died, but experts warn any definitive answers will be elusive due to the lack of comparative DNA.
Only 10 percent of the floors beneath Notre Dame have been examined, leaving much opportunity for similarly impressive finds. However, those will have to wait. The legendary church is entering its final phases of renovation before finally reopening to the public on Dec. 8.
Blended Scotch doesn’t need a sales pitch. The eminently popular style—which combines both malt and grain whisky components into an approachable whole—accounts for more than 90 percent of all Scotch sales worldwide. Indeed, it is the most widely consumed category of whisky on the planet.
Yet, amongst a certain subset of connoisseurs (read: single malt drinkers), it’s persistently derided as lesser than. To them, its approachability is regarded as a flaw rather than a feature. It caneither be easy to drink or it can be worthy of their critical adoration.
Compass Box is an outlier: it does it both ways. Founded in 2000 by a former marketing director for Johnnie Walker, the brand has a stated mission of “making the world of Scotch whisky a more interesting place.” It accomplishes this one beautiful blend at a time. And this month, its Core Collection is expanding to include two new bottlings that even the snobbiest single malt sippers would have trouble scoffing at.
First up is Nectarosity, a 92-proof blended Scotch meant to evoke the aromas and flavors of French pastries. As advertised, it noses like a cinnamon-dusted danish. The palate features brioche, fudge, and a hint of wildflower honey. Ultimately, there’s a syrupy richness to the whisky, reminiscent of what you’d expect from a well-aged single malt. To achieve this result, the whisky makers relied on a series of virgin charred American oak barrels, along with casks seasoned with palo cortado sherry.
Though most blended scotches on the market today can’t (or are not allowed to) disclose the whiskies used in their creation, Compass Box is a champion of transparency. It proudly discloses the main grain in its mix—sourced from Girvan Distillery—as well as the star malt: a rich liquid from Clynelish. Nectarosity arrives on American shelves this month at a suggested retail price of $65 per bottle.
It’ll be joined by a slightly more expensive sibling called Crimson Casks ($75), a veritable sherry bomb that sings with dark fruit and baking spice. Though this one is also bottled at 92-proof, it’s a blended malt as opposed to a blended Scotch. The difference is that it combines whiskies from a handful of single malt producers without the use of lighter grain spirit—the stuff that the self-styled connoisseurs are forever complaining about.
The other two bottlings in Compass Box’s Core Collection, the unapologetically smoky Peat Monster, and fall fruit-forward Orchard House are also blended malts.
Meanwhile, you’ll find plenty of other blended Scotches across the entirety of the Compass Box portfolio. It’ll never shy away from leaning into the style. And Scotch fans of all stripes, in turn, should never shy away from exploring them. As this brand does its best to deliver on the promise of “more interesting” Scotch whisky, enthusiasts can open themselves up to the same merely by acknowledging the beauty of the blend.
Recent studies have shown your risk of developing dementia could partially be mitigated through smart diet choices. New research pinpoints one compound in particular found in many foods and drinks that could lower your risk of dementia as years go on.
The study, published Sept. 16 in the JAMA Network Openjournal, outlines what scientists found when examining the dietary habits of more than 120,000 U.K. adults between the ages of 40 and 70. They discovered that “those with the highest adherence to a flavonoid-rich diet, specifically intakes of tea, red wine, and berries, had a lower risk of dementia.” That reduction worked especially well in participants with “high genetic risk, hypertension, and depressive symptoms.”
“These findings suggest that simple dietary changes of increasing intakes of commonly consumed flavonoid-rich foods and drinks may lower dementia risk,” the study concluded.
Flavonoids are a compound found in a variety of foods and drinks like parsley, onions, blueberries and other berries, bananas, citrus fruits, black tea, green tea, oolong tea, red wine, dark chocolate, buckwheat, and ginkgo biloba. Berries, tea, and red wine in particular stuck out to the researchers in their work.
“Our findings show that consuming six additional servings of flavonoid-rich foods per day, in particular berries, tea, and red wine, was associated with a 28 percent lower risk of dementia,” study author Aedin Cassidy told The Guardian.
This should come as welcome news for those looking to lower their risk of developing dementia, especially considering the lack of treatment options after the onset of the disease.
“Currently, there is no effective treatment for the disease, so preventive interventions to improve health and quality of life—and reduce social and economic costs—should continue to be a major public health priority,” study lead author Amy Jenning noted.
The findings align with a study published in The Lancetlast month that pointed out 14 modifiable risk factors for dementia a person can work on throughout their life, diet being one of them. Still, more research needs to be done as the scientists only found an association between the phenomena and not a confirmation of flavonoids’ purported anti-dementia benefits.
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It is that time of the year, folks. June is here, and all sports fans are abuzz with the big championship series upon us. The NBA Finals have started, and it will surely be a barn burner this year.
In one corner, you have the number 1 seed in the West, the Denver Nuggets, and in the other corner, you have the number 8 seed in the East, the Miami Heat. It’s certainly a series you’re going to want to see in person, and if you’re after tickets, StubHub can be a big help.
Whether you want to see a live show, be it music or sports, and picking up tickets directly from Ticketmaster is not possible, StubHub is the place to go. Plenty of people are likely going to be selling off tickets, which means you can still grab some. While the NBA Finals have been a big ticket, you can bet that there are still plenty of tickets available for each game, with tickets ranging from around $500 to upwards of $52,000 if you’re looking to really get up close and personal. They may cost some money, but it’s worth it for the experience.
NBA Finals Game 1: Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets
NBA Finals Game 2: Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets
NBA Finals Game 3: Denver Nuggets at Miami Heat
NBA Finals Game 4: Denver Nuggets at Miami Heat
NBA Finals Game 5 (If Necessary): Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets
NBA Finals Game 6 (If Necessary): Denver Nuggets at Miami Heat
NBA Finals Game 7 (If Necessary): Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets
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The experience, in this case, is twofold. For one, you get to see an NBA Finals game. An NBA Finals that is like a real-life David and Goliath story, with the unstoppable Nuggets and their real-life Goliath Nikola Jokic going up against Miami and their slingshot-wielding David, Jimmy Butler, aka Playoff Jimmy, aka Jimmy Buckets. While Orlando may not be in the Finals, there will undoubtedly be some magic during this set.
The second reason that makes this experience worth the cost is the locales. Depending on which game in the series you want to go to, you will either be spending time in Denver or Miami. These are two gorgeous cities with plenty to see and do, but each town offers a vastly different experience. Before and after the game, you can explore the area with all the other fans enjoying the series.
Seeing basketball in person is one of the best experiences in sports, but going to a playoff or championship game is something special. The energy is going to be off the charts, and with this series offering up such a dramatic narrative, this should be one for the ages.
So head over to StubHub now and plan a little trip to the Rocky Mountains of Denver or the beach
Weight loss medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy have become so popular that—amid widespread shortages—the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is issuing a warning to consumers to avoid off-brand versions of the drugs.
These off-brand versions of the drugs contain semaglutide, the active ingredient in the brand-name medications, which have been compounded by pharmacies and are often sold online. However, FDA officials have been receiving reports of unspecified “adverse” reactions from people using these medications, which contain a version of semaglutide used in lab research that has not yet been approved for patient use.
The agency warns that consumers should only use prescription drugs containing semaglutide issued by a licensed health care provider, and obtained from a state-licensed, FDA-registered pharmacy.
“Patients should not use a compounded drug if an approved drug is available to treat a patient,” the FDA warning states. “Patients and health care professionals should understand that the agency does not review compounded versions of these drugs for safety, effectiveness, or quality.”
Ozempic was initially designed to treat Type 2 diabetes, however its seen explosive popularity as a weight loss drug in 2022 thanks to a combination of social media and Telehealth prescriptions.
The drug works by mimicking a hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), which is released in the gastrointestinal tract in response to eating. The GLP-1 targets the area of the brain that regulates appetite and food intake, prompting the body to produce more insulin, which in turn reduces blood glucose and curbs overall cravings.
Because of the increased demand, the shortage is impacting Type 2 diabetes patients who rely on the drug to control their blood sugar. Compounding pharmacies are allowed to produce versions of medications on the FDA’s list of drug shortages— and as of May, both Ozempic and Wegovy remained on that list.
Upsets are the essence of sports. The potential that one might happen—that an underdog team might beat the odds and win against a superior opponent—is the single greatest hook that keeps us watching sports, and the payoff when they arrive is what makes the whole enterprise worthwhile. Games played on paper wouldn’t be games at all, and we’d lose interest in watching them. Upsets are what make sports exciting.
Distilling a list of the best upsets ever is a significant task, but Men’s Journal has picked through American sports history to come up with 25 timeless classics that are always worthy of a detailed rewatch. Here they are, ordered from No. 25 (which you’ll find to be quite debatable) down to No. 1 (which you’ll find to be a little less debatable). Here’s our roundup of some of the greatest stunners in sports history.
This was the first leg of one of the great Cinderella runs in Stanley Cup Playoff history, though not one that ended up in a team actually winningthe Cup. The Oilers were the eighth and final seed in the Western Conference in 2006, the league’s first year back after an owners’ lockout canceled the prior season. Going up against the top-seeded Wings and a laundry list of future Hall of Famers (most prominently: defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and forwards Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and Brendan Shanahan), the Oilers pulled off a six-game shocker to advance. They wound up getting all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final before the Carolina Hurricanes got the better of them.
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The Sooners were riding a 47-game winning streak, the country’s longest by a mile, when they hosted a struggling Fighting Irish team that entered at just 4–2. The Irish proceeded to shut the Sooners out on their own field. It stood as OU’s only loss of the year and likely was what prevented the program from winning its third consecutive Associated Press national title. Notre Dame finished the season 7–3, underscoring what an upset the Oklahoma game was in the first place.
Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
No. 1 seed Baylor had Brittney Griner, one of the most dominant college basketball players ever, and was widelyexpected to romp to the Final Four and perhaps a national championship. No. 5 seed Louisville was a nondescript underdog. But when the two teams met, Louisville made a huge splash with a 15-for-20 three-point-shooting night to put the Bears into a blender. After leading by as much as 19, the Cardinals held on to win 82–81 against Baylor in the Sweet 16 meeting. Then they won again to get to the Final Four before falling to Geno Auriemma’s UConn dynasty.
David Cannon/Getty Images
Entering Sunday at the 2009 PGA Championship, Woods was 14-for-14 when he held a major championship lead after 54 holes. After that Sunday, he was 14-for-15. Yang was a pro golf journeyman with just one win on the PGA Tour, but he stared down Woods and beat him by three shots at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota. Woods, in part for other reasons, was never the same again.
Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images
Strictly by the difference between the teams’ winning percentages, the White Sox’s (.616) triumph over the Cubs (.763) marks the biggest upset in World Series history. Yeah, it was nearly prehistoric, and yeah, a lack of interleague play made it hard to compare teams across leagues, but the Cubs had won 116 games (a record that would stand until the next loser on this list tied it) and looked like a good bet to win the Fall Classic. The crosstown Sox, not yet involved in game-rigging scandals, had other ideas.
Howard Earl Simmons/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
The ‘01 Mariners set a new American League record by winning 116 games, tying the all-time record set by the 1906 Chicago Cubs. They were the most dominant ballclub in several eras of Major League Baseball, and there was no reason they shouldn’t have kept winning all the way through the World Series. Most notably, the club boasted a powerful lineup (Edgar Martinez, John Olerud, Ichiro Suzuki) and a deep pitching staff.
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The Patriots were 14-point underdogs in the Super Bowl that concluded the 2001 season. Tom Brady was still just a backup quarterback having a nice little playoff run for a franchise that had yet to win the Big Game, and the Rams (with quarterback Kurt Warner, running back Marshall Faulk, and receivers Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt) were the Greatest Show on Turf.
Patrick Smith/Getty Images
In the Patriots’ long run of championship appearances since 2002, they have frequently been both winners and losers. In Super Bowl LII, the Patriots were just 4.5-point favorites, but the gap between them and the Eagles felt much bigger. Philly was working for its first-ever Super Bowl win against a team that had nabbed five since 2001. On top of that, the Eagles had to start a backup quarterback, Nick Foles, against Brady in this game. But the Eagles rolled out one of the best trick plays in the annals of Xs and Os and won 41–33.
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The Bruins were the NHL’s best and scariest bunch of the early ‘70s. They won Stanley Cups in 1970 and ‘72, and they had both the best defenseman ever, Bobby Orr, and one of the sport’s greatest and toughest scorers, Phil Esposito. They were supposed to beat up on the Flyers, who’d only joined the league in its 1967 expansion and lacked both the Bruins’ impressive talent and legendary history.
Andreas Rentz/Bongarts/Getty Images
The 2004 Olympics, like every Summer Olympics, were supposed to be a coronation for the American men’s basketball program. But 2004’s loaded U.S. team (featuring LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Tim Duncan, and Allen Iverson), lost 89–81 to the Argentine team led by Luis Scola and Manu Ginobili. The loss was a serious blow to the U.S. team’s prestige—and the pain didn’t start to fade until 2008’s “Redeem Team” got back over the hump to win a gold medal in Beijing.
Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
The Bulldogs became the most improbable College World Series winners ever when the little WAC program ran through a postseason gauntlet of Long Beach State, San Diego, Arizona State, Rice, North Carolina, and Georgia to win the national title. The conference they played in essentially ceased to exist after conference realignment swept it away a few years later, though it’s since been reconstituted. But Fresno’s national title banner flies forever, and it stands as the biggest college baseball upset ever.
Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Many say this was the greatest game in college football history, and they have a point. In the 2005 season’s national championship game, unstoppable dual-threat quarterback Vince Young (above) led Texas against a USC team that had not lost a single game in two seasons. USC, the favorite, led in the fourth quarter and tried to clinch the game on a fourth-and-one carry with power tailback LenDale White. The Longhorns stacked him up and got the ball back to Young, who went right to work. Young’s winning touchdown run on fourth-and-five is an all-time memory, as is broadcaster Keith Jackson’s call: “He’s going for the corner…. He’s got it.”
Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
There’s nothing like the first time. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament went from 1939 through 2017 without a single No. 16 seed beating a No. 1 seed. That’s overstating things a bit—the tournament didn’t even have 16th seeds until 1985—but still: The Maryland–Baltimore County Retrievers did something that had never been done before when they dispatched the Cavaliers, 74–54, to open 2018’s tournament. UVA couldn’t stop UMBC guard Jairus Lyles (pictured above) and couldn’t get out of neutral all night on offense. Meanwhile, UMBC made history.
Damian Strohmeyer/Allsport/Getty Images
The women’s tournament got a 16-over-1 upset 20 years before the men’s event did, when Harvard took advantage of some Stanford injuries and managed a 71–67 win in the first round. Harvard had the country’s top scorer, forward Allison Feaster (pictured above), and she picked the Cardinal apart before going on to an extensive and successful WNBA career. Every huge upset in NCAA tourney history followed in Harvard’s footsteps.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
There are different ways to make an incredible upset, and not all of them have to come in high-profile moments with postseason glory on the line. In this case, Howard was a 45-point underdog to a lousy UNLV team on the road in the first week of the 2017 season. The Bison won, 43–40, and etched themselves into history as the biggest point-spread underdog winner in American football history—and that includes both the college and pro levels.
George Gojkovich/Getty Images
The Wildcats, led by head coach Rollie Massimino (pictured), won their first national championship when they beat the John Thompson-coached, Patrick Ewing-led Hoyas in the title game. Georgetown carried a 35–2 record into the game and was aiming for a repeat after winning its first title in 1984. Most analysts expected the Hoyas to win as a No. 1 seed going up against No. 8 Nova. But Villanova managed a close 66–64 victory, paced by 17 points from Dwayne McClain and another 14 from Harold Jensen off the bench. Thompson’s Hoyas remained excellent for years, but they never won another title after Villanova snatched away this golden repeat opportunity.
Bettmann/Getty Images
Few upsets rival the magnitude and the local significance of the 1960 World Series, and even today it stands as a testament to the unpredictable nature of America’s pastime. Against all odds, the underdog Pirates emerged victorious, toppling the mighty Yankee empire on maybe the most famous home run in baseball history: the Game 7 walk-off by light-hitting Pittsburgh second baseman Bill Mazeroski (pictured above). That dramatic ending solidified the ‘60 Series as one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
This upset is a recent entry to this list, but it’s a critical one. The Bruins ended the 2022-23 season with the best record in NHL history by both wins (65) and total points (135). In addition, they had a 3–1 series lead against a Panthers team that only snuck into the playoffs when the Pittsburgh Penguins imploded in the season’s final days.
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The A’s were heavy favorites in the 1988 World Series. They had won 104 games that season, and their lineup was headlined by comically powerful hitters Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco. The Dodgers had a good team, but they weren’t as dominant, and they had to pull off an upset over the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series to even reach the Fall Classic. Once there, however, they blitzed the A’s—after an injured Kirk Gibson hit a walk-off home run in Game 1 (photo above), the Boys in Blue never looked back.
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Ouimet (that’s him above), a 20-year-old amateur with a 10-year-old caddy on his bag, was not even supposed to be near contention at the Country Club, site of the national championship in 1913. But he stitched together golf’s ultimate underdog story and managed a playoff victory over Vardon and Ray, two of the greatest professionals of the era. Ouimet became the first amateur to win the U.S. Open, and though there were a few more amateur winners in the ensuing 20 years, there’ll never be a story like his again.
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Super Bowl III had all the ingredients for a dramatic storyline. The Colts were the dominant team of the moment in professional football, with a 13–1 record and Johnny Unitas at quarterback. The Jets represented the upstart American Football League, which would later merge with the National Football League in 1970 to form the modern NFL. The Jets had a brash young QB named Joe Namath who guaranteed victory in the press before the game. Namath (and the Jets’ defense especially) backed up that talk and won 16-7, solidifying the AFL as a serious presence in the new NFL and anointing Namath as a major figure in American football history.
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By a whole wide range of metrics, the loss the No. 1 seed Boilermakers took to the No. 16 Knights in 2023’s March Madness was the worst in college hoops history. The Knights weren’t just a 16-seed—they were a 16-seed that only made it into the tournament on a technicality (the best team in their conference wasn’t eligible for postseason play). They were also the smallest team in Division I, and yet they managed to beat one of the tallest, led by Purdue’s towering 7’4” center Zach Edey. We may never see an upset of this magnitude again.
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This is the archetypal college football upset in a sport built on upsets. The Mountaineers were an excellent team, having won the Football Championship Subdivision national championship in 2005 and 2006. In fact, when this game happened, they were a few months away from three-peating in 2007.
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At the start of this game, the Patriots had everything going for them, or seemed to. After a 16–0 regular season, New England cruised through the AFC playoffs and only had to beat the Giants, a wild card team, to become the only 19–0 champion in NFL history. The Patriots led at the end of the fourth quarter, but Eli Manning engineered a stunning comeback drive to send the Lombardi Trophy to New York. The drive’s key play was a chaotic, scrambling heave that led to David Tyree’s famed “helmet catch,” and then Plaxico Burress caught the winning score with 35 seconds left.
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In 1980, the Soviets had the best hockey team in the world, and everyone knew it. The Americans had a scrappy bunch of kids with a bit of talent and a good motivator, Herb Brooks, as head coach. On paper, the U.S. Hockey Team didn’t seem to have a chance.
