I appreciate most people on SB follow American sports if they follow sports at all, but one of the most remarkable sports stories of all time is nearing its conclusion in the UK.
In the English premiership it is often said that there can be no "Cinderella" teams. European sports have no draft and unrestricted free agency, so the best teams buy up all the best players, and thus win all the time. And the season is just too long (36 games played over 10 months) for any plucky young upstart team to have a chance. With the result that since the premiership started, only five teams have ever won it, and Manchester United have won more than every other team combined.
Accordingly, at the start of this season, the odds on humble little Leicester City winning the premiership were set at 5,000 to 1. Think about it - the bookmakers believed that if we were to play the season over and over again for a century, you could still get 50 to 1 on Leicester City winning it even one of those times.
But barring an upset of extravagant proportions, win it they will. How on earth did this happen? I have no idea. But I intend to sit back and watch the culmination of something that we probably won't see again in my lifetime.
There have been some truly astonishing upsets in sport history: Greatest Upsets In Sports History . But they are almost all one-off moments of brilliance. 36 moments of brilliance over 10 months is a new trick indeed.
In the English premiership it is often said that there can be no "Cinderella" teams. European sports have no draft and unrestricted free agency, so the best teams buy up all the best players, and thus win all the time. And the season is just too long (36 games played over 10 months) for any plucky young upstart team to have a chance. With the result that since the premiership started, only five teams have ever won it, and Manchester United have won more than every other team combined.
Accordingly, at the start of this season, the odds on humble little Leicester City winning the premiership were set at 5,000 to 1. Think about it - the bookmakers believed that if we were to play the season over and over again for a century, you could still get 50 to 1 on Leicester City winning it even one of those times.
But barring an upset of extravagant proportions, win it they will. How on earth did this happen? I have no idea. But I intend to sit back and watch the culmination of something that we probably won't see again in my lifetime.
There have been some truly astonishing upsets in sport history: Greatest Upsets In Sports History . But they are almost all one-off moments of brilliance. 36 moments of brilliance over 10 months is a new trick indeed.