Sport Today

                        Established     Legitimate
Year    Event           "champion"    challenger              Winner

1983    Stanley Cup     NY Islanders    Edmonton Oilers         Islanders
1984    rematch                                                 Oilers

1987    Wimbledon       Navratilova     Steffi Graf             Navratilova
1988    rematch                                                 Graf

1988    Smythe Final    Oilers          Calgary Flames          Oilers
1989    rematch                                                 Flames

1988    NBA Final       LA Lakers       Detroit Pistons         Lakers
1989    rematch                                                 Pistons

1990    Stanley Cup     Oilers          Boston Bruins           Oilers
        no rematch

1996    World Cup       Canada          USA                     ?

Other than an interesting trend, what's the point?

Ryan

|>                   Established     Legitimate
|> Year      Event           "champion"    challenger              Winner
|>
|> 1983      Stanley Cup     NY Islanders    Edmonton Oilers         Islanders
|> 1984      rematch                                                 Oilers
|>
|> 1987      Wimbledon       Navratilova     Steffi Graf             Navratilova
|> 1988      rematch                                                 Graf
|>
|> 1988      Smythe Final    Oilers          Calgary Flames          Oilers
|> 1989      rematch                                                 Flames
|>

The Flames did not beat the Oilers in 1989...the only time the Flames beat
the Oilers in the playoffs was in 1986 when the infamous Steve Smith incident
occurred.

|> 1988      NBA Final       LA Lakers       Detroit Pistons         Lakers
|> 1989      rematch                                                 Pistons
|>
|> 1990      Stanley Cup     Oilers          Boston Bruins           Oilers
|>   no rematch
|>
|> 1996      World Cup       Canada          USA                     ?

--
Gerald

1986 and 1989. They won in it 1989. I'm pretty sure that that's how
it went. Any flames fans out there to back me up?

: And this is relevant, how?
: Other than an interesting trend, what's the point?

In each of the stated cases, the "Established champion" was, if memory
serves, a slight underdog to an upstart challenger and managed to
thwart the upstart the FIRST time.  I don't believe it's a coincidence since
winning a championship is as much state of mind as it is physical performance.

Hopefully, the trend holds and Canada fends off USA in this World Cup.

PS:  Thanks for the correction, Gerald.  I saw my mistake after
     consulting a reference.

Glenn

Later,
ab

: Hey, the Flames were in the Stanley cup twice weren't they?
:
: 1986 and 1989. They won in it 1989. I'm pretty sure that that's how
: it went. Any flames fans out there to back me up?

Umm... no. The year that the Flames beat the Oilers they lost to
Montreal in the finals. The year after the Gretzky trade ('89) the
Kings dispatched the Oilers if my memory serves correctly.

The Flames knocked out the Kings and the rest is history.

Garry

Of course, this all happened on an alternate Earth, and not this one, so
keep Sliding ... :-)

-Used without permission of the FOX network.

: Hey, the Flames were in the Stanley cup twice weren't they?

: 1986 and 1989. They won in it 1989. I'm pretty sure that that's how
: it went. Any flames fans out there to back me up?
  The Flames beat the Canucks, Kings, Blackhawks and Habs to win the cup
in 1989.  Calgary remains the only other team to parade in the Montreal
Forum with the cup. (Montreal is the other, obviously).
  In 1986, they beat the Jets (?), Oilers, Blues (?), but lost the Cup to
Montreal.

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1986 and 1989. They won in it 1989. I'm pretty sure that that's how
it went. Any flames fans out there to back me up?

Yup... should have won it in 1986 as well but those pesky Blues took them to
7 games in the semi finals and that took too much out of the team....

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