The most over-hyped events in sports history

Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s upcoming bout with MMA champion — and boxing rookie — Conor McGregor is captivating audiences due to novelty, gambling, trash-talking and relentless hype. While boxing promoters are the masters of over-hype, here's a look at some of the most over-hyped events in sports history. Hyped events that lived up to the billing are excluded — this is for the events that made fans regret watching at all, not to mention paying the over-hyped prices.

The Trojans and Sooners went into the game with 12-0 records, ranked #1 and #2 respectively. Oklahoma had the 2003 Heisman winner, Jason White, and Adrian Peterson, while USC had the 2004 Heisman winner, Matt Leinart, plus the next year’s Heisman, Reggie Bush. USC was a mere one-point favorite, and when Oklahoma scored first, it looked like a real barn-burner was in the works. Then the Trojans scored the next 28 points, and it went from barn-burner to felony arson. It ended up 55-19, and honestly, it wasn’t even that close.

LeBron James’ "Decision" and departure for Miami was extremely hyped, but the Heat delivered on the hype: they won two titles, made the Finals every year, and ushered in the superteam era. LeBron’s return to Cleveland was called “the most anticipated regular-season game in NBA history” - and it wasn’t close. Despite the booing, the angry t-shirts, the national TV audience, and the “a-hole” chants, the game was never close. LeBron put up 38 points, D-Wade had a 22/9/9 line, and the crowd went home early. Dan Gilbert subsequently wrote a lot of angry emails in Comic Sans.

This fight had enormous cultural significance at the time. Louis was black, Schmeling was white. Louis was American, Schmeling was German. In the two years since Schmeling dealt Louis his only knockout defeat of his prime, Germany had taken over Austria. Though Schmeling wasn’t a member of the Nazi party — and later harbored Jews from the Gestapo — he was still the subject of a racist propaganda campaign. In the actual fight, Joe Louis beat the strudel out of Schmeling, knocking him out in just over two minutes. After returning to Germany, Schmeling was forced to become a paratrooper for the Luftwaffe.

The Red Wings and Avalanche hated each other throughout the late-'90s and early-2000s, a stretch where they combined for five Stanley Cups and just as many bench-clearing brawls. Even their goalies once fought at center ice! Game 7 of the Conference Finals was the latest chapter in this blood feud, but the defending champion Avalanche were down 4-0 after just 13 minutes. The Red Wings cruised to a 7-0 win, and were Stanley Cup champs two weeks later.

This was, at the time, the biggest PPV event in history. Years before the fight, Tyson threatened to eat Lewis’ children, and at the pre-fight press conference, there was a giant brawl, during which Tyson bit Lewis on the leg – he later paid a settlement of over 300 grand. The fight was not nearly as exciting. Lewis controlled the match the whole way, bloodying both of Tyson’s eyes, and eventually knocked him out in Round 8.

Look, every NFL draft is incredibly overhyped, because it’s essentially a televised job fair that lasts a whole weekend. But 1998 stood out because there was a debate about the top pick: Peyton Manning, or Ryan Leaf? Ultimately, it was the most one-sided debate since Dan Quayle compared himself to JFK in front of Lloyd Bentsen. Peyton Manning was a five-time MVP with as many Pro Bowl appearances as Leaf had touchdown passes. Leaf ultimately spent more time in jail than on NFL rosters.

Liston had tried to get a title fight with Patterson for over two years, while he was blackballed for being connected to organized crime, or at least more connected than everyone else. When the fight finally happened, Liston knocked Patterson out in 2 minutes, 6 seconds. It was a complete thrashing, and the rematch wasn’t much better: This time Liston knocked him out in 2:10.

In what will assuredly be the subject of a Ryan Murphy limited series some day, Tonya Harding’s ex-husband paid thugs to attack her rival figure skater, Nancy Kerrigan, just before the US championships. Kerrigan escaped with bruises, and while Harding’s accomplices were rounded up, she was still allowed to compete. While Kerrigan just missed gold and got the silver, Harding skated poorly, almost missed one skate with a broken lace, and eventually finished 8th. 

Army was 7-0, the two-time defending champs, had both the 1945 and 1946 Heisman winners, and like the Army itself, hadn’t lost since before D-Day. Notre Dame was also undefeated, had the 1947 and 1949 Heisman winners, and got a bunch of stars back from the actual army. This was hyped as the “Game of the Century” – and it ended in a 0-0 tie. Perhaps this is a 2017 perspective, but if two all-time great teams play so conservatively that no one scores, that game kinda stinks. 

This was a rematch, seven months after Holyfield had upset Tyson, despite Tyson being a 25-1 favorite. They called it “The Sound and the Fury,” which fit because it was a disjointed narrative dependent on an intellectually-disabled protagonist. Iron Mike looked overmatched immediately, but lost it once Holyfield drew blood with a head butt. At the end of the third round, Tyson bit a chunk of Holyfield’s right ear off and spit it on the canvas. Somehow the referee only deducted two points and let the fight continue, so Tyson bit his left ear, too.

Five-time champion Brazil was hosting the World Cup, and drew three-time champion Germany in the penultimate contest, Germany’s fourth straight World Cup semi-final. Brazil had beaten Germany soundly 12 years earlier to win the Cup, their only previous knockout round appearance. Even with Neymar injured, Brazil was betting favorites, thanks to home-field advantage. The Brazilian crowd was mostly stunned, however, as Germany notched one early goal, then at the 23-minute mark, ripped off four goals in six minutes. The match was effectively over, aside from the tears, the boos, and a final German goal in the 69th minute. Nice.

Iron Mike was just out of prison. Peter McNeeley was 36-1, he threatened to wrap Tyson in “a cocoon of horror” and more important, he was white. McNeeley was knocked down twice in the first round, and his trainer stepped in and stopped the fight. It turned out that the trainer had a million-dollar bet on the fight lasting less than 90 seconds. Later, McNeeley would cash in himself with a lucrative commercial in which he was knocked out by a slice of pizza.

The Knicks called up Jeremy Lin from the D-League right at the end of 2012. By February, they were on the verge of releasing him when he scored 25 points off the bench. Then with Melo out and Lin starting, the Knicks won seven straight. After two glorious weeks Melo was back, and Lin’s shots disappeared. The Knicks started March with six straight losses, and after the sixth, Mike D’Antoni resigned. Ten days after that, Lin was out for the year, and four months later he was a Rocket. Linsanity was exciting, but ultimately it barely lasted a month.

The fight between the two contenders had been rumored since 2009, but the boxers finally put it together after six years of arguing over purse splits and drug testing. However, they were both older, slower, and more banged-up. Pacquaio tore his rotator cuff leading up the fight and re-injured it in the fourth round. Mayweather was content to play defense for 12 rounds, and won a decision, and afterward, disgruntled fans filed more than 32 class-action lawsuits against the promoters.

Reebok built its Summer Olympic ad campaign around decathletes Dan O’Brien and Dave Johnson. “Dan vs. Dave” started with a big Super Bowl ad and kept building hype – until Dan no-heighted the pole vault at the Olympic Trials. He didn’t even make it to Barcelona, where Dave broke his foot and only took home the bronze medal. Ultimately the only winners of “Dan vs. Dave” were advertisers. 

This wasn’t just a re-match of the 1996 Series, but a battle for “Team of the Decade.” The Braves had eight straight division titles and five World Series appearances, while the Yankees were trying to win their third championship. The Braves had beaten the Mets in a epic NLCS featuring Robin Ventura’s “Grand Slam Single,” and the Yankees had added Roger Clemens to the previous year’s 114-win team. Ultimately it wasn’t close – the Braves only managed nine runs in the series and the true Team of the '90s swept easily.