Leicester City is Greatest Underdog Story in Sports History

I have been spoiled as a sports fan. I have seen some of the greats in their prime. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, Kobe Bryant, Thierry Henry, I have been a witness to all of their greatness. I have also seen some of the greatest teams: Jordan's Bulls, Shaq and Kobe's Lakers, Arsenal's Invincibles. I have seen how sports can unite groups of people and heal them even in the darkest of times. Yet I have never seen anything like the 2015-2016 Leicester City team. Some will say that this is hyperbolic and only living in the moment. But that is not the case, as I know that Jim Valvano's Cardiac WolfPack and the US Hockey Miracle on Ice were both monumental upsets. Those however were just small sample sizes and a tournament run that has become common.  What this ragtag bunch of afterthought players have accomplished is more monumental. Leicester City is the greatest underdog story in the history of sports. 

Of course any great underdog story has a ragtag bunch of players that defy the odds. By now many have become familiar with the stories of Jaime Vardy and Riyad Mahrez. The story of how Vardy began his career with the Stocksbridge Park Steels and toiling in the Northern Premier League before singing a contract with Leicester. How now he is tied for the most goals in the league. His story  is just made for a Hollywood movie. Then there is Mahrez, the Algerian winger that started in Ligue 2 club Le Havre. A player that had shown flashes of brilliance, but pundits wondered if he could ever put it all together. After all at Le Havre he only scored 6 goals. He was not wanted by any of the big Ligue 1 sides nor any other big European clubs considered Mahrez. Now he has been the one to carry the club when Vardy was not able to. Yet their stories have been shared again and again this season. But what about the other key contributors to Leicester this season? The players that have made this run so captivating.

There is Kasper Schmeichal the son of legendary Dutch and Manchester United keeper Peter Schmeichal. Despite his lineage, Kasper toiled at first often getting loaned out by Manchester City then only spending one season at Notts County before joining Leicester. Kasper has been with Leicester since 2011, when the club was in the championship. He has often been compared to some of the better keepers in Europe, yet he still can not get out of his father's shadow. Sure Kasper has done well in the lower league, but he never won on the big stages. Never could escape being Peter Schmeichal's son. Of course that was compounded by the fact that Leicester did not have a clean sheet through 9 games this season. Much of the blame fell on the keeper's shoulders. Now of course the keeper has tied for the lead in clean sheets. Then there is Leonardo Ulloa, the former Leicester star. Last season he was Mahrez before Mahrez. Ulloa's first premier league season started off sensational as he led the upstarts. Of course like the Foxes he went cold, but he helped keep Leicester in the  league last season. Now he has been relegated to come off the bench, but that does not appear to matter. Ulloa is just  another cog in the machine. Continued  to play his part and win. 

There are countless of other players on this team that represent the underdog nature of this team. There is N'Glo Kante, another player that was passed over by bigger clubs. Danny Drinkwater the Manchester United reject who the bigger club gave up on too early and has found a home in Leicester. Drinkwater called not being brought back by Manchester United the lowest point in his career. After all he grew up Manchester and Manchester United were his boyhood club. Now he has a chance to finish higher than Manchester in the table and experience the highest point of his career.  The captain of the team Wes Morgan who has been with the club throug thick and thin. Of course the most heartwarming of the bunch has been Marc Albrighton. Albrighton's mother in law was killed in 2015 in the Tunisian terror attacks, but despite the mental fatigue he must be suffering, Albrighton has shined. Sure, Vardy and Mahrez have been sensational stories and they should be celebrated. But it is the role players, the others that have truly shined this season. The players that no big club wanted is now doing the impossible. 

But there is another story that is just as captivating. A story that is impossible not to root for. Every single person has had moments in there job that they feel like a failure. Have been so publicly ostracized by coworkers that they have to question their own self worth. Have had their skills and work ethic dragged through the mud. Everyone has asked for multiple chances only to fail again and again. That is why Leiscester City manager Claudio Ranieri's story is so easy to root for. Ranieri is the every man, one that has been beaten down and humiliated. Yet his search for redemption and acceptance is so relatable. It is Ranieri's story that makes this Leiscester City team so easy to support. Ranieri, like the team he manages,is the ultimate underdog.

Ranieri's nickname is the Tinkerman. A nickname given to him as a way to disparage his skills as manager. Sure Ranieri has managed at some of the biggest teams in the world: Chelsea, Valencia, Inter Milan, Juventus,AS Roma, AS Monaco, yet despite all of his opportunities has never won a league title. 31 years as a manager, 0 league titles. In fact Ranieri has been the face of choking away his opportunities to finally secure a title. At Inter, Juventus, and Roma, Ranieri's clubs held the lead late into the season, but choked their leads away. Many had blamed it on Ranieri's propensity to change successful lineups. That was why he had been called the Tinkerman. Never mind the fact that he won the Copa Del Ray(Spanish cup) or the Coppa Italia(Italian cup) or that Chelsea's recent core of players Frank Lampard, John Terry, Drogba, were all signed or discovered by Ranieri. No Claudio was a joke and a failure in the mind of most. Just a journeyman manager that would toil away without winning a league championship.

There is a now infamous video of when Claudio Ranieri was hired by Leicester after a disastrous run as the manager of Greece's national team. The pundits at Sky Sports labeled the hiring a joke. The pundits said that Ranieri would be the favorite to be the first manager fired and that Leicester would be relegated. That firing bombastic manager Nigel Pearson  was a mistake. Those same pundits have now eaten their words. Hiring Ranieri proved to be the smartest move in the offseason. His experience across some of the bigger leagues in Europe have allowed him to remain calm as his club has inched closer to being champions. It has been Ranieri's composure that has offered stability to this mishmash of players. He has adapted his play style from the attacking style that was seen earlier in the year to a counter attacking approach. The Tinkerman moniker is now more of a compliment than a insult this season. 

As the season has gone on Ranieri has become such an enduring figure. From the time he offered his players pizza to his press conferences. He even said that he was going to not watch Chelsea-Tottenham because he was flying back to Italy  to eat lunch with his 96 year old mother. It is hard not to root for the man. His is the ultimate redemption story. From being disparaged by pundits and fired from every major club job to now (hopefully) finally winning a league title. Ranieri is the type of story that even the most casual of sports fans can get behind.  A story that extends beyond just sports. Claudio Ranieri has become the personification of the underdog ideal. 

Since its inception in 1992, the clubs that have won the premier league have all come from Manchester or London or Blackburn.  In fact the big 4 clubs: Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United have alternated winning the title. The only exception was the 1994-1995 Blackburn Rovers team. It was Blackburn's third overall title in the club history.  Every other season the title has either ended up in Manchester or London. That is what makes this Leicester City run so special. Leicester City has never won a championship, have never finished in 2nd or even 3rd. While they did have four consecutive  top ten finishes in the mid to late 90s, they still did not finish in the top 3. Thus the comparisons to that Blackburn team does not feel like it fits. Blackburn has a history of winning, Leicester do not. This is what makes this run so incredible. Here is a team with no league championship history, 1/4 of the budget of the big 4 clubs, a team that had 5000-1 odds of winning the league,  no previous name recognition outside of England, yet throughout the season they have been near or on top of the league. 

This is not like a team got hot in a tournament and won a one game sample. Leicester City have not only captured the whole heart of soccer fans, but non soccer fans too. People that are just casual fans of sport are now talking about Leicester, even if they continue to struggle to pronounce it. This is beyond the Miracle on Ice or The Cardiac Wolfpack. Leicester winning the league would take the term underdog as we know it and redefine it.  We have never seen anything like this and I doubt we ever will again.