no team in baseball had ever rallied from being down 0-3 in a playoff series, and the red sox certainly didn't look like they would be the first to pull it off. in game 3 against the new york yankees, the red sox had gotten pummeled, 19-8. in game 4, the yankees led 4-3 in the ninth inning on the cusp of clinching, and had their ace reliever, mariano rivera, on the mound. thanks to some a timely steal and some clutch hitting, the red sox prevailed 6-4 in 12 innings. they went on the win that series, then sweep the st. louis cardinals in the world series, exorcising the 'curse of the bambino' along the way.
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the ccolts came back from 21-3 deficit to beat their archnemisis, the new england patriots in the afc championship game. it was the most points to overcome in championship history and extremely improbably considering the previous matchups with the two teams
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maryland went down 31-0 to the miami hurricanes in a game in november. both teams were nationally ranked. backup quarterback frank reich came into the game and completed 12 of 15 passes in the second half, throwing for three touchdowns and running for another. the terps won 42-40, at the time the biggest comeback in college football history.
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duke was stacked in 2001, boasting a lineup that included shane battier, chris duhon, jason williams and carlos boozer. still, in the national semifinals, they found themselves down 18 at halftime to the maryland terrapins. at one point in the game they went down 22. at halftime, duke coach mike krzyzewski told his team just to go out an and have fun and not run any set plays. they came back and won 95-84. they went on to beat arizona for the national title.
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the celtics were up 2-1 in the nba finals against the los angeles lakers. but they seemed to be blowing game 4, going down 24 points. they clawed back behind their 'big three'--kevin garnett, paul pierce and ray allen--to win the game 97-91. they won the series in six games for the franchise's 17th nba championship.
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john mcenroe had an incredible match record of 82-3 in 1984. but one of those three losses was perhaps the most painful of his career. in the french open final, he was up two sets to love against ivan lendl. but the wheels came off early in the third set when mcenroe berated a cameraman for a noise coming from his headset. mcenroe lost the third set, but had a golden opportunity to win the match when he went up 4-2 in the fourth. but the strong-willed lendl would prevail, winning that set and the fifth to claim the championship, his first grand slam.
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in one of the greatest tennis matches ever, jennifer capriati fell behind 4-6, 0-4 to martina hingis in the finals of the australian open. capriati fended off four match points in the second set, which she eventually won in a tiebreaker. she went on the take the final set 6-2 and win the grand slam event.
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down four points entering the final round of play, things looked bleak for the us, which had not won the ryder cup since 1993. no ryder cup team had ever come back from a deficit of two points or more. but us captain ben crenshaw said later that he just had a feeling that something special would happen that day. the americans were on fire all day, chipping away at the european lead. on the 17th green during the penultimate match between american justin leonard and spainard jose maria olazabal, leonard sank a 45-foot putt that seemingly sealed the comeback. the american team stormed the green, an act that the european assistant captain would label 'disgusting' because olazabal still had to putt out. when he missed, the us had completed the biggest comeback in ryder cup history.
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the aussie started the final round of the 2006 kraft nabisco championship, a women's major, seven strokes down. she shot a 65 that day, highlighted by a miraculous 116-yard shot holed from the fairway on 18 that would leave her in a tie for the lead. she beat lorena ochoa in a playoff, then did the customary leap into the lake to celebrate the victory.
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the maple leafs, with the legendary conn smythe as team manager, lost the first three games in the 1942 stanley cup finals. behind a hat trick from scarcely used don metz in game 4, the leafs stormed back and won four straight to take home the cup. the 1942 leafs are the only team in history to pull off this feat in a championship series.
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