Welcome to the 154th edition of the Carnival of Real Estate (and apologies for the delay).

This is the fourth time we’ve hosted the “CoRE” – previous versions were #33, #37 and #93. All had catchy themes, at least in my mind.

I struggled with a theme for this week’s Carnival. There was just nothing there, nothing that was until Sunday afternoon when I watched a practically unknown golfer named Y.E. Yang win the PGA Championship, besting some guy named Tiger Woods. Yeah, that Tiger Woods who had never surrendered a 54 hole lead in a major until yesterday.

Before the broadcast was over, announcers were asking if this was the greatest upset in sports history. 

Now it was quite the story, but greatest upset ever in sports history? I don’t think so.

So here’s my take on the three greatest upsets in sports history, which I will attempt to very loosely tie into my top three picks for this weeks edition of the Carnival of Real Estate.

#3 – The Buster Douglas Award

In February 1990, Mike Tyson was on top of the boxing world. Undefeated, he routinely demolished his opponents. Then along comes Buster Douglas. A 42 to 1 underdog, he put Tyson on the canvas for the first time ever.

While it’s not entirely fair to call these two entries underdogs, they were for me, much like Buster Douglas was for many, complete unknowns.

Since I can’t make a decision, well call the #3 spot in the Carnival a draw and give the Buster Douglas award to David at MoneyNing for his post, Rental Property vs REIT. It’s a nice discussion of the pros and cons of investing in rental properties vs. Real Estate Investment Trusts. He draws with Ray (what’s with the first name only folks?) at Money Blue Book who penned the tome, What is a Good Credit Score? Nothing earth shattering here, but it’s a good primer on the in’s and out’s of the FICO score.

#2 – The Rulon Gardner Award

In the 2000 Summer Olympics, unheralded Greco-Roman wrestler Rulon Gardner faced Russian behemoth Alexander Karelin in the gold medal match. Karelin was a three-time gold medalist, a nine-time world champ and was undefeated in 13 years of international competition. He had not given up a single point in six years. Gardner’s successes up to that point amounted to a junior college championship and 4th place in the NCAAs.

Well, so much for credentials. In one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history, Gardner defeated Karelin 1-0 to bring home the gold.

While it certainly can’t be called an upset whenever Jonathan Dalton writes anything, JD is the winner of our Rulon Gardner Award. His post, What Halley’s Comet May Portend for Phoenix Real Estate, while it contains some Phoenix specific info, is for me, more of a solid piece of advice. Chiefly that it’s not wise to let expectations trump fact (or maybe even common sense). It’s a good read, but honestly I was hoping Jonathan would submit an earlier piece, Welcome to the Real Estate 1.5 Revolution. I thought that one was masterful.

#1 – The Miracle on Ice

Ask any sports fan to name the top 5 all time upsets and you’ll get a myriad assortment of answers. But I’ll betcha that the 1980 “Miracle on Ice”, where a bunch of 20 year old college kids beat a world dominating team of Soviet Union pros, will be WAY up everyone’s list. I’ll never forget watching that game. Heck, makes me misty-eyed just thinking about it.

Now Dan Melson doesn’t exactly make me misty-eyed, but the man does have a winning way. His post on Searchlight Crusade, Two Things Sellers Need To Understand About Buyers, should be required reading for all home sellers. Dan writes longer posts than I do, but he is consistently on top of his game. SC is a regular stop for me.

On the CoRE, and Trivia!

So there you have it folks. There were 17 submissions this week. One was so full of ads it was basically unreadable. There were two very good posts from a group blog, but the CoRE rules clearly state that only one submission per blog address is allowed. The remainder were all quite well done. There were a lot of local, consumer targeted posts, which I think is great. I encourage everyone who submitted a post this week to keep on submitting — “winning” is really quite subjective and a matter of the hosts tastes and mood. And if you aren’t submitting posts to the Carnival of Real Estate, why not? You can get more info here.

And finally, have you ever wondered how the word “upset” came to be used for an improbable outcome in a competition?

Sure you have.

In 1919 and 1920, there was a legendary thoroughbred horse named Man o’ War who was considered by many to be one of the greatest racehorses of all time. Man o’ War raced 21 times, and only lost once – to a 100 to 1 long shot horse named Upset.