defending champion

Arnold Palmer, the defending champion, lost his title on the 72nd hole after a few minutes of misfortune that left even his fellow pros gaping in disbelief.

However, in their first-ever Super Bowl appearance, they were defeated 34 – 19, by the defending champion Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII.

The proof of Cleveland's mettle came quickly: its NFL regular-season opener was against the two-time defending champion Eagles on September 16 in Philadelphia.

* 1972 – The first game of the World Chess Championship 1972 between challenger Bobby Fischer and defending champion Boris Spassky starts.

The Jaguars ended the season losing 28 – 3 to the two-time defending champion New England Patriots on January 7, 2006 in the AFC wild card playoff round.

But at Wimbledon, as the defending champion, Hewitt lost in the first round to qualifier Ivo Karlović.

At the year ending 2004 Tennis Masters Cup, Hewitt defeated Andy Roddick to advance to the final, but was yet again defeated by defending champion Federer.

1 and defending champion Roger Federer in the semifinals.

At the 2006 French Open, Hewitt reached the fourth round, where he lost to defending champion and eventual winner Rafael Nadal in four sets.

ESPN's Peter Gammons and Dan Patrick both picked The Brewers to beat out the defending champion Cardinals and re-vamped Chicago Cubs to win the NL Central.

In 2000, the Saints won their first playoff game as they hosted the St. Louis Rams and after having a better road record than home record, they wore their white jerseys, and won 31 – 28 over the defending champion Rams.

The 2011 – 12 NBA season, scheduled to begin November 1, 2011 with a matchup between the defending champion Dallas Mavericks and the Chicago Bulls, was postponed due to a labor dispute.

But Dawson silenced the critics and led Kansas City to a strong finish in the playoffs, defeating the defending champion Jets in New York, 13-6 in the Divisional Playoffs, and defeating the Raiders 17-7 in the AFL Championship Game, thus essentially making the Chiefs the first wild card team to play in the Super Bowl.

The Cowboys were eventually able to score two touchdowns in the final minutes of the game, but still ended up being the first defending champion to lose in the Super Bowl, and to date the only losing Super Bowl team to score 30 points or more.

The Redskins became the second defending champion to lose a Super Bowl ( their divisional rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, were the first, losing Super Bowl XIII after winning Super Bowl XII ).

In 1983, they made it to the Stanley Cup Final, only to be swept by the three-time defending champion New York Islanders.

Real Madrid is the current defending champion.

In the Orioles ' four-game sweep of the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers, Robinson hit two home runs — in Game One, which Baltimore won 5 – 2, and in Game Four, the only run of the game in a 1 – 0 series-clinching victory.

At the French Open, Davenport defeated defending champion Iva Majoli in the quarterfinals, before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals.

In April 2010 the Thunder secured a position in the NBA's Western Conference Playoffs, having their best season since the mid 90's and winning two games in a series against the defending champion Lakers.

Fourteen teams qualified from this process, along with host nation Chile and defending champion Brazil, for the finals tournament.

* Football World Cup 2002: Senegal defeats defending champion France 1 – 0.

At the US Open, Sampras defeated defending champion and fifth-seeded Mats Wilander in the second round before losing to world number 13 Jay Berger in the fourth round.

Upon entering the US Open as the defending champion that year, he caused controversy when, after losing in the quarterfinals to Jim Courier, Sampras said that he was not disappointed and felt relieved that the pressure to defend his title was no longer on him.

Their next Grand Slam meeting was at the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1993, where Agassi was the defending champion and Sampras was the newly minted world number 1.