In
sports, the terms
Cinderella or
"Cinderella Story" are used to refer to situations in which competitors achieve far greater success than would reasonably have been expected. Cinderella stories tend to gain much media and fan attention as they move closer to the championship game at the end of the tournament. The term comes from
Cinderella, a well-known European folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. The title character is a woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune. In a sporting context the term has been used at least since 1939, but came into widespread usage in 1950, when the
Disney movie came out that year, and in reference to
City College of New York, the unexpected winners of the NCAA Men's Basketball championship also that year. The term was used by
Bill Murray in the
1980 hit movie
Caddyshack where he pretends as the announcer to his own golf fantasy: "Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the
Masters champion."