The wide world of sports gives us entertainment, hope, controversy, excitement and so much more. One of the greatest spectacles and wonders of sports is seeing an outmatched athlete or team overcome an opponent or situation when sheer logic doesn’t even explain how the underdog could emerge victorious.
Fandom of sports is littered with its share of fair weather fans and those who take allegiance with the winning teams. Even looking at last season in the NFL, four out of the ten top-selling jerseys were Dallas Cowboys players.
Understandably, most fans enjoy seeing incredible athletic feats and accomplishments that seem superhuman at times, but in all sports there are countless fans who harbor an admiration and love for the underdog.
We’ve all had experiences with losing. Whether it’s that one player at the sports club who defeats you every single time, getting edged out for a job promotion, being cut from team tryouts, or even having the gorgeous girl pick your good-looking best friend over of you, we can all relate to the struggles of an athlete who just can’t overcome their obstacle.
When that underdog athlete overcomes the challenges and defies the odds, it gives us hope and inspiration. It gives us belief that even we are capable of pulling off the impossible.
As Americans, most of us like to see a David defeat a Goliath... to see the success of a hard working and heavily outnumbered athlete... to see sheer will and determination defeat the challenges and obstacles... to see that no one entity is completely invincible or unstoppable. This is one facet of sports that keeps it so thrilling and exciting.
I look forward to examining and shedding some spotlight on the underdog stories in sports, to celebrating the successes of the underdogs, highlighting significant contributions of lesser known players, analyzing why a certain team or player will defy the odds and expectations to succeed (and at times, why the team or player are rightfully surrounded in doubt), and I’ll even be making some predictions of impending but shocking upsets. (I’ll try not to get too crazy with my predictions though.)
I look forward to having you along for the ride.
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