What’s in an Underdog?

According to Merriam Webster dictionary:

It comes from the 19th century dog fights. In those fights, two dogs attacked each other and the loser was termed the ‘underdog’. The winner was termed as ‘top dog’. However, though the expression is originally American, the first recorded use of underdog was seen in descriptions of people by British newspapers.

Definition of underdog

1: a loser or predicted loser in a struggle or contest2: a victim of injustice or persecution

Examples of underdog in a Sentence

 I always root for the underdog instead of the favorite. As a lawyer, she consistently represented the underdog.

With the latest against all odds run of the St. Peter’s Peacocks in the NCAA National Championship Tournament, next to “Cinderella Story”, the more often used term, underdog has been resonating throughout not just the sports world, but even the circles of those who can’t discern the difference between a free-throw and a slam dunk.

I don’t profess to be a big basketball fan. I was a fan of the NY Knicks many moons ago. A team with names like Reed, Frazier, DeBusshere, Bradley and Earl the Pearl Monroe. We are talking late 60s into the 70s. I remember the Knicks of 1969 & 1973 and outside of some good years with Ewing & Starks and company, it’s really been slim pickings.

Again I digress. The purpose of this blog is to discuss the lure of rooting for the underdog. Is it just because we enjoy seeing the unexpected and like to be surprised? Is it because most of us identify more with the underdog? Are their people out there that would admit to not liking the underdog? (Probably Yankee fans……just kidding….sort of…..)

As a sports fan, I am cursed with no other choice but pulling for the underdog. None of the teams I support have ever been categorized as being part of a winning dynasty. With the Mets, Jets, Rangers & Knicks the joy of attaining the pinnacle and a championship are less frequent than seeing a total solar eclipse. Or at least it seems that way.

I tend to think that more of us identify our own lives to the underdog. Many of us tend to live thinking the world is working against us and if something good happens it’s very rare and should be celebrated, but never assumed. I recently had a discussion with a friend saying that it’s even been to the point in my life where when things are going really well, I’m already looking around for something to derail them. I don’t deserve it. How could I be happy when their is so much misery going on around me in other people’s lives. Through some therapy and self analyzing I realized how this is not a healthy perspective. It is not truth, unless YOU decide to make it YOUR truth.

Some of this stems perhaps from Catholic guilt. Being raised in a lower-middle class Archie Bunker type Queens neighborhood, the belief generally was that big things never happened to people like us. While there’s nothing wrong with aspiring to get a city job or government work with good benefits and a decent salary, it often had to take the place of the dream career that many of us may have had. Those aspirations were not for reality, but were to be kept in the fantasy category.

I bring this up as I tried to figure out the root of my almost addictive approach to pulling for the underdog. The truth is, I’m just projecting my life through these teams. While I’ve done much better on the personal level from not feeling like the underdog or more importantly not guilty or undeserving of my successes, I’m still always struggling with true confidence. I now believe underdogs are a necessary entity to success. No matter how much you believe going into pursuing something that you will succeed, the satisfaction of achievement is felt because part of you wasn’t sure it would happen. Otherwise, the word success wouldn’t exist. It’s there because of the times of not succeeding.

I will end it here. I’m hoping for some of you that the takeaway will be the following: it’s OK to feel like an underdog occasionally, it’s OK to not always feel confident, but it’s not OK to believe these to be the perpetual truth. We all have our chance in life to shine if we are willing to take chances. When the feeling of being the underdog creeps into my head or my heart I now turn that around into a strength. As an underdog, there’s actually less pressure due to less expectations. For me personally that allows me to move forward more confidently. However, the first thing that any of us must do is to get ourselves into the game, much like that rag-tag St. Peters basketball team. If you are afraid of failure then you will never have the rewarding feeling of success, unless you act on it.

As a legendary New York Met once said in 1973, “Ya Gotta Believe”! Thanks for that Tug McGraw.

Sunshine Always!