Why we love the underdog

As I watched Butler play Duke on Monday night I could not help but go back a couple weeks to my posting on becoming a Duke fan. In that posting I talked about how clean of a program Duke ran, how their coach never got in trouble with the NCAA, and basically how they should be the model by which all other programs should follow. Even Brad Stevens, the new 'it' coach in the NCAA, admitted to reading Coach K's books. This should have been another crowning achievement for Duke and secured its spot as one of the elite programs ever in NCAA men’s basketball. But instead, all anyone will remember about this tournament is the Butler Bulldogs. When asked to remember one memorable play from the final game, everyone will talk of the missed 3 desperation shot at the buzzer by baby faced Gordan Hayward that would have been the most dramatic shot in sports history. I racked my brain and could not think of a defining play by a Duke player in the final few minutes of the game? Which got me to thinking: what makes the underdog in sports so appealing? Here are my reasons with specific examples from recent history.

1. We love surprises

One of the all time best endings to a movie was watching Kevin Spacey's limp disappear as he walked down the street at the conclusion of The Usual Suspects. For 2 hours, we were trying to figure out who Keyser Soze was. As the realization came over the audience that Spacey's character had tricked us for the entire movie, it made the movie that much better. We told friends that the ending of Usual Suspects was amazing. You'll never figure out the twist, etc.... There are so many movies that go according to plan (Avatar, Spiderman, Transformers, anything featuring Hugh Grant) that we love to be shocked.

The same goes for sports. While we can appreciate dominance, there is nothing like a good surprise. Sure we enjoyed watching North Carolina march to the crown last season. They were so talented that they could have given the Raptors a run for their money. But watching a team defy odds like the Butler Bulldogs did this year kept us coming back for more. Hearing the news that Butler beat Syracuse puts a jolt in our day. Hearing that Duke beat Purdue just makes us nod and suspect that this is how it should be. Take out the 'surprise' factor in sports and you lose a ton of the suspense.

2. There is something in all of us that relates to the underdog

Whether it was the time that you got to dance with the cute girl that you thought was way out of your league or the time you unexpectedly made a team when you didn't think you could, we have all been the underdog at some point in our lives. There is a part of us who relates. I cannot remember a time when a favorite all of a sudden had a bandwagon effect and everyone started getting on board. Its in our nature to relate to the underdog.

Take Conan O'Brien for example. This past winter he was involved in one of the weirdest entertainment situations in recent memory. He was given the Tonight Show in Los Angeles, taking over for Jay Leno. He had always been self deprecating but now he had finally been recognized as the new face of NBC late night television. Than something weird happened. NBC was not getting the ratings they needed from Leno in his new prime time slot and they decided to move him back to the Tonight Show slot. This started a riot in Conan land, with everyone picking sides and turning against Leno and backing Conan. The funny thing is if those fans would have been loyal to Conan when he was in the Tonight Show slot this situation would have never occurred. There is no way NBC moves the shows around if Conan was getting good ratings. But instead, all the 'loyal' followers jump on board when all of a sudden he is in the 'underdog' role again. Everyone wants the little guy to succeed until he does. If Butler goes on a run again next year, they won't be America's team. They had their shot. If you’re not sure about this, ask Gonzaga.

3. We love to see people fail

Underdogs don't fail. They have no expectations so failure isn't an option. As discussed in my Tiger Woods post a couple weeks ago, the only thing American sports fans like more than a success story is that same success to fail. We would have loved to see the Blue Devils stymied by little Butler the other night only to see the disappointment on their faces. Failure means coaches have to explain their actions. Tom Izzo has to explain why he put the ball in Dancing Bear's hands 20 ft from the hoop when they needed a basket. Grady Little has to explain why he left Pedro in 1 inning too long. Marc Crawford has to explain how he could not have included Wayne Gretzky in the shootout in the 98' Olympics. Wayne Gretzky has to explain how a Canadian team could not win the 06' Olympics. We love to see people squirm and fail.

I think this is due to the fact that we all fail so often. It makes us feel better when someone else fails. Just like we relate to the underdog we relate to the failure. If people never fail we start to become jealous and root against them. Tiger's bandwagon will grow now that he has more doubters. If he is challenging this Sunday at the Masters, he will have hordes of people rooting for him. For the first time in his life, he may be the underdog!

Next time you are watching a game, whether it be the NHL playoffs, NBA playoffs, or the Masters this weekend, ask yourself why you are all of a sudden rooting for a particular team. Is it sympathy? Do you relate to them? Or are you just secretly hoping to see an epic failure that makes you feel better about the times you've tripped up. I know Brad Stevens has no explaining to do today about his decisions down the stretch. In fact, the only decision he has to make is whether to chase the money to Oregon or stay put as the local hero in Indianapolis. Oh the life of the underdog!