Why Do We Naturally Support the Underdog in Sports?
Why do we love an underdog? That's the little guy who comes up against a big powerhouse. Think Rocky Balboa vs. Ivan Vasilyevich Drago. Or The Mighty Ducks. They're the unfavoured ones battling against all the odds. Everyone wants to see the underdog rise and triumph against the favourites.
We all typically root for the little guy in sports. Why is that? Do we like rebelling against the authority? Is it part of us being on the side of resistance? Or do we just enjoy suffering likely defeat?
Well an Indiana University professor named Edward Hirt did a study in 1992 where participants watched their favourite basketball team play. The results linked their either team winning or losing with participants self esteem, to the point that participants saw themselves as more sexually desirable when their team won.
So what about for casual fans who don't have a particular allegiance to a favourite team? Or when your favourite team is no longer in contention and you're going for your "second" team?
A year before Hirt's study, researchers at the Bowling Green State University published a paper called "the underdog concept in sport". They demonstrated that 81% of people in the study chose the underdog in a hypothetical sports match-up. When the underdog won a game, half of the 81% of people who originally wanted the underdog to win, then switched allegiance and wanted the original favourites to win.
So why are we then so attracted to the underdog?
To begin with, most of us can naturally relate to underdogs. Life is mostly an uphill battle with many losses and we need to make with what we've got. There's a little big of underdog in all of us then. When an underdog wins, we suddenly feel there is a little bit more fairness in the world.
When I take a look at one of the biggest upsets in history, Super Bowl XLII, this is a perfect example where we revel in the fact that an underdog won.
When the Giants won, we all suddenly saw a bit more fairness in the world. The concept of "Schadenfreude" then comes to play. It's a loan word from the German language which is unconsciously taking pleasure from the misfortunes of others. Because those misfortunes are those of a Goliath, the Patriots in this case, we draw huge pleasure.
You really only go for the Patriots if you live in New England or if you're a glory hunter. The Giants came into the Super Bowl as 12-point underdogs, were a wild card team and against a Patriots side that were undefeated the entire season up to that point. No Wild Card team had ever won a Super Bowl to that point. You can't get much more underdog than that.
The Patriots-Brady era is also one of the biggest dynasties of all-time and anyone who isn't a Pats fan will feel the unfairness in that. We all feel a little bit envious too. I mean, who wouldn't want their own team to have a dynasty like New England's?
Who doesn't love the fact the Giants upset the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII?
Source: Photo by Ted Kerwin shared under Creative Commons (CC) license.
Another of my favourite underdog sports moments is without a doubt Leicester City's 2015-16 Premier League miracle. The club were 5,000-to-1 odds of winning the title and somehow they did it. I was absolutely delighted that an underdog could knock off big teams like Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal to win the unlikely. Again, there's the envious side of our human nature.
But then we also take pleasure in the fact that Leicester were not expected to succeed and because they did, it's a feel good story for us. Deep down as humans we naturally go for the underdog because we also feel that they need us. Perhaps we subconsciously feel that we willed them on to victory and that they couldn't have done it without us.
An underdog win also gives us some hope. That anything, and I mean anything is possible. If Leicester won the Premier League at 5000-1 odds, why can't our Sunday league football team do it too?
A modern day David vs. Goliath story
Source: Photo by Peter Woodentop shared under Creative Commons (CC) license.
To sum it up, we love an underdog. We can all relate in life to how it feels like to be an underdog. When an underdog wins, the world suddenly feels fair again. All that envy disappears while we get to enjoy our win, until reality is restored again.
So next time an underdog wins, take a step back, enjoy it, and embrace the moment.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Wolfgang Sport started in 2017 as a way to connect my passion for American and British sports. Today it's evolved into a blockchain sports blog pushing the boundaries into the crypto world and embracing Web3 technologies.
nice topic. I Think because most of us probably consider ourselves to be underdogs in life, just in a general sense because the system is kind of rigged to favor those that have influence already. Therefore, someone or some team that seems to not be part of the system appeals to the normal person. I think that is why it appeals to me anyway.
Well said, and personally is my exact train of thought as well. When the odds are geared away from our favour and we can overcome those odds, nothing can beat the feeling of that success
That's so right, my brother. We support them because we can relate to them and we hoped to have an opportunity just as they have. It's not even about revolting against the power that be, but sometimes we want to see something different from what we have been used to and the moment that opportunity comes, we stick with it.
So true. Not many people would argue with Leicester City winning the Premier League. Heck I'm sure fans of the Top Six clubs would've been happy for them. They're probably happy that none of their other title rivals won it that season too.
Hahaha absolutely... There is that relief...that newness it gives... I was happy they won it. It was unique.
When I back an underdog, it's because I want something different from a team that always wins, or because I think my team will benefits if they win.
Thanks man. Yep I think it is human nature for us to want something a little different at times. I mean, we can't have vanilla ice cream every day, can we?
Exactly 😁 you might want to have chocolates some other days
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Underdogs get the usual support only because, they are weak and it is natural human tendency to support the ones who needs improvement and upgrade.
Thats true, in fact and part of that you said is also correct,giants are expected to fall, because they are potentially giant and people also entertained to see them fall.
Good write,👍