June 18, 2008
Greatness Overpowers The Underdog Impulse
By Tom BevanRooting for the underdog is an immutable truth of human nature. It’s what we do. It’s what we’ve always done, ever since that biggest of all underdogs, David, picked up his slingshot more than two thousand years ago.
In sports, the allure of the underdog remains so powerful that only a tiny handful of athletes in a given generation can transcend it. By the sheer power of their prowess, these athletes make us forget the underdog impulse and root for their continued domination.
Michael Jordan was such an athlete. Every time he stepped on the court most of us wanted to see him win, we wanted to see him rack up as many points as he could driving and dunking, and we didn’t care how many underdogs he trampled along the way.
Jordan’s greatness was evident from the beginning, and you couldn’t help but root for him to do what seemed to be destiny’s bidding. When Jordan got the ball with 3 ticks left on the clock against the Cavs in Game 5 in 1989, how many people (outside of Cleveland, of course ) didn’t want to see him make what came to be known as “The Shot?”
And despite the Bulls’ five titles and utter dominance of the league over the ensuing nine years, in the waning seconds of Game 6 of the 1998 Finals against the Jazz, how many people (outside of Utah, of course) shed a tear of sorrow when Jordan “nudged” Bryon Russell and stepped back to hit the game winner that secured his sixth and final title? No one I know.
To the contrary, Jordan was such an especially gifted player that it was impossible for most people not to root for him. No matter how many games or titles he won, we always wanted to see him win more. Because we knew then, as we can see even more clearly now, that we were watching probably the greatest basketball player ever.
So it is with Tiger Woods – and so it was this weekend at the US Open. Yes, the fans at Torrey Pines cheered on the underdog throughout Sunday, and especially on Monday, urging him to hang tough against the best player in the world. Yet as much we all admired Rocco’s gritty play and loved his carefree disposition, his Cinderella story was no match for the power of Tiger’s race for the history books.
We root for Tiger in spite of - or more precisely, because of - his dominance. We tune in to see him make shots that no one else on the planet can make, and to rise to historic occasion after historic occasion. We know we are lucky enough to have a front row seat to watch as Eldrick Woods tries to scale the equivalent of golf’s Mt. Everest. We’ve become vested in his chase for greatness, and we will tune in each time he tees it up at a Major to root for him as he tries to take the next step. And like Tiger, we won’t be satisfied until we see him reach the summit.
