Growing up a New England Patriots fan in the 2000's, I had no idea why so many people hated us so much. I couldn’t understand why people would root against my team to win so often. They would cheer so loudly and so vigorously when Tommy would throw an interception or Ty Law blew a coverage. It just never made any sense. In recent years, with the allegations of cheating sprouting up faster than crab grass and dandelions, I’ve become reserved to the notion that as long as Brady and Belicheck are there I will be in the minority that roots for Goliath.

According to Merriam-Webster.com the term “underdog” was coined just before the turn of the 20^th century. It was used in reference to “the beaten dog in a fight.” Gradually from the term developed into the common form we think of today. However, we’ve heard about underdog stories long before the term was defined. I believe people root for the underdog for three reasons.

• Faith-based literature
• Personal Identification
• Upsetting the natural order

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Faith-Based Literature:

As I alluded to in my opening, one of the first mentions of an underdog comes in the Old Testament of the Bible. Everyone and their mother has heard the parable of David and Goliath. Goliath was the ultimate warrior. He was enormous in size and ego. He was thought to be invincible. That is until young David, small and weak, took a stand against Goliath to protect his homeland of Israel. With nothing but a rock and a cloth, David bested Goliath in battle. David would go on to become the King of Israel. Many with strong Christian beliefs draw comparison with the story of Jesus. Jesus conquers the strongest of enemies, sin, and bests Satan by dying on the cross.

The Quran depicts an early life of tragedy for the religion’s greatest prophet, Muhammad. While it is believed that Muhammad was born into the Banu Hashim family which was a prestigious and influential part of the Quraysh tribe, he was orphaned at a young age losing both his parents before his teenage years. The texts goes on to tell the life of the religion’s prophet and the many trial he faced throughout his life.

The Torah,which is the holy book of the Judaism, tells the story of Moses who leads the Israelites out of Egypt to escape the rule of the Pharaoh. Moses was one man that took on a whole country to fight for what he believed in. With help from God, this one man was able to best the evil rule of a terrible tyrant.

People obtain their morals and beliefs from religion. Most religious institutions teach believers to try to model their lives after their savors. One of the key concepts is that sometimes you must go against the established norms when the whole the world stands against you. That is the ultimate underdog story.

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Personal Identification:

People tend to relate more with the underdog than the ones on top. Most of us are not born into the extreme 1% that will not have to work for anything their entire lives and an argument can be made (not by this writer) that even the one born into the 1% relate more with the underdog. Underdogs have a reputation of being the ones that work their hardest to get to the spot they’re at. Underdogs are always overlooked and told that they aren’t good enough. These emotions are easily shared by a vast majority of the population.

March is always a great time to see how easily people (namely sports fans) identify with underdogs. March Madness is all but done as we prepare for the National Championship tonight. In the past month, experienced some of the greatest college hoops underdog wins of the year. 11 seeded Northern Iowa knocking off the 6 seeded Texas with a half-court buzzer beater, 15 seeded Middle Tennessee State giving 2 seeded Michigan State a first round exit, and the 10 seeded Syracuse Orange making it all the way to the Final Four. Twitter was abuzz with all the upsets and highly ranked teams going down so early on in the tournament. Brackets were busted but people still were pulling for the Steven F. Austin’s and Virginia Commonwealth’s of the tournament.

I’ll watch the tournament games with my bracket in hand and scream for the lower seed to sneak out a victory in a close game even if I don't have them picked to win (unless they’re playing my North Carolina Tar Heels. And before you say anything about being a bandwagon guy “oh you like the Patriots and UNC.” Yes I do. But I’m also a Hawks and Mets Fan. And let’s be honest even though both of those teams are relatively good now, no bandwagon fan would pick those teams. You get a good 3 or 4 seasons and then suck for 25 years before they’re relevant again.). Even when the games screws up my bracket (say like Sparty losing in the first-round to MSTU when I had them winning it all) I somehow feel better knowing the underdog won.

There is some connection we all feel when the a team or person no one expects to do anything special, rises up, and grabs their chance that makes everyone cheer.

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Upsetting the Natural Order:

It’s in human nature to go against the established order of things. In sports, there are generally some absolute certainties when it comes to good teams. Continuing with the college basketball theme, the Duke Blue Devils will generally always be good. For the most part at the beginning of the year Duke will be dancing around in the conversation of who will be hoisting the National Championship trophy at the end. This is part of the reason why people hate Duke so much. The Blue Devils are the established powerhouses in college basketball along with my UNC Tar Heels, the Kansas Jayhawks, and the Kentucky Wildcats. So when a Mercer comes along and knocks the highly seeded Blue Devils out in the first round, people start to get excited. The balance of power has now shifted thereby upsetting the natural order.

When teams are good all the time people get bored. This explains the distaste for my Patriots that I experienced growing up.

The distaste was never as strong as it was in 2007. It felt like everyone wanted the Giants to win the Super Bowl. Not one person I talked to was cheering for Tommy Brady and the undefeated Pats. They were the established best. The Patriots success in the NFL from 2001 to 2007 (and still to the present day) was unmatched by any organization. They thoroughly dominated the league creating a huge target on their backs. They were Goliath and everyone was backing David (only this time his last name was Tyree - pictured below).

The Pats lost. The established order was upset and the nation cheered.

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Underdogs achieve the impossible. They are everything we hope to be. Their tales live famously in our hearts because they make us feel. We identify with them because we have struggles of our own that seem insurmountable at times, yet we still overcome. We find a way to best our own Goliath's. We want to be the ones that change how people perceive a “sure thing.”

As much as we all claim to want to be the top dog, we identify more with the over-looked because that’s who we are. We are the ones no one thinks anything of. We are the underdog.