The Underdog

Everyone loves to root for the underdog.  There are stories, books, and movies that portray underdogs making their way to the top - Hoosiers, Rudy, and even The Mighty Ducks capture America's interest and demonstrate our need to root for the underdog.  I actually don't think you can make a sports movie that doesn't involve an underdog or an eventual champion needing to defeat an "evil" competitor or at least fight through adversity to become successful.

Everyone loves an underdog, including
The Underdog!

We love to see the almighty champion fall from grace through defeat and give way to an upcoming star.  Which is why I have been fascinated with America's obsession with Tiger Woods this week as he returned to the PGA Tour after an on-again, off-again two years of injury, family issues, and even bigger personal issues, all while trying to regain his form that made him golf's undisputed best player for 10+ years in a row.

Tiger's return to the course this week in the World Golf Championship (a tournament he has won 7 times!) has led the sports newscasts and talk shows since his 2-under 68 vaulted him into the discussion of whether he could regain his form at the 76-man tournament and win on tour for the first time since 2009.  Two days later he is in 38th place going into Sunday's final round.  Yet, the first news story is about Tiger's consecutive rounds that have dropped him from contention.

Tiger Woods is hoping to be all-smiles 
on the golf course again in the near future.

The news should really be about the third round leader, Adam Scott (who recently made the controversial decision to hire Tiger's long-time caddie, Steve Williams), or about 19-year old Japanese phenom, Ryo Ishikawa, who is chasing Scott from one stroke behind.  (Ishikawa, by the way, has already said he is donating ALL of his 2011 earnings to the tsunami relief fund in his native Japan).  Now those are stories worthy of a lead-in on SportsCenter!  And although they will be mentioned in the highlights, the first name mentioned is Tiger Woods.

Is the mighty Tiger Woods actually an underdog as he struggles to regain his championship form?  I don't think so.  He's still way too talented to ever be considered an underdog on the golf course.  Do some people root for Tiger's failure given his past improprieties and personal mistakes?  Absolutely.  But I think people - for the most part - are fascinated with Tiger Woods and are actually pulling for him to get back to the top.  The reason:  America never really had the opportunity to see Tiger unseated by the underdog.  Tiger unseated himself - off the course - on that fateful night when he drove his Escalade into a tree and everything hit the fan.  Since Tiger's quick descent from the top, there hasn't been a single player on the PGA Tour that has captured the undisputed top spot.  Case in point: there have 14 different champions in the last 14 PGA major championships.  Golf needs Tiger to regain the top spot and capture the public's imagination so they can then turn around and cheer for the underdogs, such as Ryo Ishikawa, so the underdogs can be appreciated and praised more than they would be without the guy to beat at the top.  America loves the underdog more than the champion.

The NBA thrived this past season as the Miami Heat became the hated
"champion" after their self-praising pep rally (above) shortly after the Heat
signed Wade, Bosh, and James.  The "underdog" Mavericks defeated the Heat
in the NBA Finals - much to America's delight.

Sports is not as dramatic or interesting for the casual fan if there is not a champion at the top to defeat.  People love to cheer against teams like the Yankees, Heat, and Duke because of their success (or the self-assumed success in the case of the Heat).  The teams in the Mountain West Conference hated BYU when they left the Conference not because they went independent and abandoned the conference, but because the fans and the teams lost their hated and evil champion to go after year after year.  The PGA Tour and its fans are hoping for (and frankly, need) Tiger to return to the top in order for the sport to return to the forefront of the American sports scene. So they can then root for the underdog.