Our Undying Alliance with the Underdog
This year's Superbowl was a fascinating observation with America's affection and alliance with the underdog. The undefeated Patriots were favored by 12 points and were destined to be the first team in 25 years to "go all the way" without a loss - a true demonstration of a winner. During the season I heard people talk about them in awe. Then as post season played out, there seemed to be a solid shift toward a general disdain for the team, bringing up criticism of this or that, dramatizing them as dirty cheating bastards and a general alliance with "anyone but them."
This is endemic in our culture whether it relates to sports or business. Google was the underdog not too long ago. Mentioned by many in those early days as "finally someone that can beat Microsoft" - now it is seen by some as the New Evil Empire. If you are old enough to remember the beginnings of Microsoft, they too were once the underdog - taking on the likes of that monopolistic collection of drones - IBM. And since I spent a decade at NCR, I remember the stories of IBM being the underdog, when NCR's founder John Patterson coined the term "your fired" by setting fire to the desk of his best sales guy, Thomas Watson, causing him to leave and start IBM. NCR was said to have been loathed by the populace at the time for its sheer dominance. Has our culture grown to simply love losers or just hate whoever reaches Number One?
The phrase "everyone loves a winner" no longer has the resonance it used to. This conceptual coin of "love the underdog/hate number one" has rolled around in my head for a long time, knowing full well that I was steeped in it from childhood. I remember with great fondness and pride those Friday night high school football games rooting my little school's team with its 135lb running back against a team who outweighed us by a little more than two semi's full of steroid-laden muscle. It is not to say that this underdog allegiance is always bad - it is just that I began to wonder how much of this becomes self-identifying and potentially self-fulfilling. Meaning, do we always see ourselves as the underdog, fighting against the tide, which we rationalize as the drive that helps us to succeed - but do we subconsciously keep ourselves in that underdog position hiding a real fear (and loathing) of being the winner, being number one... because of the subconsious feeling that if you win too much, the masses might begin to hate you.
This is endemic in our culture whether it relates to sports or business. Google was the underdog not too long ago. Mentioned by many in those early days as "finally someone that can beat Microsoft" - now it is seen by some as the New Evil Empire. If you are old enough to remember the beginnings of Microsoft, they too were once the underdog - taking on the likes of that monopolistic collection of drones - IBM. And since I spent a decade at NCR, I remember the stories of IBM being the underdog, when NCR's founder John Patterson coined the term "your fired" by setting fire to the desk of his best sales guy, Thomas Watson, causing him to leave and start IBM. NCR was said to have been loathed by the populace at the time for its sheer dominance. Has our culture grown to simply love losers or just hate whoever reaches Number One?
The phrase "everyone loves a winner" no longer has the resonance it used to. This conceptual coin of "love the underdog/hate number one" has rolled around in my head for a long time, knowing full well that I was steeped in it from childhood. I remember with great fondness and pride those Friday night high school football games rooting my little school's team with its 135lb running back against a team who outweighed us by a little more than two semi's full of steroid-laden muscle. It is not to say that this underdog allegiance is always bad - it is just that I began to wonder how much of this becomes self-identifying and potentially self-fulfilling. Meaning, do we always see ourselves as the underdog, fighting against the tide, which we rationalize as the drive that helps us to succeed - but do we subconsciously keep ourselves in that underdog position hiding a real fear (and loathing) of being the winner, being number one... because of the subconsious feeling that if you win too much, the masses might begin to hate you.
