Underdog (competition)
An
underdog is a party in a
competition, frequently in
electoral politics or
sports, who is popularly expected to lose. The party which is expected to win is called the
favorite. If the underdog wins, the event is known as an
upset. These terms are commonly used in
sports betting. The origin of the word Underdog comes from Naval Ship Building when the planks of wood were sawn for their construction. The logs of wood were placed over a pit on planks of wood called "Dogs" (a bit like fire dogs). The senior sawsman stood on top of the plank and he was the overdog. The junior had to go into the pit and saw and of course he got covered in saw dust. He was the "Underdog".
History
*The
Biblical David who slew the champion
Goliath*The ancient
Greeks over the mighty
Persian Empire at the
Battle of Salamis*The Scottish army of
Robert the Bruce, outnumbered almost three to one by the English force of
Edward II at the
Battle of Bannockburn.
*The
Knights Hospitaller against the overwhelming
Ottoman forces during the
Great Siege of Malta*The defending
British fleet was victorious over the "invincible"
Spanish Armada in June
1588*The American revolutionary forces against the British army during the
American Revolutionary War.
*The
Royal Navy at the
Battle of Trafalgar*American
volunteers, led by
Andrew Jackson, defeated the regular British army during the
Battle of New Orleans with minimal losses
*1.400 Indian warriors withstood 40.000 government troops during the Second
Seminole War*The
Confederate Army's initial victories in the
American Civil War*The
Battle of Vimy Ridge during
World War I in which Canadian forces managed to defeat the seemingly invincible German army who had already defeated both the French and British in that locale
*Sergeant
Alvin York and his men raided a German machine gun stronghold during World War I
*
Finland against the
Soviet Union during the
Winter War.
*The
RAF staving off the vastly superior
Luftwaffe in the
Battle of Britain.
*The
United States Navy at the
Battle of Midway.
Politics
*
U.S. President Harry Truman in the
1948 presidential election*
Minnesota Senator
Paul Wellstone in
1990*
Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold in
1992*
Tennessee Senator
Bill Frist in
1994*Minnesota
Governor Jesse Ventura in
1998Sports
*In the
1936 Summer Olympics in
Berlin,
Germany, Japan won against the favourite team Sweden, 3-2 in the soccer competition.
*On
June 29,
1950, during the
1950 FIFA World Cup in
Brazil, the
USA defeated highly ranked
England, 1-0
*In
Super Bowl III, the
New York Jets, led by quarterback
Joe Namath, defeated the heavily favored
Baltimore Colts 16-7.
*In
1972,
Top professional side were beaten by then-amateur team in the
FA Cup replay after the two teams drew at Newcastle's home stadium,
St. James' Park.
*In
1978, Irish
rugby union team,
Munster Rugby defeated the
All Blacks 12 points to nil. The game was later turned into a stage play,
Alone it Stands.
*In
1980, the
United States hockey team consisting of amateurs and college players defeated the Olympic hockey superpower, the
Soviet Union. The amazing upset was called the "
Miracle on Ice."
*The
1985 Villanova University basketball team (8 seed) defeated the
Georgetown University basketball team (1 seed) in the
Men's NCAA Tournament Final*
Boxer James "Buster" Douglas, given
odds of 42-to-1 by one
Las Vegas sports book, handed the previously-undefeated
Mike Tyson his first ever professional defeat in
Tokyo,
Japan on February 11,
1990*In the
1992 European Football Championship in
Sweden,
Denmark won the entire tournament. Denmark was a reserve team because of the
Yugoslav Wars.
*In 1994, the
Denver Nuggets (42-40; 8 seed) beat the
Seattle SuperSonics (64-18; 1 seed) in the first round of the playoffs.
*In
2002, the
New England Patriots defeated the
St. Louis Rams 20-17 in
Super Bowl XXXVI. In retrospect this seems less an underdog story because the Patriots went on to dominate the
NFL for 3 more years, but at the time the Rams were favored by 14 points, making it the second largest upset in
Super Bowl history.
*In
2001, the hugely favored
Iowa State University basketball team (2 seed) lost to the
Hampton University basketball team (15 seed) in the first round of the
NCAA Tournament*In the
2002 Winter Olympics in
Salt Lake City,
Utah,
USA, Belarus won, 3-2, over the favourite team from Sweden in the
men's ice hockey competition.
*In the
2003 National League Championship Series, the
Florida Marlins down 3-0 in the 8th inning of a crucial Game 6 against the favored
Chicago Cubs, went on to score eight runs in the
eighth inning to eventually win the NLCS series and the
2003 World Series against the
New York Yankees. Making it their second World Series title in there ten years of existence.
*In the
football competition,
Greece, which some sports books gave 150-1 odds to win at the start of the tournament, defeated the hosts
Portugal in their opening match, the holders
France, the favourites
Czech Republic in the semifinals, and Portugal again in the final to complete a shocking win.
*In 2004, the
Boston Red Sox were down three games to none against the heavily favored
New York Yankees in the
American League Championship Series, and the Red Sox won four games in a row to defeat the Yankees four games to three, en route winning their first
World Series title in eighty-six years.
*During the 2005
MLB playoffs, the
Houston Astros, a
wildcard team, were expected to lose to the
St. Louis Cardinals, owners of the best record in baseball, in the
2005 National League Championship Series; however, they managed to beat the Cardinals in a 4-2 series and reach the
World Series in the first time in franchise history.
*In the
2005-06 NFL playoffs, the
Pittsburgh Steelers were the #6 seed in the AFC playoffs, and went on to pull off upsets at Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Denver, en route to a controversial 21-10 victory over the
Seattle Seahawks in
Super Bowl XL. However, the Steelers were favoured to defeat the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
*In the
2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, the
George Mason Patriots defeated the heavily favored
Connecticut Huskies 86-84 to make it to the
Final Four.
* The 8th seeded
Edmonton Oilers team upset the
President's Trophy winner Detroit in the first round of the NHL Playoffs. They then upset the heavily favoured San Jose Sharks in the semi-finals and then the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the Conference Finals. They advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, being the first 8th seeded team to ever do so. The Oilers went down 3-1 in the series but came back to force a game 7. However, the Oilers still lost the game and did not win the Stanley Cup.
* The
Miami Heat winning the
2006 NBA Finals. Though they finished the season 52-20, they were considered weak, despite a strong finish and the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. They faced the
Chicago Bulls,and beat them in 6 games. They were paired up with the
New Jersey Nets,and expected to lose; after losing the first game, they took the next four to win the series. In the Eastern Conference Finals, they were up against the league-leading
Detroit Pistons, considered the league's best team; Miami won the series in 6 games. In the finals, their opponent was the
Dallas Mavericks. Dallas was clearly the better team, and beat Miami 2 times in a row to take an 0-2 lead. Miami however, refused to quit, and beat the Mavericks 4 straight to take the series and the championship, becoming the third team in NBA History to win the championship following an 0-2 deficit, joining the 1969
Boston Celtics and 1977
Portland Trail Blazers.
Dwyane Wade was named
NBA Finals MVP.
Underdogs often play the protagonist role in popular culture.Most often - in
action movies.
*
Rocky Balboa in
Rocky*
Daniel LaRusso in
The Karate Kid*The
nerds in
Revenge of the Nerds*The hapless cat in several
Tom and Jerry (MGM) episodes
*The
Rebel forces defeat over the Imperial juggernaut in the
Star Wars universe
*
Contender*
Cinderella
