Underdog - rooting for and being one

Then there were 4 – four teams filled with hope and possibility; four teams looking to next weekend as their appointment with destiny; four teams of young men looking for glory; four teams of dreamers, finger-crossers, starry-eyed, talented and very athletic basketball players who are ending up where few will ever be. Only one of the #1 ranked teams is still in the mix. The underdog team that I had picked, St. Mary’s of California, is no longer among the survivors … but Butler is.

I’m not sure if I am more taken with the team or their coach. Both are underdogs! Brad Stevens is only 33 years old, but has the calm demeanor of someone who is much older and wiser. Mr. Stevens left a very promising business career to follow his dream just 9 years ago. He has achieved a success level that few in the ranks of college coaching have ever seen … and he has done it as an underdog.

Rooting for the underdog is an interesting process. We all do it (unless we have a connection with one of the other teams as a student, alumnus, etc.) because maybe, just maybe we all feel to some degree we are the underdog. Plus, it really does feel good when the underdog beats the odds. So here is to all the underdogs of the world … may you find the success that is coming your way and may it arrive sooner than you can imagine.

As the spiritual study “Experiencing God: knowing and doing the will of God” teaches, we need to “God size our dreams” – meaning that we need to set out a goal much bigger than our abilities can ever achieve on its own. While leading this dynamic class I came upon a spiritual insight: God never asks us to do something that we can do! … because, if we can do it on our own then we don’t need God, but by including God in the process we can move mountains. Therefore, by “God sizing” our dreams and hopes we are reaching beyond our limits and abilities causing ourselves to stretch our souls to the height of what God intended when he created us in the first place. In other words, to “God size our dreams” is to state upfront that we will not be the underdog any longer for we are truly “somebody because God don’t make junk!” ... to quote a little girl in a picture which hung in my office for a number of years.

Quote for today: Instead of just one, I found many quotes concerning this subject. I am thankful to brainyquote.com for them:

Irving Babbitt: A man needs to look, not down, but up to standards set so much above his ordinary self as to make him feel that he is himself spiritually the underdog.

Kate Beckinsale: Everybody likes the underdog, because everybody feels like the underdog. No matter how successful you are, you always think, No one's being nice enough to me!

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.: I never expect to lose. Even when I'm the underdog, I still prepare a victory speech.

Jessica Hagedorn: I'm an underdog person, so I align myself with those who seem to be not considered valuable in polite society.

Zac Efron: I'm very competitive by nature. And I like to be the underdog - It's the best way to win. To come from behind and win is a great feeling!

Steve Guttenberg: If you're an underdog, mentally disabled, physically disabled, if you don't fit in, if you're not as pretty as the others, you can still be a hero.

Lakhdar Brahimi: There is also a natural and very, very strong empathy with the underdog, with people who have suffered, people who have been pushed around by foreigners in particular, but also by their own people.

Happy Chandler: We Americans are a peculiar people. We are for the underdog, no matter how much of a dog he is.

Johnny Weissmuller: With but few exceptions, it is always the underdog who wins through sheer willpower.

Maria Sharapova: Well, fans always root for the underdog.