Get yer "Roy Hobbes" official T-shirt here!

Do you often find yourself rooting for the underdog? Yeah, me too. Even when I have a favorite in whatever kind of contest it is, I still have this urge to root for the underdog. I'm pretty sure this is some kind of primal urge. Maybe we identify more readily with perpetual losers.

I like to muse about why we, as a species, do certain things. My unifying theory for all human behavior is that it's all about the survival instinct. That pretty much covers just about every behavior... except this one. What can possibly be positive for survival in backing the likely loser? Backing likely winners makes much more sense, doesn't it?

Yet we cheer on the underdog. We take great pleasure in what are called "upsets." Some of us go further... I was a long time fan of the San Diego Padres... and then there's the Chicago Cubs fans. Speaking of which (if I may digress just a little), I went to the opening day game at Wrigley Field on Easter Sunday in 1977. As my friends and I were entering the stadium, I noticed a Cubbie fan with a T-shirt which had the team logo and a message...

"Wait till next year!"

That just about says it all, yes?

I spend a lot of time watching golf on TV (it's an addiction, pity me, but it allows me to nap) and I find myself hoping the young amateur will pull it off in a PGA tournament. Or some previously unknown (to me) will take that first day lead and carry it through to Sunday. I have no stake in his winning, it just feels good to see an underdog come out on top.

I suppose it's because we identify more readily with underdogs. Something about our human nature that suspects we are not the talented charismatic heroes we want to be but whenever an underdog comes out on top, it gives us hope that we could attain our dreams. It reinforces all those daydreams we had as kids of making it big.

And lets us continue to dream.