What is it about the underdog? Why does the crowd rally for the little guy?
It’s because we’re all the underdog.
I think back to 2017 when the Nashville Predators were on their way to the Stanley Cup. Now, if you were in Nashville during that time, there was a hockey renaissance in the once-quaint city of country music.
The Nashville Predators have been fighting for their name on the Stanley Cup since 1998. A team made up of amateur-professionals who would later become some of the NHL’s finest players. But at the time, we were given nothing to build the team. Only grit and determination.
The Nashville Predators were, essentially, a filler-team. A nobody. Just another team that only had a fanbase due to it’s local population. But we made something of it.
Go to a hockey game in Nashville and you will quickly learn about the chirps that stemmed from 3 friends who had tickets in the 300 block.
What we lacked for in money for the arena or merchandise, we made up with heart. In fact, the fans became known as the 7th man. We never made it to the Stanley Cup, until 2017. And those who were fans from the start (not those bandwagon fans), were there to yell until our throats dried up.
We had a clean sweep of the Blackhawks – our rival team.
The fight was on – and our boys made it to the Stanley Cup finals. Our city was proud.
Fans stood at the airport in the waning hours of the night into morning to cheer our boys on as they boarded onto their flights to Milwaukee or Arizona. The city painted itself in yellow. Our rivals deemed us “Trashville” because of our country fan-base. We took the name and rolled with it.
Fans strapped catfish to themselves with plastic-wrap so we could uphold our tradition of throwing catfish on the ice for good luck. Cars were donated and parked in front of Bridgestone so fans could pay $20 to pick their choice of a myriad of weapons of minor destruction and bash windows in. We became Smashville.
We wanted – no, needed – our underdog team to go all the way. Or make a mark trying.
And leave a mark, they did.
You are the Underdog. I am the Fan.
My bet goes to you. You took a risk on yourself.
In the sea of many who have gone before you and succeeded or failed, you have stepped out and taken the chance of the lifetime.
Your small business stands against the conglomerates before you.
They have venture capitol. You have grit.
They have hundreds of employees. You have a handful of team members.
They have the odds stacked in their favor. You have never cared for the odds. In the words of Han Solo, you live by the motto, “Never tell me the odds.”
There is the chance that you may not win. That’s being a realist.
Regardless, win or lose, from one underdog to another, my bet is on you.
