defining the underdogs

One aspect of living in Boston I was especially looking forward to was the frenzy surrounding the New England Patriots during the football season. Sadly, that lasted all of about 8 minutes into the season, just as long as Tom Brady lasted. Brady's injury was devastating for numerous reasons, the least of which being that I drafted him in the first round for my fantasy football team (by the way, my second round pick, Marques Colston, also happens to be out - not really a great year for me and fantasy football evidently). But more importantly, the Patriots had established themselves as the NFL's most dominant team, and Tom Brady was their iconic leader. Like them or not, they were the benchmark to which other teams aspired.

With Dallas falling to Washington this past weekend, the NFL is suddenly wide open - there's no clear cut favorite to win or even reach the Super Bowl in either conference. Similarly, thanks to a wild weekend of improbable upsets, the path to college football's BCS Championship is pretty open-ended as well. While I admit that these conditions do make following the NFL and NCAA football seasons exciting - I love that BYU has a legitimate shot at getting to the national championship game - without the dominant team separating itself from the pack, there's just something missing. Teams like the New England Patriots of this decade, the New York Yankees and Chicago Bulls of the 1990's, and the San Francisco 49ers of the 1980's - I was born in 1980 so I'll stop there. Also, I know the Red Wings and maybe even the Pittsburgh Penguins fit in here somewhere, but I never followed hockey closely enough to know exactly where - enhance their sports with their presence. They offer us as fans opportunities to witness greatness. And they also help us define the teams against which they compete.

With New England's dominance in question, and teams like Indianapolis, Dallas and San Diego appearing quite vulnerable at times this season, it become difficult to define which teams are the favorites and which teams are the underdogs, and rooting for the underdog is one of the most sacred acts of a sports fan. Like it or not, the Patriots make the NFL more exciting. Personally, I like to root for them, but those who marvel at them or simply root against them generate a lot of passionate enthusiasm in the process. Whatever role they fill, good guy or bad guy, the Patriots make the NFL better, just as USC makes college football better, Notre Dame makes it even better still when they're one of the top teams, the the Yankees make MLB more interesting when they're on top. Without these teams, great sports stories like George Mason, the 2003 Florida Marlins, and even the 2004 Boston Red Sox lose some of their remarkability. Don't buy it? The Tampa Bay Rays are the sports story of the year, going from last place to first place. But the real reason they're such a compelling story, they had to climb over the heavy favorites the Yankees and Red Sox to win the AL East. Facing the top dogs of baseball, the Rays were the ultimate underdogs, and that's exactly why they're so much fun to watch and root for - unless of course you happen to be a Yanks or Sox fan.