PrintFebruary 6, 2008
America's Enduring Love for Underdogs
Front-runners have had a rough time, lately. The unbeaten Tom Brady. The shoo-in Rudolph Giuliani. The inevitable Hillary Clinton. It seems the most dangerous place to be, nowadays, is at the front of the pack.On the flipside, it's been a heck of a year for underdogs. The Giants over the Patriots. Mike Huckabee coming out of nowhere -- with no money or name recognition-- to trounce his opponents in the Iowa caucuses. John McCain, down-and-out and hemorrhaging staff mere months ago, now with the Big Mo coming out of Super Tuesday.Underdogs. It seems we can't get enough of them.Why is that?The short answer? It appears we are biologically wired to root for the underdog.Each of us begins life tiny and helpless. Among our first, formative experiences are visceral feelings of powerlessness (can't walk, eat or go to the bathroom on our own) and it seems almost everyone around us holds greater power (parents, grownups, bigger...(Read Full Article)
