Underdog Hatred

I would like to make one simple fact clear and it is that this column is written with complete, total, absolute and unabated biasness. There is absolutely no objectivity in this column and is written with a personal agenda that is full blown.
My bias is that I am a fan of Oklahoma University football. I was raised my entire life in Oklahoma and I like to wear my crimson and cream while “boomering my sooner.” I show my “Hook ‘em Horns” sign upside down while talking about “that school” in Austin and I treat Bedlam as a chance to suck the will to live out of those Cowpokes in Stillwater. I take pride in the seven national champions, 40 conference championships, a NCCA record 47 game winning streak, 4 Heisman Trophy winners and 142 All-Americans. All this coupled with the fact Oklahoma has won more games in modern college football history (post World War II) now seems to mean nothing since a certain event took place in January.
You all know what I’m talking about. The 2007 Fiesta Bowl that resulted in Boise State’s 43-42 overtime victory over the boys from Norman. Now let it be known that I did write a column about how the great the underdog is last fall. I still believe that, to an extent. The underdog represents many great things in sports; that the game is not played on paper but the field, that the game can be won by people with less talent and more heart and that great things can be achieved despite the lack of faith and hope by others.
But I am beginning to lose my patience with this notion. We see one great performance and we are quick to claim it “The Upset of the Century” and crown these overachievers as the next kings of sports. There is no loyalty to the players and teams who given us greatness for decades. We cast them aside for the latest fad. We claim that we want the best but we quick to leave our heroes out in the cold for that shiny new toy.
And actually, it’s a flawed idea. The whole “we can beat this team because even though they have more talent, we have more heart” speech. That’s all warm and fuzzy until the team you’re playing has the talent and just as much heart; then you’re screwed.
It is a shame really, how hypocritical most people are. We demand the best from our athletes all the time but at such crucial times we abandoned them. We didn’t want a great team, a team that had achieved so much despite the loss of Rhett Bomar and the absence of Adrian Peterson for much of the season, to win a great game to cap off a great season. No, we rooted for those upstart mid-majors from Boise State. We devoted our superficial loyalty to a team because they had gone undefeated; in the WAC. Put those “Smurf Turfers” in the Big 12 or the SEC or some other power conference and they lose four games. Over a full season in a tough conference, they are a slightly above average team playing the GMC Tire Bowl.
And now everybody wants to jump on this fluky band wagon. Quarterback Jared Zabransky will appear on the cover of NCAA 2008. Even the video game industry wants in on the action; bowing down to some team who had to play the game of their life just to take it to overtime against a better team on an off night.
So shame on us for rejecting our own demanding requests. We should want to see great teams winning consecutive championships, great players breaking countless records and things that will go down in history. Not some flash in the pan underdog who has a one-in-ten chance and wins. It’s ironic about that Statue-of-Liberty of play. It is a play that has the same name of a monument that represents the great nation in the world. The greatest, not some one and done underdog that no one would even cared about until their upset.