Everyone loves an underdog

The small little puppy was the runt of the litter. She was so small that a strong wind could have pushed her over. The only thing she had holding her down were her flopsy-topsy ears. She was born a few weeks earlier and was having a tough going surviving. We watched as her bigger and stronger brothers and sisters fought over food and competed for time with their mother. They would come running up to their mother and, without much effort, would push the small puppy out of the way.

Despite the uphill battle, she put up a strong fight. She fought to be seen and heard. My mom and I though came along at the right time. My mom’s sister, who was Amish and lived on a small farm with her husband and family, planned to keep a few of the puppies. The others would be sold or given away.

What would happen to the runt? We’ve passed down the tale in my family so long that I’m not sure if it’s true or not, but the tale goes that my uncle was going to put the puppy out of her misery by shooting her. Who knows what’s true, but my brothers and I were definitely the benefactors. I somehow came home with a dog

Trembling with fear

The puppy was so small that she fit into a small potato chip box that we placed on the floor in the back seat of our car. She trembled with fear and kept trying to find a way out of the box. While my mom drove us home, my job was to sit on the floor and to try to calm her. Of course, I trembled with fear too. What if she got out of the box? What would she do? What would I do if she bit me? I would learn later that the puppy was a Toy Terrier-Fox Terrier mix. At the time, I didn’t care. I just wanted my mom to drive fast and get home. I needed her help.

The puppy and I were both scared, but we soon became fast friends.

We had a lot in common. Like Snoopy, the name we called her, I was small for my age and sometimes had to fight to be seen. I worried about my surroundings too and a soothing voice or gentle touch often helped calm me down.

David and his slingshot

Right about the time we picked up Snoopy, I heard the story of David and Goliath for the first time. In the Bible story, David takes on the mighty Goliath with five little stones. He wasn’t even supposed to be there. He was delivering food to his brothers in the Army, but stayed behind when they went to fight the mighty Philistines.

You’re the coffee guy or gal and the next thing you’re in the middle of the battle field. David volunteered and we all know what happened next. He shocked everyone and came out the victor.

I tell Snoopy’s unlikely survival and David surprising win over Goliath the Giant because as long as I can remember, I’ve been a sucker for stories about underdogs, the Cinderellas, and no-names who come out of nowhere to shock the world.

There are tons of examples from sports and life. In fact, when I saw Former President Jimmy Carter’s recent passing I remembered how I rooted for him as a kid, because he was no-name peanut farmer who came out of nowhere and was a surprise.

But I can name any number of underdog examples:

—Finding Cinderella’s slipper on the basketball court. In the spring of 1983, I turned the TV on one night and caught some of the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball tournament. I fell in love with a small, no-name school, North Carolina State. I watched them clumsily make it all the way to the NCAA Tournament, where they pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA tournament history by taking down Houston—a team that had future NBA legends Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. With the game tied 52–52 and less than five seconds left on the clock, North Carolina State’s Dereck Whittenburg put up an air-ball shot that Lorenzo Charles nabbed and dunked as time expired.

Two years later, I was infatuated again by another Cinderella. This time the Villanova Wildcats. During the regular season, Villanova lost twice to Georgetown during the regular season. Mighty Georgetown looked like one of the biggest locks to win in NCAA Tournament history. The Hoyas had won the championship the previous season and had future NBA legend Patrick Ewing on the roster. Villanova, on the other hand, was trying to become the first No. 8 seed to win the tournament. But as the game wore on, the Wildcats turned in one of the best shooting performances in college basketball history—making 78.6 percent of their shots—to pull off an amazing 66-64 upset.

—An unexpected surprise. The 1987 NCAA championship game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the University of Miami Hurricanes is considered one of the most surprising championship games in college football history. Both teams were undefeated going into the game, but the Hurricanes were heavily favored. They had demolished each of their opponents during the regular season. On January 2, 1987, Penn State pulled off one of the most surprising upsets in college football by handing the University of Miami team its only loss of the season.

—Nothing short of a Miracle. The United States Men’s Olympic hockey team in 1980 was never expected to win the Gold Medal, forget about beating the mighty Soviet team. Team USA had played well during the Olympic tournament, but the roster was filled with amateurs and college players. In contrast, the battle-tested Soviet Union squad boasted of some of the best hockey talent in the world. The Soviet team had dominated for years. Just weeks earlier, the Soviet team had crushed the U.S. 10-3. The US team though found a way to create a “Miracle on Ice.”

I’ve loved Cinderellas in history too.

—Prison to running the country. Nelson Mandela was Imprisoned for 27 years, but he emerged to lead South Africa away from apartheid to legitimacy and a stable force, representing the struggle of oppressed people against a powerful regime.

—Fighting for what’s right. In 1955, Rosa Parks rejected a Montgomery bus driver’s order to leave a row of four seats in the “colored” section once the white section had filled up and move to the back of the bus. Her defiance sparked a successful boycott of buses in Montgomery a few days later. Residents refused to board the city’s buses. By refusing to give up her bus seat, Parks became a symbol of the Civil Rights Movement, challenging systemic racism and inspiring countless others to fight for equality. She went from a simple bus rider to woman on a mission.

—Yo, Adrian. The movie Rocky 1976 tells the story of underdog boxer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) who gets a big break when he gets to fight world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). Through all the negative self-talk and the lowly circumstances, Rocky fights to prove to himself that he’s a somebody. I’ve always loved the underdog story the movie portrays, but also how the little film became an underdog in its own right. Stallone wrote the screenplay in three and a half days and had to fight for control and to see its production become a reality.

Whatever happened to Snoopy? She was the perfect epitome of the underdog. She fought to stay alive and once with us, went onto live a long, happy life. She was loved and well cared for the next two decades. She was the best dog in the world.

She was a true underdog overcoming everything life threw at her. Underdog stories allow us as readers to walk away with a lot more than just a character we empathize with and a gratifying high at the end. They teach us to overcome society’s stigmas, challenge stifling norms, and remain hopeful in the face of adversity.

Most importantly, they tell us it’s okay to dream of a better future, for both ourselves and others.