Underdogs

I don't write much about football and I'm no fanatic but I do follow it with interest.

The 07/08 English premier league is done and Man Utd won it. Again. I can't say I'm too thrilled about that. No, I'm not a Chelsea fan. I just like a close fight in any sporting event and if the same team/person won it over and over again it gets boring.

We still have The Champions League Final coming and I hope Chelsea wins that. If they do, it will be their first time.

Most people won't care about this year's FA Cup but I'm hoping Cardiff can pull an upset and be the first lower division team in a very, very long time to win a major English trophy. It's also fine by me if Pompey won it too. As long as it isn't any one the usual big teams. What is the FA Cup with it's giant killing magic (think Barnsley FC)?

I'm so glad that Sunderland survived. I'm looking forward to seeing more Roy Keane next year. I'm also hoping Stoke City will do well and that Bristol City go up via the playoffs. It would be awesome. In season 06/07 they were in League 1 and now they are on the verge qualifying for the big show. That's almost unthinkable.

If not Bristol City then Hull making it through would be good as well.

What can I say, I like my underdogs. I like it when the big and powerful suffer and struggle and the small timers win things or survive against the odds ala Fulham and Wigan. I like the fact that a tiny Spanish Primera Liga team like Almeria can finish mid table and a huge team like Valencia can struggle.

Not only football. Other sports as well.

I love my underdogs. By the same token if someone or something becomes too dominant in anything I will gradually resent them. I don't know why I feel this way. That is why I could never see myself as Man Utd supporter. Or a Ferari fan.

I hate glory hunters.

And not only sports. In everything.

Perhaps I see myself in these underdogs. I can relate to them. I know what it's like to try your best fully knowing that your "best" isn't really good enough. I understand how it is to realize that you will never be able to compete with those bigger than you but you try anyway. I know the plight of the also-ran and the has-been and the guy who had so much potential but somehow never made it. Most of the time you lose and no one cares what happens to you. I know how that feels like too.

But every once and a while something special happens and you win despite all the odds. It doesn't happen a lot but when it does it's unforgettable. I also know how that feels like.

I raise a virtual glass to the underdogs of the world. Perhaps one fine day, we will have a shot at our own personal Cup Finals.