I pull for the underdog – except for when I don’t.
In the A to Z Challenge today, U is for Underdog. I live it, breathe it, and coach it. I identify with it. Only pizza ranks higher in word count on this blog than underdog.
In the NFL playoffs, I root for the underdog.[1]
In the NBA playoffs, I root for the underdog.[2]
In the NCAA tournament, I root for the underdog.[3]
A funny thing happened in the Super Bowl last year, though …
[1] Unless it’s the raiders.
[2] Unless it’s the lakers.
[3] Unless it’s north carolina.
1. Who were you going for in the Super Bowl?
There exists a direct nerve between your heart and the portion of brain responsible for rooting tendencies. It’s like sexual orientation or political affiliation: You can try, but you can’t hide it. At kickoff, your heart puts it in motion. The Seahawks, or Patriots? I’ve hate for them both.
I rooted hard for New England to lose to Indianapolis, and for Green Bay to hold on and beat Seattle two weeks before. These teams cost me a dinner of Wisconsin bratwurst and Indiana strawberry pie. (Seattle salmon and Boston cream pie? A delicious consolation).
Who would I hate less? On this day, it was New England. A pissy and unspoken evil of fandom is that it feels almost as good to watch a team you hate lose as it does a team you love win.
2. Is all of Garfield’s character animated?
Yes. Marshawn Lynch’s isn’t, if you can believe it.
Bill Murray voiced the Garfield character 2004 film adaptation of Garfield – then voiced regret. A generation who knows that fat cat and not the lasagna-scarfing smartass cat of comic strips is a sad generation indeed. (That’s even with bonus points awarded because Jennifer Love Hewitt).
The world even tolerated a sequel, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. A merciful God will prevent the Patriots from repeating as champs and a Garfield Part 3 from ever seeing the light of day.
3. Can a ghost kill someone?
My extensive research (two seasons of Ghost Hunters on Netflix) leads me to the scientific conclusion that ghosts can’t kill – but they can scare the Shasta out of you.
Ghosts are like Seahawks fans – they’ll scratch you and make you feel chilly, but they won’t kill you. It takes a ghost a load of collected energy just to blurt incoherently into a Ghost Adeventurer’s digital recorder. It would take loads more to conjure enough juice even for a throat punch.
That said, if a ghost ever offers you smokes …
4. What if they miss with the flaming arrow in the Olympics?
The Olympic flame represents mankind’s first rendition of sticking it to the man.
It’s to commemorate Prometheus for stealing fire from Zeus. (He paid dearly, though).
Relays from Olympia, Greece, to the host city begin months before opening ceremonies. Propylene or a mix of propane and butane keep the flame lit for the journey to the Olympic cauldron.
Spanish archer Antonio Rebollo fired a flaming arrow over the cauldron in the 1992 Barcelona Games. That’s the only time it’s been done.
Tony’s 1-for-1.
5. Is Kesha married?
No – but she’s reportedly not on the market, either.
Rumors website Famous Fix reports Kesha dates Brad Ashenfelter. Who is Brad Ashenfelter, you ask? Well, he’s tall, and he’s bearded. And dirty, says Kesha. “I just like them beardy (with) long hair and look a little homeless,” she told US Magazine. “I like guys who look like they don’t groom themselves.”
Clearly she’s not seen your daddy lately, girls.
Her loss.
Just a dad ... 
I think you know that I totally root for the underdog with the Mets here in NY and look at my awesome underdogs right now winning 11 in a row. Seriously amazing and not going to lie feels good to be rooting for them for a change at the very least 😉
When my baseball team gets off to a great start, I wish for the season to last three weeks and get on to the World Series already. Beats the hell out of falling out of the pennant race before Mother’s Day, right Janine?
kesha’s quote is similar to what people say to me about my blog. ) i’m an underdogger too –
you and kesha are sort of cut from the same cloth then, beth. here’s to the underdogs and keshans.
Or is that underblogger beth? I was mighty impressed by the opening of the Barcelona games, being an archer and all.
you know she’s the underblogger because she uses lowercase all the time, too. you could have nailed that shot at the Olympics, right Fratello?
lower case beth, that’s her. Nailed wouldn’t be the word for it Mate, aced it is more the term.
Agree with you…what were they thinking with the Garfield? Lasagna is the heart and soul!
They have to ruin everything, like when they made Muppet babies and added Scrappy Doo to Scooby.
Lasagna is layers of heaven with a good chunk of Italian bread on the side.
Underdog was one of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons, and I also remember when Garfield was the funniest cat around! (But only with Odie’s help.)
That was when life was good, Ginny. Remember those Embassy Suites ads with Garfield as the fat cat?
We also root for the underdog because we’ve BEEN the underdog. It’s good for character building, I say. Keisha – not so good for character building.
Happy Friday!
Underdogs appreciate underdogs, for sure. Makes you appreciate when you’re top dog a bit more, doesn’t it?
U was a tough letter for me, but I KNEW you were going to write about underdogs 🙂
That’s a friendly ghost in your picture, how could they ever harm anyone?
I knew the U word when the challenge first started! A friendly ghost is a bit of an underdog too, isn’t he?
Definitely an underdogger. i can’t help myself. ~Liz http://www.lizbrownleepoet.com
Hey Liz – some of us are lucky enough to be born into it!
I’ve always been odd in that I root for the underdog if no one else is, but if everyone starts to, then I feel bad about the lack of support the other guy is getting and start to root for him again. I’m a little nuts like that 🙂
Underdog status can change hands during a game. So why not underdog support?
Interesting selections of underdogs. My sister was a huge fan of that undercat Garfield. It was the Olympic flame question that seemed out of place.
I choose the questions at random from a list of way more than 300. Sometimes, we get a dated one (Super Bowl, Olympic flame), but I’ll still take it on!
Did your sister like the comic-strip Garfield or the movie adaptation?
YES, Brad Ashenfelter. I remember that face.
As for ghosts, last night Des was in bed and Scarlet was doing Legos in front of us. We heard a very distinct toddler voice yelling. I’m serious. We looked at the TV and it was news of Obama dinner – no toddlers in sight. (unless you want to make Democrat jokes)
It was CREEPY.
It turned out to be something worse than a ghost. It was one of our cats barfing by my desk. I didn’t know cats could sound like that.
But. Let’s just say she might be going to a new home this week, but you didn’t hear that from me.
Never heard of him (before now). He seems like a decent dude. Cat barf noises (and fight noises) are way worse than ghosts.
(I’ll leave the Democrat jab on the table – although when I hear a baby cry, I tend to ask, “where’s the tar heels fan?”
I’d better catch up on your blog to see how many cats still live there. I wonder if they’d take mine, too.
I thought Australians owned the word “underdog”. Only in Australian would the underdog become Prime Minister. WE also have a term of endearment: “the Aussie battler”. You haven’t made it until you’re the underdog.
Sorry, don’t follow American, or Australian sports for that matter.
My U was University Antics. Had a lot of fun writing that! https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/university-antics/
No, America was built on underdogs! We’ve yet to elect one president, really. An Aussie Battler is for sure a cousin of the underdog.
You just can’t help but cheer for the underdog, can you? It seems the kind thing to do. Unless of course they were blue and have the word “Leafs” in their name. but all other times…..
Underdogs always have a place in my heart. We were underdogs on Saturday – and upset the No. 2 team in our league 2-0. No one was more shocked or elated than I was. It was heavenly.
Leafs and wings are in the same bucket, aren’t they?