Underdogs!

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Preparing for this entry, I did extensive research into the depths of cyberspace (i.e., I typed "Famous Underdogs" into Google).
One message board question/answer went as follows:

Q:
"I always feel I am the underdog in everything, especially when it comes to auditioning for singing, etc.
Right now, I just need some inspiration, and I don't know many underdog success stories. Any little thing will help."

Here is the response:
A:
"Hitler was an underdog. Consider him your inspiration."

Zing!

Oh, internet…


David and Goliath

It’s one of the oldest analogies in the book
(and by “the book” I’m of course referring to Judy Blume’s “Superfudge”).

The little guy vs. the big guy.

Rocky vs. Apollo Creed

300 Spartans vs. the Persian army (Battle of Thermopylae)

Braveheart vs. … underpants
And a personal favorite:

“NEWSIES”
(written by Bob Tzudiker & Noni White)


That wonderful 1992 Disney musical-- where the poor, scrappy, adolescent newsboys from 1900 go on strike against the greedy newspaper tycoon Joseph Pulitzer!

One of the newsies’ leaders introduces himself to a local reporter:

DAVID: My name’s David.
DENTON: ‘David.’ ‘David’ as in ‘David and Goliath?’”

Wow. Brilliant. Subtle as a slingshot to the skull.

Which brings us to …

DAVID and GOLIATH!
The famous showdown, where little, youthful David bested the mighty, terrifying Goliath.

But the way the whole battle begins is interesting.
The Philistines are about to go to war against the Israelites (the people of King Saul), so Goliath proposed a really good idea!

“…Am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.

(1Samuel 17: 8-9)

Put all your eggs of war in one basket—instead of millions of soldiers killing each other, let one soldier from each army fight, and whichever man wins, that’s the country that wins.

Instead of playing 90 minutes of a soccer game, give one guy a penalty kick, if he scores, his team wins, game over.

Saves time.

I remembered this method of warfare when I saw the 2004 film “Troy” (with hunky Brad Pitt… he was in the film, I didn’t go WITH him… but a fella can dream!)—


CLASSIC DAVID and GOLIATH movie:

“Hoosiers”

The climax of the film is the State Championship, at the end of the movie (do they win? I'm simply not sure! Could this ragtag group of misfits from a small town in Indiana somehow, some way, defy the odds and pull out a stunning upset and WIN THE GAME ??? ... or was the previous hour and a half just a complete waste of time?)

Before the big game, in the locker room, the team's priest leads the boys in the following prayer--

Preacher Purl:
“And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen.”

Okay, wonderful! But not EXACTLY the whole verse—
From 1Samuel 17:49—

“And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.”

You'll notice the middle chunk was missing ("the stone sunk into his forhead") because it is, as we theologians say… kinda icky.


"Sunk into his forehead"... Yeah, no let's go play some basketball!

This reminds me of another underdog tale—Moses and the Israelites vs. Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
(Spoiler alert-- The Israelites gained their freedom… hence—Matzah!)

After they cross the Red Sea, the Israelites sing a song to God, which was repeated beautifully in the 1998 animated film “Prince of Egypt.”

Cartoon Moses (voiced by Val Kilmer… first he was Batman and then Moses-- the two greatest heroes in Jewish history!) leads the people to freedom, as we hear the voice of a small child sing,
“A-shirah l’Adonai, kee ga’oh ga’ah…”

Translation: “I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously…” (Exodus 15:1)

Yay! Beautiful!

But that’s where it stopped! Why not finish the rest of the verse?
Because here it is—
“… the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.”

Yikes! Kinda dark.

Plus—
“Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea… his chosen captains also are drowned... The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone…. they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
(vv.4, 5, 10)

Great analogies! But ultimately, not a classy move. Gloating. The biblical equivalent of “In your face!”


Which is one reason why, during the yearly Passover meal (seder), Jews remove ten drops of wine from their cups—
to diminish their joy just a little bit.
Why?
Because, ultimately, we should not ENJOY the suffering and death of others, even those who oppress us.

Of course, Jesus took this one step further:

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you…”
(Matthew 5:43-44)

On behalf of everybody—
COME ON!!! Like THAT is gonna happen…

Let’s be realistic.
Let’s first try NOT laughing when our enemies suffer.

No matter how funny it may be.


“Everybody pulls for David, nobody roots for Goliath.”
-- Wilt Chamberlain

(Kinda sad, considering he was 7’1 and, in the NBA during the 1960s, that put him literally head and shoulders above his competitors... HE was Goliath)


And finally--


"When criminals in this world appear,
And break the laws that they should fear,
And frighten all who see or hear,
The cry goes up both far and near for
Underdog,
Underdog..."
-- W. Watts Biggers , Chet Stover, Joe Harris, Treadwell Covington
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