Underdogging

*In case you were wondering...* >No, this has nothing to do with public sex in carparks. *Not directly at least.*  While watching the Olympic basketball group stage game between the hosts France, and Japan, I was reminded how awesome it is not to care too much who wins. This means that as usual, I chose the underdog, which was well and truly Japan in this game, with the shortest player in the competition, going up against the tallest. And what an awesome game it was, with nearly all of the 27,000-strong crowd, chanting for France. Without going into detail, while at times it liked like France might get away, the tenacity of Japan kept them in it and after some massive efforts on defense and offense, Japan was four points up with seconds on the clock. However, on a dramatic three that sank, a *very soft* foul was called for the extra shot which was made, pushing the game into overtime. Japan just didn't have anything left in the tank after the effort already put in, and just couldn't hold on. > It would have been an awesome win. Even though it was not to be, I enjoyed backing the loser. As I have said before, one of the brilliant things I like about the Olympics is the fight that the athletes put in, where at rimes they seem to find that tiny extra reserve to take them up a gear. And occasionally, it ends up in upsets, with the underdog prevailing over the big dog. Unfortunately, that sometimes works against my allegiances, like it did in the Rugby 7s, with Australia not only getting upset by Canada to get into the gold medal game, but losing the bronze to the US. I don't know if either of those teams are underdogs, but Australia was the team to beat this Olympics. > Upsets. What has been mentioned a few times throughout the broadcast is, that the thing that sets competitors apart, aren't just their abilities to win, but the ability to come back from adversity, or even to deal with interruptions and less than ideal conditions. During the Olympics they will often tell a bit about the athletes' backgrounds, and often, there are challenges outside of their events - and sacrifices. For instance, a few weeks ago one of the Australian hockey players had a bad injury on the finger, and it wasn't going to heal in time *unless he cut it off.* > Snip. *Who needs whole fingers anyway.* We probably all have stories that would qualify to be told if we were Olympians, but only a tiny, tiny sliver of the global population will ever make it that far in a sport. Yet, perhaps we should use them more, tell them more, be empowered by them, or inspire others. Not dwell on them, nor become victims of them, never to escape - but draw positive energy from them instead. > We don't need to break world records also. From observing the behavior of kids over the years, a lot of them look to choose the winner, and want to support them. However, I think that as people get older and have their own challenges in life, the character of the underdog seems to become more attractive. Perhaps after all those mistakes through life, people want to believe that redemption is possible. > Is it possible? In a world that is looking to punish people, I don't know how forgiving society is anymore. But, the most important thing in this regard, is whether we are able to forgive ourselves. We fall, we lose, we fail. But, how we come back from our lows, will influence our experience of our highs. Experience is all we have in this life, and if all we do is sit back on the couch in front of the screens and live vicariously through the experiences of others, we might feel that sense of win and loss, that sense of being alive, but are we? Is vicarious experience valuable if it doesn't inspire us to close the gaps in our own lives and overcome the challenges we face? None of these athletes are winners or losers on the day alone. They have all won and lost many times over through the many years of their training and competing in order to get there. All of them have come back from failure, all of felt the highs of victory, only to lose again soon after. > But they all came back. Until they can do no more. Taraz [ Gen1: Hive ]