Hoo"ray" For The Underdogs!

Unless you live in New Yawk or Bawston, Americans love an underdog!

We have so many famous underdogs, real or fantasy, like...

Rudy!

Rocky!

How about "The Miracle on Ice?"....The '69 World Series - Mets over the Orioles?...The Giants beating the Pats in Super Bowl XLII?

Harry S. Truman was a total underdog to Thomas E. Dewey in the '48 Presidential election...even the newspapers incorrectly reported the results!

Who can ever forget Bill Murray's speech as private John Winger in the movie "Stripes" to his fellow basic trainees?

"We're all very different people. We're not Watusi. We're not Spartans. We're Americans, with a capital 'A', huh? You know what that means? Do ya? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We're the underdog. We're mutts! Here's proof: his nose is cold! But there's no animal that's more faithful, that's more loyal, more loveable than the mutt. Who saw "Old Yeller?" Who cried when Old Yeller got shot at the end? Nobody cried when Old Yeller got shot? I'm sure. I cried my eyes out. So we're all dogfaces, we're all very, very different, but there is one thing that we all have in common: we were all stupid enough to enlist in the Army. We're mutants. There's something wrong with us, something very, very wrong with us. Something seriously wrong with us - we're soldiers. But we're American soldiers! We've been kicking ass for 200 years!"

I could go on and on but, you get the picture. The Tampa Bay Rays have one of the lowest payrolls in MLB, #29 out of 30! They are in a small market advertising region of the country. But they just defeated the reigning world champion Boston Red Sox, the team with the 4th highest payroll and they are in a major advertising market!

Ohhhh, this is good for America! This is good for every person who ventures out on his or her own, for the immigrants who still come to this wonderful country in droves, searching for the land of opportunity, for the inventors who go up against established industry or retail, for the small businessman who doesn't want the entire market, just a piece to make a good and decent living. Is our country perfect? Of course not but I dare you to name one better!

It's too bad that it takes an underdog victory to grab us and shake us to remind us, "You live in the best country in the world, the true land of opportunity...reach out, fight for it, be proud of it!

To the Tampa Bay Rays...Thanks for reminding me who we are and what we are all about!

To our service men and women across the world...Thanks for preserving it!