Throughout sports history, the majority will often root for the underdog. We portray the favourite as an oppressor, a force that does not operate by the same rules as the rest of the world. This is only too true in the case of the New York Yankees. The Yankees were deemed the “Evil Empire” throughout the early 2000s, because of the ways they went beyond what other Major League Baseball (MLB) teams could do, such as using lavish contracts to tempt away local stars. What is confusing about the widespread loathing of the Yankees, however, is the way that this loathing was not directed at the players. Yankee players like Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada were adored. Instead, it was the owners of the team, Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenner family, who were seen as the external oppressor. The sports world’s dislike for the Yankees was obvious when the Arizona Diamondbacks won the 2001 World Series in the bottom of the ninth inning with a hit from Mariano Rivera, immortalizing this moment as a blow to the overarching “evil” nature of the Yankees. In this Yankees example, was it the ownership that created the ‘oppressor’ dynamic, resulting in fans rooting for the underdog, or did the onus still fall on the players? Why did a neutral fan base root against star player Derek Jeter? They did, and it is in part due to the narrative that the sports media fosters around underdogs.

Media is really what drives the underdog narrative. They stand to gain the most from creating a story in a playoff series where there is none, as they can churn out articles, increase viewers/listeners and appeal to audiences outside of the two regions whose teams are being represented. This year’s Super Bowl is a prime example of the sports media needing a narrative and pushing the idea of an underdog where it really does not exist. Throughout the playoffs, the Philadelphia Eagles were cast as an underdog, despite being the number one seed in the National Football Conference (NFC). When their starting quarterback, Carson Wentz, was injured, their backup was Nick Foles, who led the League in touchdowns only three years ago. The Eagles also had recently traded for a great running back, Jay Ajayi. Finally, and in spite of all the talk about their ineptitude, the Eagles won the Super Bowl. Yes, they faced adversity, but were the Eagles actually at such a disadvantage in the game against the Patriots? As demonstrated by their 8-point defeat of the Patriots, the Eagles’ label as underdogs was not entirely deserved.

The Patriots’ Tom Brady was picked 199th overall in the 2000 National Football League (NFL) draft. He was taken to be a backup for Drew Bledsoe, a high quality starting quarterback for the Patriots. Only once Bledsoe was injured did Brady take over, leading the team to a Super Bowl victory over the St. Louis Rams. In 2001, Tom Brady was the ultimate underdog. Now, he is the personification of a drab, dominant sports force. He has the exact same style of play as he did in 2001, and is still an absurdly boring athlete. Brady is universally both loathed and respected: for headlining a boring franchise’s boring quest for more championships, and for eliminating the hopes of upstart franchises along the way. It’s not that Brady is a gloating winner, it is moreso that he represents stagnancy in sports. His coach, Bill Belichick, is a domineering football maven that has ties to Donald Trump and conservative advocacy groups. Quite literally in the case of the Patriots, the favourite  represents the oppressor and their conservative, stagnant ideals.

The Yankees, the Patriots, and the Lakers are the American dynasties of our era, and all employ similar tactics to win. They amass the free agents, get the best out of underperformers, and win, over and over again. In many fields, such success would warrant respect, but the sports world takes a different approach. Sports means a great deal to many people, and I believe that at its heart it signifies the unpredictability of life. No matter where the ball rolls, something can happen; someone can turn a defeat into an impossible victory and rescue the average person from mundanity. People wish for an aberration. We want teams that were bad last year to win this year.

The everyday sports fan has nothing in common with anyone in a professional sports league. They work five days a week, doing effectively the same thing every day and they are not an athletic demigod. To us, sports symbolize that there can be a deviation from the norm. The underdog is, paradoxically, a less risky choice to root for than the favourite. If the underdog wins, the fan is extremely pleased as the odds have been defied. If the underdog loses, there is no great shock, and the fan’s knowledge of the game remains unchallenged.

Why do people believe in underdogs? Everyone on the grand stage of sports was a star at some point in their life, and the lowest of the low in a Big Four league are still dominant in any other league. For the media, creating an underdog allows a proliferation of content and something for their anchors to discuss. For the teams, it allows them a measure of fandom their ownership and players may not warrant. For the fan, it is a manifestation of their dreams, of their desire to resist an oppressor, and provides a method for coping with loss. Looking at statistics, there usually isn’t much separating our beloved underdog from the hated favourite. Professional sports are balanced, more than we care to think or the leagues want to admit. Unlike in dogfighting, these teams are usually on a level playing field, and when there is a dog truly on top of another, it probably deserved that spot.

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Since his drafting in 2011, the face of the Carolina Panthers has been Cam Newton, a charismatic and hyper-talented quarterback. In early December that changed, when the sports world became aware of allegations of sexual misconduct directed at the team’s owner, Jerry Richardson. Richardson is one of the most powerful figures in the National Football League (NFL), an enormously wealthy man who holds as much influence as more well-known owners like Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft in the decision-making process of the NFL. As the Time’s Up and #MeToo movements’ momentum has extended to figures in sports, Richardson’s fall is indicative of the overall power of such a movement, and the universality of its message.

Jerry Richardson has been the owner of the Carolina Panthers since being awarded the team as an expansion franchise in 1993. He is the first owner since the famed George Halas to have also played in the NFL. For the majority of Richardson’s tenure as owner, there has been nothing but praise for him, yet in recent weeks there has been a deluge of information about the real Richardson. This is because in complaints in the past have been met by large settlements from the Panthers. Sports Illustrated has reported that at least four female staffers have received settlements of this nature. With first an internal investigation into his actions and now an investigation by the NFL, the truth has come to light.

Richardson’s actions may be defended by some as having been in jest, or unintentional, but they constitute the type of casual sexual harassment that must be eradicated from society: slipping female employees money so he could get a massage, commenting on their figures, and inviting them out for dinner. Richardson’s initial moves were followed by even more dubious ones. Former employees say Richardson would invite them to Panthers games in the owner’s box, and the staffer that led them there would leave, allowing Richardson to give the women back rubs, ask for foot massages, or ask them personal sexual questions. Others say that he would ask to buckle their seatbelts and, in the act of doing so, brush his hands over their breasts. The demeanor he curated in public and in the workplace, excluding his interactions with these women, stands in stark contrast to the persona which has emerged in recent days. As the allegations against Hollywood stars and media personalities bring natiowide attention to workplace sexual harassment, Richardson comes from a much different side of popular culture, where a male-dominated world pays much less attention to this sort of behaviour.

The Carolina Panthers have been a model of likeability since their inauguration. In the early days of the franchise, with bright blue jerseys and a unique, snarling logo, the team did not meet much success, curating an underdog image only recently dispelled. In 2004, with the charming Jake Delhomme, speedy Steve Smith, and dominant Julius Peppers, the Panthers made the Super Bowl for the first time, only to fall to the New England Patriots. The franchise became relevant again with the drafting of Cam Newton in 2011, right after releasing the former franchise icon Delhomme, who was at the end of his career. Newton, a Heisman winner at Auburn, is a fan-favourite with his winning smile, risky play, and great dynamic with the fans. He brought them to the Super Bowl in 2015, only to lose to Peyton Manning, his opposite in many ways. Within this context of success, it was practice that any sort of disorienting information regarding the owner of the franchise would be swept under the rug. The franchise was becoming complicit in Richardson’s actions. However, under pressure from the league, Richardson will now sell the franchise at the end of the season, after being outed for the acts he has concealed for so long.

Soon after the announcement that Richardson would sell the franchise, rapper Sean Combs, known by his stage name P. Diddy, posted on Instagram that he was interested in buying the team. Soon after, basketball player Steph Curry and former NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick also expressed interest. Should Diddy, Curry, and Kaepernick buy the Panthers, they would become the first Black owners in the NFL. According to Forbes, the estimated valuation of the Carolina Panthers is 2.3 billion USD. Diddy has an estimated net worth of around 820 million, also per Forbes. It is therefore unlikely that Combs, Kaepernick, and Curry, while all extraordinarily wealthy, possess the level of wealth required to purchase an NFL team. When people like Magic Johnson or Derek Jeter are involved in ownership, it is because they lead the ownership groups to make the sale more palatable to fans, not because they have nearly enough money. While it would be nice to see the first Black owner in the 70 per cent Black NFL, it is hard to imagine that owner being Sean Combs.

The situation concerning Jerry Richardson is both inspiring and saddening. It indicates that the scope of the #MeToo movement applies to all echelons of society. However, it also demonstrates the capacity of a large organization, such as the Panthers, to ignore confrontational information through payments and promotions. This is not the most famous person to be brought low by this movement, but it is the wealthiest. His selling of the Carolina Panthers indicates the strength of the movements, as he is finally being punished for his actions. Unfortunately, he is unlikely to face more punishment than his selling the team — a sale which should earn him 2.3 billion USD. While it is good to see that harassment is no longer tolerated in sports the way it has been in the past, Jerry Richardson, like many men before him, will not meet the punishment his actions deserve.

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The CBA offers a talent level above the European leagues and the NBA’s G-League, but still many echelons below the NBA, allowing veterans to play at a high level among players many years their junior. This has led to players who never achieved dominance in the NBA excelling in the CBA. While there are many ways in which this happens, the most frequent is the aging NBA star signing in China and proceeding to dominate once again.

The most well-known story of these players is Stephon Marbury. A two-time all star in the NBA, Marbury was one of the most polarizing figures of his class after being surrounded by controversy, personality conflicts, and egotistical play. After excelling in Phoenix, New Jersey, and New York, “Starbury” signed with the Beijing Ducks in 2010 and has since won three championships in China. Widely credited (along with Kobe Bryant) as one of the most important foreign athletes in the cultural acceptance and subsequent celebration of basketball in Chinese society, Marbury has turned his shooting ability and charisma into the catalyst for the American transition into the CBA.

Similar to Marbury in both his brief stardom and also his controversy, is Gilbert Arenas, who is most famously known for confronting a teammate with a firearm in the Washington Wizards (FKA Washington Bullets) dressing room. Arenas played a couple seasons with the Shanghai Sharks, and his dynamism led to mass adoration from the Chinese market and his averaging a double-double in points and assists. Agent Zero, as Arenas is known, followed the path of Marbury into the Chinese league as a powerful American presence.

Recently, Emmanuel Mudiay played with the Guangdong Southern Tigers before being drafted by the Denver Nuggets. Financial issues drove Mudiay to play for a team which would actually pay him, instead of playing college basketball in the United States. His decision illustrated the growing respect for the talent level of the CBA. Until then, only the washed up or undraftable players would leave North America to play. Mudiay’s signing is probably the most crucial signifier of the rise of Chinese basketball, as this represented a legitimate nod to the prowess and development of the CBA.

So what does the emergence of China as a basketball market signal for basketball as a whole? Firstly, China represents the largest national market in the world, one which could prove exponentially more valuable than the North American market the NBA currently occupies. While there are other countries with small leagues, the profitability and population pale in comparison with China’s size and capital flows. Secondly, the relationship between the NBA and China has the potential to normalize foreign players in the league, eventually leading to the NBA becoming a league of global talent. The NBA has been playing global preseason games since 1994, yet only began to schedule annual games since 2013, with at least one being played in China, either against a CBA or NBA team. While this will never become part of the normal league schedule due to the difficulties of large travel times and disorienting schedules for players, it further expands Chinese appreciation of the game.

With old NBAers flocking to China to extend their careers with lucrative contracts, and newer players starting careers there, there is a gradual recognition of the healthy basketball environment curated there. The global expansion of basketball truly begins with the popularization of the sport in China.

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National League

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers are one of the most established and historic franchises in the Major League Baseball (MLB), having enjoyed tremendous success throughout the years. Even though they have not won a world series since 1988, the franchise has always been competitive, with top players consistently wearing the blue and white. In recent years the Dodgers have been the National League’s best regular season team, with pitchers like Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill and great batters like Yasiel Puig, Justin Turner, and Adrian Gonzalez helping them to dominate the regular season. Despite leading in the regular season, the Dodgers have not broken through to the World Series over their five consecutive playoff appearances, leading fans to scepticism. Has all the player spending been worth it? Will their dominance in the regular season finally translate to a World Series appearance—and perhaps win?

Last World Series Appearance: 1988

Last World Series Victory: 1988

Reason to cheer for the Dodgers: History and celebrity fans

Reason to not cheer for the Dodgers: Biggest payroll

American League

Houston Astros

A few years ago, The Houston Astros were by consensus the worst team in the American League, reeling from back to back to back 100-loss seasons up until 2013. But with the high draft picks and time afforded by those disappointing seasons, the current Astros have many great young players surrounded by hungry veterans. Every night, it seems a different Astro will step up for their team: sometimes it’s Jose Altuve (Leading MVP Candidate), other times it’s the powerful George Springer or masterful Carlos Correa. The team’s veterans include Justin Verlander (MVP in 2011), the wily Brian McCann, and Hall of Fame-bound Carlos Beltran, all of whom contribute to the revitalization of this franchise. The Astros have united the shattered city of Houston behind this upstart team, battling against the all-consuming Yankees for a World Series berth. Will this team, born from the failure of past years, come full circle with a World Series win?

Last World Series Appearance: 2005

Last World Series Victory: None

Reason to cheer for the Astros: Worst to First

Reason not to cheer for the Astros: Do they still count as an underdog?

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