being an underdog, an underrated advantage? just my random thoughts :) "chelsea will beat leeds. my prediction is 3:1 with chelsea winning." a friend, a chelsea fan, stated hours before the match. another chelsea fan said, "nah, i don't think we will even concede. it will be a straight win and clean sheet." i smirked and said, "i am predicting a match where chelsea have a tough time against leeds." within 6 minutes of the match starting, leeds scored. as nigerians would say, everywhere first blur for my friends. to cut the long story short, chelsea lost to leeds by a scoreline of 1 to 3. at least the first guy got the prediction right, just in reverse order lol. in this scenario, chelsea was the big dog and leeds the underdog. chelsea was in the top 4 and leeds were 18th (relegation zone). opta gave chelsea a 61% chance of winning and leeds were given just 18.6%. so technically, my friends weren't wrong for assuming victory against leeds, it was actually very logical of them. but as someone who has spent years learning what i term the art of the underdog, i just felt that win would go to leeds. to be an underdog simply means to be the weakest in anything that involves two or more people. it means to be the one that people would happily bet on to lose. being the underdog means you are regarded as the least likely to succeed. when the odds are completely against you, you are an underdog. when you look at this, you probably wonder, "being an underdog sounds like the worst thing that could happen to anyone." yes, it sounds like that, but it isn't. i wrote something recently about statistics, you can find it here if you haven't read it. but the major thing i want to point out is that being an underdog is a reflection of past data. it's not a reflection of who you are at the moment. leeds were terrible in their last matches, that was the data available to the public. the data didn't mention if leeds players had worked off their socks between the last match and the one with chelsea. it didn't show if their striker had spent 10 hours honing his shooting skills. it can't tell us if the players had been on a training regime that would be bearing fruit in their match with chelsea. being an underdog is a measure of your past, not your present. now, here is the psychology behind being an underdog. when you are an underdog, you are backed against the wall. you have nowhere to go. it becomes an all or nothing moment. chelsea could afford a loss. leeds couldn't. if they had lost that game, it would have been the beginning of a long way down. it was either win or win. scientifically, in do or die scenarios, your body releases adrenaline. you draw energy from your reserve and can, for a short period of time, do things that would be abnormal on other days. i am not saying that the leeds players had physical adrenaline in their body. instead, i am postulating that they had a form of psychological adrenaline. that psychological adrenaline is what i believe makes people who are weak and have no place to go suddenly strong, momentarily, and able to take on big opponents with unexpected strength. when you have everything to lose, you are more likely to actually put in the work. you are more likely to do things you wouldn't normally do. this would explain why weak people pull off some big and unexpected victories against stronger opponents. i think the fact that there's less pressure from people also plays a role. no one is expecting you to win, so that load is off your shoulders, and this allows you to try things you wouldn't try on a normal day. however, before you go off galloping in joy at being weak, there are tradeoffs to being an underdog. the major one is that it's not sustainable. being an underdog will never always guarantee victory. some people will genuinely whoop your ass regardless of whether you are underdog or lowerdog. so, you can't remain weak just because you want to play underdog. you need to identify a pattern for success. so while you enjoy the victories that being an underdog brings, you actually need to get better during that time. use the momentum those victories give you to hone your strengths and get rid of your weaknesses. my music teacher in high school had a very funny saying whenever he wanted to end class. he would say, "so everything congested, what we learnt is…" haha. so everything congested, being weak can be an advantage if you utilize it well. your enemy comes relaxed, assuming you are easy peasy for them. you catch them off guard by improving yourself and adding a few new tricks up your sleeve. bam, you win! did you also notice that those victories are celebrated even more by the public??? but remember, you can't always be an underdog. identify a pattern for success and become a big dog yourself. unconventional thinker,

22:50 est p.s.: i propose this same theory as an explanation for chelsea's win against barca. this writing is inspired by two of my friends who happen to be chelsea fans. it was a thing of seeing them hold their hands on their heads. if you have a cup of water or anything drinkable, raise it as i give a toast (i have a cup of grape juice with me right now). "to chelsea, for fumbling against leeds united!"