IN DEFENCE OF GOLIATH

EVERYBODY wants to root for the underdog. It's nothing novel, or radical. After all, some of the most fascinating sports stories are where the proverbial David and his humble slingshot are able to take down the proverbial Goliath. But spare a thought for Goliath here, the superperformer, the man to beat, the undisputed champion (till of course, David introduces the dispute!).

Since I started watching baseball and specifically Major League Baseball about a decade ago, I have hated the New York Yankees. They seemed to be on a roll, wrapping every pennant and title in sight, virtually untouchable packed with some of the most awesome talent (MLB's biggest payroll can buy you lots of the good stuff!) and their storied leagcy only reinforcing their aura. For a first time baseball fan, they are a perfect starting base to enjoy the game - the big historical heroes like Joe Di Maggio and Babe Ruth, the current generation superstars like A-Rod and Derek Jeter and of course the lure of New York, New York! But the splendour and almost too easy success somehow did not appeal to me. In the same vein, I didn't go with Manchester United when I started watching the Premier League and I sure as heck wasn't going to back Australia when watching a cricket match. It's not a coincidence that the Yankees' 27 World Series titles are the most in MLB history, Australia have 4 World Cups to their credit (three straight from 1999-2007) and Man U have the most Premier League titles (currently tied at 19 with Liverpool, but the way this season's going they should head the table soon). Or even look at Real Madrid, undoubtedly the true Goliaths of European Football. All these teams have great pasts and look brilliantly solid for a great run in the future. And that's perhaps why, apart from their fans, almost everybody else loves to hate them. It is easy to despise the 'Big Guy'. There's
always the anti established kind of sentiment that spreads like wildfire and everyone else would give an arm and a leg (well, if that sounds far fetched, ask the Afghans who fought Russia) to see the Big Guy take a tumble.

Somehow, Big equals Evil. A little digression into the world of business - when Google was a start up challenging Microsoft everyone loved them, but now suddenly, as Google grows big, it has become the 'evil' corporation! But consider for a moment a world without these Goliaths. No Roger Federer in tennis, or Tiger
Woods in Golf or Yanks in baseball, and the sports littered with small teams of almost equal abilities. Sports fans would have a boring time having no one to direct their hatred at. Big Guns are, in my opinion, those who bring in the real excitement and along the way absorb enormous amounts of hatred and crticism for everything from tactics (Aussie sledging?) to abuse of money and power (Real buying the hottest footballers every season) to even large scale cheating (Juventus accused of running a systematic doping program in Italian Serie A) .

Watching the Yankees this year at the World Series in baseball against the Philadephia Phillies (I was obviously rooting for the Phillies) made me realize that you look at an efficient and ruthless sports team and you realize that being Goliath is not so easy after all. And most of the times, Goliath's win is what lends that feeling around you that there is some order in the world. An occasional chaotic moment, an upset win, a huge collapse from the favourites is alright, but if it becomes the norm, believe me, you will begin feeling scared and disoriented.
Humans crave for order and sense, and a lack of it for even a short while may be too much too handle. Goliaths bring stability to proceedings in that sense. And watching the best do their best sometimes can grudingly lead you to concede the simple superiority of the 'Goliath' in the battle. Watching Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettite, Mark Teixeiria and Derek Jeter for the Yankees in that World Series gave me that kind of a feeling. In the middle of the series I had resigned myself to a Yankee win and all I wanted was for the Phillies to just put up a good enough fight. The same is true whenever I watch a Man U game. These powerhouses with their clinical displays most often set the benchmarks for the rest to follow, to pump themselves and raise their games to the next level. If there weren't any Sachin Tendulkar, whose wicket would you aim for? In that sense the existence of these Goliaths is the very essence of competition in sport and thereby they are doing a great service to the game.

Like I said, it's fairly easy to deride them, but the familiarity of Goliath gives you that feeling that there's some constancy in this world. No wonder Yankees Team President Randy Levine said after the 2009 World Series win (Yanks' first title since 2000) "The Yankees won. The world is right again." After all, if there weren't any Goliath, who would David really stick it to!