The Power of the Underdog

A big congratulations is well deserved to "Joose" the sand volleyball team I was a part of this summer; we won the championship last night! This was our second championship win as a team this year, but this summers sand league was definitely much more of a challenge than this spring - we were 100% the underdogs! Which brings me to the topic of today: The Power of the Underdog. 

Last night going into the playoffs our team was the #5 seed out of 15 total teams. Our first match was against the #4 seed - this match determined if we would make the playoffs or not (we were tied with them). We beat them pretty easily and therefore qualified for the tournament. Our first tourney match was against the #1 team who we never played in the regular season - they only lost two games all season! We were definitely nervous, anxious, but mostly pumped up! We beat them by hefty margins and advanced to the championship match against a team we barely beat in regular season play. We ended up winning the match and the overall tournament, but there was something different about our team. 

Last night there was definitely a different attitude amongst our team and I think our victories can be attributed to being the underdogs coming into the tourney. One cannot deny the power of the underdogs - just look at this past year! The New Orlean Saints won the super bowl over the invincible Indianapolis Colts and UNI had an amazing run in 2010's NCAA basketball tournament. 

Prior to the big match up everyone secretly tells themselves "we're probably going to lose today," but they don't make this known. To everyone it looks as though they were the favorites coming into the match. This demonstration of confidence, the outward showing of strength and determination is what propels these underdogs to perform so well! Last night our team was confident, we drew upon all our strength and we were definitely determined not to lose - we wanted to prove that we were the best in our league!

Aside from a great series of victories last night the lesson I carried with me is to not underestimate the power of the underdog! If you do, you will more than likely lose!

Go Joose!

A Great Night in Sports!

Last night it became official - the MN Twins became the first MLB team this year to clinch their division (AL Central) and secure their spot in the 2010 MLB playoffs! Last nights comeback victory over the Cleveland Indians (6-4) coupled with the Chicago White Sox's loss to the Oakland A's (2-7) guarantees the Twins a playoff run! Currently the Twins have the 2nd best record in baseball (91-60) - of course the Yankee's have the best record...by a game (92-59)! GO TWINS and best of luck in the playoffs!

For a complete look at the MLB standings visit MLB Standings - ESPN

The great Twins victorylast night was not the only great win in MN sports last night! That's right...our sand volleyball team won our first game in our playoff run last night! Woot! We are scheduled to play 2 or 3 more matches next Tuesday as the playoffs wrap up and we work our way to win another championship! The teams this summer are a stronger than the ones we played indoors this spring, but it is still a lot of fun!

Now...if we could just get those dang Vikings & Golden Gophers to produce some winning results MN would be sitting pretty this fall!

Side note: Doesn't Scott Baker look old here? He is only 29 (born 1981)!!! I think he needs to lose the beard. Reminds me of Clint Eastwood or something...