It's human nature to cheer for the underdog. After all, who wants to watch the same teams win year after year? What fun is that?
Part of the thrill of attending a sporting event is just being there -- cheering for your team, being part of a community of fans, absorbing the athletic culture.
But the more important factor luring fans to games is the competition and the uncertainty of who will win. You go to watch two teams battle it out, blow for blow, not knowing who will emerge victorious.
Over the last half-decade in Ivy League football and men's basketball, that uncertainty factor has largely been missing. Penn and Harvard have controlled Ancient Eight football, while Penn and Princeton have dominated men's basketball.
This year is different for Ivy League football.
While Penn was picked first in the preseason Ivy media poll, many critics considered Harvard to be the early favorite, with first-team All-American Clifton Dawson at running back.
Over the past few weeks, however, all that has changed.
After edging Brown in double-overtime, Harvard fell to Cornell, 27-13, two weeks ago, as the Big Red capitalized on the Crimson's injuries and exposed their weaknesses.
Elsewhere, Brown is 3-0 in non-conference play, with convincing victories over Georgetown, Fordham and Rhode Island, who defeated then-No. 11 William and Mary earlier this season by 19 points. With senior Nick Hartigan manning the running game, the Bears will likely compete for the Ivy title.
Penn and Yale are the only remaining undefeated teams in the Ivy League, but neither of those teams is invincible by any means.
In short, predicting who will win Ivy League football this year is no easy task. It is going to be extremely exciting to watch how the season unfolds. Every game matters, every quarter is crucial and every score could mean the difference between winning and losing.
In years past, this simply was not the case.
Two years ago, Penn went undefeated in conference play, cruising past its opponents behind quarterback Mike Mitchell and a dominant offensive line. Last season, Harvard finished undefeated with a convincing victory over the Quakers in the second-to-last week.
This year's Penn team isn't the same as 2003's, and there is much more parity around the League.
Finishing first in the Ivy League will be a daunting task. If the Quakers are to win, it will likely involve a number of close, nail-biting victories. The games against Brown, Cornell, Princeton, Yale and Harvard -- particularly when the Crimson is healthier, toward the end of the year -- will be difficult to win. More importantly for fans, they will be exciting to watch.
Penn may not be the underdog this year, but it is certainly not the undisputed favorite, either. There are no sure bets this season in Ivy League football.
Josh Pollick is a senior political science major from Los Angeles. His e-mail address is jpollick@sas.upenn.edu.
