The League

The Underdog

by Will · May 5, 2009

Will

Will writes from Washington, D.C. (well, Arlington, Virginia). You can reach him at willblogcorrespondence at gmail dot com.

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Mike says:

May 5, 2009 at 12:57 pm

interesting article, with nice examples. But isn’t Gladwell’s basic point lifted straight from Nietzsche? (David:Goliath :: master morality : slave morality)

Also, youtube embed is brokenReport
Will says:

May 5, 2009 at 1:01 pm

Mike –

Thanks for the heads-up. That’s an interesting point, though I think Gladwell’s larger argument is purely descriptive: underdog tactics are effective but rarely used because they’re so much more difficult to implement.Report
Mike says:

May 5, 2009 at 1:13 pm

Yeah, you’re right… it might not be his overarching argument, but I was struck by the section what ends with “It isn’t surprising that the tournament directors found Eurisko’s strategies beyond the pale. It’s wrong to sink your own ships, they believed. And they were right. But let’s remember who made that rule: Goliath. And let’s remember why Goliath made that rule: when the world has to play on Goliath’s terms, Goliath wins.” I was totally on board with Gladwell until then.Report

Ten Second News

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(Featured image is "Some birds hanging out at the Sands Casino in Atlantic City" by iirraa is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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(Featured image is "A radio tracking device on a Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) at the Cotswold Falconry Centre" by Anguskirk and is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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From Twitter Safety:

After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 8, 2021