Is Rooting For The Underdog In Our DNA?

I was at the dog park not long ago, the one in Encinitas at Rancho Coastal Humane Society, and the parking lot was filled with cars. Why were so many people there at 1pm on a Wednesday afternoon? They were there for a birthday party. I couldn't believe the humane society was the site for a birthday party, but there were 14 screaming 8 year olds there to eat, play games, and celebrate someone's birthday. While they were waiting for the party to start, they all gathered around the fence to watch the dogs in the park play. There were three particular dogs of interest. A 60 pound boxer named Chester, a 30 pound mixed breed named Abbey, and a 10 pound puppy named Jesse. They were wrestling, biting, chasing, having a grand old time, the two larger dogs beating up on Jesse. But Jesse fought back, seemed to love the "play fighting" and kept coming back for more. The kids reacted to this dog play as if it were a boxing match. They started chanting, "Jesse, Jesse" and rooting for little Jesse to win the fight. Is it in our DNA to root for the underdog? I thought this an interesting idea, so I went home and researched this concept, and apparently it is in our DNA to root for the underdog. We are genetically inclined to help weaker victims fight back against dominating bullies. It's in our genes to root for our own team, but if you don't have your own team playing, you root for the underdog. All those human interest stories that we hear about Olympic athletes, for example, are about the underdog. Boy from the projects with no father, no money, grows up to be a world class athelete. We all root for that. It's in our DNA, and this little example at the dog park, showed so clearly that this is true. No one told those kids who to root for, but they inherently rooted for the smallest, the lightest, the one least able to protect himself. I found this very interesting.