Small-market NBA Finals are the underdog no one is rooting for

On one level, we remain suckers for this kind of story. Maybe “Hoosiers” works just as well if the announcer for WFBM radio doesn’t tell us before the championship game that Hickory High School — “hardly big enough for three syllables!” — has an enrollment of 64, while South Bend Central — “the mighty Bears!” — has 2,800 students. 

Probably not, though. We always root for the Little Guy. 

Every other team in baseball eventually adopted analytics. But only the Oakland A’s got a book written about them, and then a movie, and as you watch “Moneyball,” you might actually find yourself hoping the A’s can rewrite history and win the pennant. 

(Especially since in THAT iteration of real life the A’s somehow didn’t have Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder and Miguel Tejada in their clubhouse, in addition to no free Cokes.)