As far as feel-good stories in sports go, one of the sub-genres of the underdog story that undeniably generates the most warm, fuzzy feelings is betting on yourself. Even if you just take some widely-beloved players that’ve donned a New England Patriots uniform relatively recently, there’s plenty of dudes that’ve looked themselves in the mirror, said “I may be down bad, but I know what I can do”, and then parlayed that into a Super Bowl title, Pro Bowl honors, a massive brand-spanking-new contract, or all of the above.
The GOAT bet on himself when he let his Patriots contract expire and took a historically pathetic franchise to their second Super Bowl.