I think what is meant by "emotional underdog" is whether she is the underdog to win people's hearts.
Yep, that's right.
This blog post goes along the lines of what I'm thinking about.
They were doing the post-ladies FS press conference (streaming it live on Ice Network), and as is often the case, the majority of the questions were being posed to Our New Champion (Rachael Flatt). But the tone of some of the questions concerned me, and Flatt’s attempts to answer them left me downright troubled on at least one occasion. I cannot remember the exact exchange—if requested, I’ll try to find it in the archives and transcribe it—but the vibe I got came down to this: why don’t you think people like your skating the best?
... I thought I saw at least a glimmer of someone who at the heart of it all is a 17 year old girl who may have heard “the vibe” in even harsher tones: Why don’t people like YOU as much as they should?
Suddenly she sounded like someone on the defense as she gamely tried to explain that she, too, was disappointed that she hadn’t really put herself out there the way she wanted to just yet.
Disappointed?! On the defense??! She just WON! And it was miles from the who-can-fall-the-least mess we’ve so often seen of late. It was seven clean triple jumps, two in combination, with NO downgrades or two-foot landings. It was level 3’s and level 4’s on all the spins, spirals and footwork. It was someone who delivered the goods, and delivered them marvelously, over 11 points above all others.
Yet I got the distinct impression she felt a need to apologize for the way she is, and that upsets me. Explaining yourself when you’ve made technical errors is one thing… explaining why you didn’t bring down the house with your top-ranked performance is something else entirely.