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Second Place Is for Losers: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Bender:''' "Second place? That's a fancy word for losing!"
|''[[Futurama]]''}}
When people think '''Second Place Is for Losers''', it basically means that if someone gets second place in a competition (that has more than two contestants), it's little better than coming in last. It doesn't matter if you've won a footrace with everyone on the planet, and bested 7 billion people. All that matters is you didn't beat the one.
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{{examples}}
* "You don't win silver -- you lose gold." was from a Nike commercial, featuring Andre Agassi that ran during the 1996 Summer [[Olympic Games|Olympics]] in Atlanta. Nike was roundly criticized for the line, as it was totally against the Olympic spirit. They yanked the campaign after just a few days and [[Let Us Never Speak of This Again|never mentioned it again]].▼
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=Lqt5trFI_bY This commercial] for the show ''[[Go On]]'', just watch it, it's only 31 seconds long.
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Happens in ''[[Paradise Kiss]]''. While the other members take it better, {{spoiler|winning the second prize in the [[School Festival]] contest}} is the catalyst that sends George into a life crisis, believing he can't connect with the public (and thus achieve success as a fashion designer) without compromising his personal artistic vision. Yukari also takes it rather dramatically. {{spoiler|Angst ensues, they break up. It's not the only reason, but it sure creates a lot of drama.}}
* Fans have criticized the ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime for never letting Ash win any of the various League tournaments he enters. Such complaints ignore the fact that ''hundreds'' of trainers enter each of these tournaments, and the lowest Ash has ever finished is 16th overall (an impressive feat on its own, since it was his first time entering an official Pokémon League competition). And then there's the fact that he's competed in special [[Run the Gauntlet]] challenges against groups of highly skilled trainers and won both times. The same has been said for Dawn, particularly after she placed second in the Grand Festival behind one of her best friends and sources of advice and encouragement.
** On the game side, at the end of ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue]]'', Professor Oak gives Blue a speech on how disappointed he is in him, and how he needs to learn to treat Pokémon well like Red does, almost completely ignoring how Blue's methods got him past all the gyms and the Elite Four, and he'd still be Kanto's champion if Red hadn't shown up.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'': Seto Kaiba's outlook on life. His lifelong goal - some would say obsession - to defeat Yugi (or rather, Yami, something he eventually acknowledges) has made him a bitter and isolated individual, this obsession causing the entire plot of the Death-T (manga only) and Battle City arcs.
** ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time]]'' took this obsession to ridiculous proportions. While Yami has gone to his final reward (due to the Ceremonial duel in the [[Grand Finale]] of the first series) Kaiba will not give up his yearn for a rematch, and tries to use technology to bring Yami’s spirit to Earth - this naturally fails, and causes a lot of bad things to happen, but Kaiba ''still'' won’t give up. {{spoiler|At the end of the movie, he decides that if his rival won’t come ''here'', then ''he'' will go ''there''. He succeeds in this and Yami is only too happy to accept his challenge, but the movie ends before the duel starts, leaving the outcome unknown.}}
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' takes this trope to [[Deconstruction|the logical extreme]]. Initially, when Shinji first surpasses Asuka's synch ratio, she's just pissed at him. Later, after being [[Can't Catch Up|curbstomped three times in a row with Shinji always scoring the kill instead of her]], she becomes extremely distraught, due to her past: she always prided herself on being the best so that she [[I Work Alone|won't need any kind of help from anyone]]. By not being the best anymore and her rival consistently having a stellar performance, she's afraid of being put to the sidelines and as a result, her synch ratio is plummeting; seeing this, she also becomes afraid that if she drops low enough, she will be relieved of her duties which to her would be equal to being publicly humiliated in the worst way possible for a human. And the best part in all of this? '''She knows what's wrong but her pride doesn't let her admit it to herself.'''
** Oh, it gets even ''better''. Right after her third defeat (technically second since she couldn't attack Leliel, much less harm it), she's sent into battle again, knowing that this is the last chance the NERV leadership is giving for her: if she screws up this time, it's game over. Not only she doesn't get a single shot off at Arael, '''she undergoes the [[Trope Namer]] for [[Mind Rape]] instead'''. And she gets saved by the person she hates the most. Next time she's sent up against Armisael, she can't even get her Eva to move anymore and is withdrawn; as an indirect result, Rei-II is killed by the Angel despite Shinji's intervention ("you didn't send him out for me... am I really that worthless?"). What do NERV does in this situation? Does they try to solve Asuka's psychological problems and cheer her up? [[There Are No Therapists|Noooo]], [[We Have Reserves|they send her into early retirement and fetch a replacement instead]].
* Invoked once in ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'', but never really enforced except that every team do his best to win. It's even subverted once, with Deimon make it to Kantou tournament despite only can get 3rd place.
* In ''[[Bakuman｡]]'', Mashiro and Takagi are crushed to learn that they got third place with "The World is All About Money And Intelligence," (losing to [[The Rival|Eiji]] and someone else) even though it surpasses all their previous efforts, since it means they will not be able to submit it for serialization. Otherwise, this trope is largely averted with a few exceptions (mainly Iwase), as when the main characters are starting out and want to get up past ninth place, Miura tells them that rather than try desperate tactics to go up, they should maintain their ranking, as anything above 10th place will not come up for cancellation.
* ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'' has {{spoiler|[[The Ace|Keith Goodman/Sky High]]}} struggling with this after {{spoiler|Barnaby Brooks Jr. takes his place as the highest ranking superhero}}. However, being the [[Nice Guy]] to end all [[Nice Guy]]s, he's not angry over no longer being the best so much as he's afraid that he can no longer live up to the expectations people have for him.
* ''[[Princess Nine]]'': Seira Morimura has this attitude; she's always bettering herself until she's the best. When ADV released downloadable "baseball cards" with the characters' images and stats, Seira's was titled "Second Place is First to Lose".
▲* "You don't win silver -- you lose gold." was from a Nike commercial, featuring Andre Agassi that ran during the 1996 Summer [[Olympic Games|Olympics]] in Atlanta. Nike was roundly criticized for the line, as it was totally against the Olympic spirit. They yanked the campaign after just a few days and [[Let Us Never Speak of This Again|never mentioned it again]].
== [[Film]] ==
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* Miranda Frost in ''[[Die Another Day]]'' betrayed her country solely because she got a silver medal in the Olympics, and the villain of the movie offered to make it look like the gold winner cheated.
* Andy's father in ''[[The Breakfast Club]]'' clearly ascribes to this belief given how he drives his son to win at all costs.
== [[Literature]] ==
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"Results don't matter, Jeffrey," said John. "Playing the game does. Life isn't results. When you die, they don't calculate your goal average and judge whether you should be promoted or relegated. Life is the game, the process of the game, moment to moment. If you do your best, no one can blame you. If you play fair, no one can argue with you. Better a successful dustbinman than a wash-out field marshall." }}
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* It's a theme in the second season of ''[[Sports Night]]''. An athlete sets a new world record during a long jump competition; five minutes later, another athlete breaks this new record and wins the gold. Dan tells his therapist that no one will ever remember the first guy because he lost.
* Several people who came in second for reality TV shows such as ''[[Survivor]]'' and the American ''[[Big Brother]]'' have acted like they lost the game because they didn't win.
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** Russell basically acted like a terrible sport in Heroes vs. Villains. Instead of congratulating Sandra in not angering potential votes, Russell began to attack the game ''itself'' saying that it was "Flawed" if someone who played differently than him could ''win'', and immediately proposing an alternative rule(set) that would most ''definitely'' favour ''him''. Basically, he came across as someone who played the game well and deserved more recognition from the fellow players...or a ''terrible'' sport who needs to learn that the game is ''not'' just played his way.
* [[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]] has it's famous ''Green With Evil'' storyline that introduced the very first [[Sixth Ranger]]. It begins with Jason facing Tommy, a new kid in town, in a martial arts contest which ultimately ends in a tie. As Jason returns to his friends, the first words that come out of his mouth are "I didn't win." Granted, he doesn't dwell on it anymore after this one moment, but it's still an odd thing for a character like Jason to be concerned about.
* Played with on [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]: Bashir was second in his class, and outwardly kicked himself for the simple blunder on the test that caused him to be such. However, he reveals shortly that's it's part of how he comes on to girls. Plus after [[The Reveal]] about his "enhancements," it may be that he deliberately made the mistake as to keep his cover.
* Parodied in ''[[The Addams Family (1964 TV series)|The Addams Family]]'', where Morticia's sister rejects the second-richest man in the world because "mother always said never to settle for second best. Later she hooks up with a man who is rich ''and'' [[Napoleon Delusion| thinks he's Napoleon.]]
== [[Video Games]] ==
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* In ''[[Tales of Graces]]'', this is what prompted Hubert to grow from whiny crybaby to freaking general badass.
* In the [[Racing Mini Game|racing minigames]] from ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' and ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'', Mario must beat all the NPCs in a race first to obtain the Power Star. If he falls in second or below, then [[Driven to Suicide|he will lose a life]].
== [[Web Original]] ==
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Subverted in ''[[King of the Hill]]''. Hank doesn't win a shooting competition (as he can't bring himself to tell Bobby that he can't aim a rifle worth squat), and his [["Well Done, Son" Guy|dad won a bet he wouldn't]]. But then Bobby walks up and says. "Wow, Dad. Second place in a ''real competition''." It's worth noting that Hank was established throughout the episode as being a really crummy shot to begin with.
** Happens in a later episode where Bobby takes to growing roses and fails in a flourist competition. He's disappointed and depressed about it, but shocked when he sees Hank (who he actively hid his roses from in the beginning) planting his flowers in the garden. When Bobby asks why he'd do this even if he didn't win, Hank explains, "Well, the Cowboys don't win every game, but I still cheer them on year after year."
* ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' had an episode where, after scoring second highest on an exam, one character was told by his mother that that makes him "the winning loser." Said boy then strikes a vendetta against the top scorer, who happens to be Batman's best friend.
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