Second Place Is for Losers: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Some athletes really do feel that way, coming so close and yet missing the mark. For example, one scientific study analyzed photographs of the facial expressions of many Olympians as they learned how they had placed. Bronze medalists seemed happy to have placed at all, but a Silver winner usually showed disappointment or dejection at coming in second best (Gold was of course almost always ecstatic).

 

Not to be confused with [[Tough Act to Follow]].

{{examples}}

 

== [[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.}}

** 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.

* ''[[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]].

 

== [[Film]] ==

* In ''[[The Karate Kid]] II'', the bully from the last film seemed to be okay with his 2nd place trophy, but his teacher wasn't. In fact, that teacher smashes the trophy and physically attacks his student so viciously that Mr. Miyagi has to step in and teach the sensei some manners.

* Mentioned in ''[[Top Gun]]''.

* In ''[[Gattaca]]'', the (wheelchair-bound) Jerome is like this:

'''Jerome:''' Are you colorblind, too? It's silver. Jerome Morrow was never meant to be second place. }}

* Robert De Niro's character in the movie ''[[Meet the Parents|Meet the Fockers]]'' reacts this way to Greg's parents keeping all of his awards even though he never placed very high, derisively saying that he doesn't want to encourage mediocrity in his own family.

* ''[[Talladega Nights]]'' "If you ain't first, you're last." Ricky Bobby bases his entire life on this one phrase his father told him, and earnestly believes it to the point that he can't deal with the idea of someone being better than him. He has a nervous breakdown when he wrecks in his first race against Jean Girard and needs training just to know how to go fast again.

** {{spoiler|Subverted later on in the movie when Ricky's Dad says "Oh hell, Son, I was high that day. That doesn't make any sense at all, you can be second, third, fourth... hell you can even be fifth."}}

** It's easier to overlook a missing year than it is to overlook a lone yellow banner in a sea of black first-place finishes.

* Averted in ''[[Fired Up]]'', in which a perpetually losing squad {{spoiler|ends up thirteenth in a tournament, but the captain feels it's an accomplishment, because it's ten places better than the previous year.}}

* ''[[The Social Network]]'' has the race where the Winklevoss twins, as well as the rest of the Harvard rowing team, lose against the opposition and place 2nd. They are clearly unpleased about it, and it becomes a [[Compliment Backfire]] when Prince Albert tells repeatedly how he "never saw a race ''so close!''"

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* Nanny Ogg in the [[Discworld]] series is perfectly aware of this, and prefers to come in second, because if you come in first, people are constantly trying to beat you and you're under pressure to keep coming in first. She likes coming second, because it's the runner-up that people pat on the back and say "It was a good try" and buy drinks for.

"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." }}

 

* 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.

** 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.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Related to this: ''[[Katamari Damacy]]'' has [[Spirited Competitor|Royal Second Cousin Miki]], who always tries to at least make the top three but tends to end up around sixth place.

** Also featured in the story of ''We Love Katamari''. As a child, The King of All Cosmos took second place in a boxing tournament - while walking home, his father pitches the silver trophy in the river to the King's dismay. {{spoiler|Later, the King and his father get in a fight - when the King goes to apologize, he sees his father looking at the silver trophy, and realises that his father must have fished it out of the river.}} This may also explain the King's attitude towards the player if he turns in a small katamari.

'''The King Of All Cosmos''': "Is this all you want out of life? Mediocrity?" }}

* In one mission in ''[[Elite Beat Agents]]'', you are trying to get a runner with a cold back to health in order to win the big race. Depending on how well you do, he reacts with roughly equal enthusiasm to winning Gold or Silver, but is very distraught to have only won 3rd, even if that is pretty good for someone who just got over a cold.

* In the ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' and ''[[Rune Factory]]'' series, winning a contest gets you high praise and affection from the other villagers. Don't win, even finishing in second, and everyone (even your spouse, if present) reacts in the same "You lost? You suck!" manner, whether it was second place or dead last.

* 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]] ==

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** 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.

** To point out how ridiculously high the standards of the guy's mom were, he got 2397 out of 2400. The only person above him got a perfect score.

* ''[[Peanuts|You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown]]'' shows Charlie Brown coming in second in the spelling bee and the rest of the kids giving him hell for it.

** In ''[[A Boy Named Charlie Brown]]'', Charlie Brown is a competitor in the National Spelling Bee Championship and ends up second and feels like a miserable failure. However, this is [[Fridge Logic]] considering that while misspelling a relatively easy word like "beagle" is embarrassing (especially when his pet Snoopy is one), the fact remains that Charlie Brown beat out almost all the top contenders in the entire country and that surely should count for something.

* Mocked in ''[[The Simpsons]]'', where the Olympics commissioner reaffirms the purpose of the Games: "giving out medals of beautiful gold, so-so silver, and shameful bronze."

** Also in "Lisa's Rival" when she considers her predicament:

'''[[Lampshade Hanging|Lisa]]''': [[Fridge Logic|Why would they come to our concert just to boo us?]] }}

** Inverted in ''I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can''. Lisa gets second place in the Spellympics and is hailed as a winner in Springfield - after all, second place makes her "the biggest winner this town's ever produced".

* Played with on ''[[The Weekenders]]''. Tino got 3rd place in a horseshoes competition, during a weekend sports meet, which he was pretty proud of, considering his took up the sport that weekend. His friends didn't see what the big deal was, since he didn't win. Probably had to do with the fact that they all won their competitions.

* In an episode of ''[[Futurama]]'', Bender enters Zoidberg in a pet show. When Zoidberg wins second place, Bender says the page quote.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

* Nascar driver Cale Yarborough had said "If he crowded me on the track it would be ok but when they ran us down we lost it"

* Blatantly averted in the 1987 ''[[Formula One]]'' season, though. Most of the points Nelson Piquet earned to get his third championship title came from earning ''second place'' in races.

** Then there's another aversion in Fernando Alonso's two championships in 2005 and 2006. Technically, he ''tied'' with his closest rival (Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher respectively) for most race wins those years, but Alonso had scored more second and third place finishes, giving him enough points to win the championships.

* This applies to Canoe Racing in Canada - The Junior category is anyone who hasn't won 1st or 2nd in the last 4 years in Junior. So if you get second, you can't race for the same trophy for 4 years. Especially relevant in the case of the J.W. Black Trophy for Junior Mens Canoe 4s, which is the most coveted Canoeing trophy in Canada, if not the world (also holds 52 or so beers, which helps). Canoeists even have a word for this trope - being Blackwashed.

* Hong Jin-Ho has made it to the finals of many Starcraft tournaments just to lose...

* UCLA Bruins football coach Red Sanders said:

* In the professional mexican soccer league, the "Cruz Azul" team is infamous for almost always making it to the grand final but rarely winning the championship, the team got the nickname "regala campeonatos", it doesn't help that for some reason, the team usually (though, not always) performs poorly and well under the level they displayed on the rest of the championship.

* The Bayer Leverkusen squad which finished second in in all three of the Bundesliga, UEFA Champions League and the domestic German cup in the same season was nicknamed the Neverkusen by the media, even though it was probably the best season in the whole history of the team.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Video Game Difficulty Tropes]]

[[Category:Sports Story Tropes]]