History Main / SecondPlaceIsForLosers

* "You don't win silver -- you lose gold." was from a Nike commercial that ran during the 1996 Summer [[OlympicGames 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 never mentioned it again.

Compare VictoryGloating, TheBGrade, and StopHavingFunGuys.

Compare VictoryGloating, TheBGrade.

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!!Examples:

-->''"Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing."''\\
-- UCLA Bruins football coach Red Sanders, often attributed to Vince Lombardi

-->''"Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing."''

* [[{{Yu-Gi-Oh}} Seto Kaiba's]] outlook on life.

Contrast TheRunnerUpTakesItAll.

-->'''Bender:''' ''"Second place? That's a fancy word for losing."''\\
-- ''{{Futurama}}''

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* "You don't win silver -- you lose gold." was from a Nike commercial that ran during the 1996 Summer [[OlympicGames 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 never mentioned it again.

* Subverted in ''KingOfTheHill''. Hank doesn't win a shooting competition, and his [[WellDoneSonGuy 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.

* In {{Gattaca}}, the (wheelchair-bound) Jerome is like this:

* It's a theme in the second season of SportsNight. 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.
* The unfortunate tendency for sports teams who keep getting to the championships and losing to be treated as failures, when in fact they must be pretty good to make it there so many times.
** Prime example: The Buffalo Bills. They made it to the {{Super Bowl}} four straight years, only to lose all four times. Instead of being thought of as a team that dominated the American Conference by winning it four straight times, they're thought of as chokers.
* Several people who came in second for reality TV shows such as {{Survivor}} and the American BigBrother have acted like they lost the game because they didn't win.
** Notably averted on ''TheAmazingRace'', where second place teams rarely ever take it badly. Of course, there is the occasional racer like Boston Rob who accuses the producers of fixing the race against him. But then, considering what other [[{{Survivor}} reality show he finished second on...]]
*** When RealityTV contestents go on a show after they get kicked off/voted out etc. (like doing an apperance on ''DavidLetterman'' or ''{{Today}}'') they'll have all of the losing contestents...until the GrandFinale where the winner is announced. Then they'll only have the winner on, nevermind the 2nd place (and possibly 3rd & 4th) who were established during the same show.

* BatmanBeyond 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.
-->'''Mom:''' Almost doesn't get you anywhere in life. [[TheBGrade Almost gets you almost]].

* The New York Yankees. If they don't win the World Series, their season is considered a failure. If it has been more than a couple of years since the Yankees last won, the New York sports media will often refer to them as having a "championship drought". When the team won the 2009 World Series, the occasion was treated as if it had been a long, long time since their previous one... which was actually just nine years prior. Over half the teams in Major League Baseball haven't won in the last 20.

* In one mission in EliteBeatAgents, 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 TonyHawkProSkating4 (and probably several other games in the series), there were several competition missions in which you "only" had to be 3rd so get a "mission complete" status. How many players do you think would keep redoing the mission until they actually got a 1st place? Heck, this troper would often restart before it was finished, if it looked like he'd be number 2.

* Happens in ''ParadiseKiss''. While the other members take it better, [[spoiler: winning the second prize in the HighSchoolFestival 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.]]

*** Averted by the Croatian basketbell team in 1992; they talked about how happy they were to be winning silver ''before the gold medal game was even played''. They were going up against the Dream Team, and had no illusions about winning.
* Mocked in TheSimpsons, where the Olympics commissioner reaffirms the purpose of the Games: "giving out medals of beautiful gold, so-so silver, and shameful bronze."
* Played with in ''The Wild One'': one of Johnny's gang steals the second-place trophy from a local motorcycle race and gives it to him; Johnny complains, "Why didn't you steal first?" "It was too big." Johnny displays the trophy prominantly on his bike.
* In the ''RedDwarf'' novel ''Better Than Life'', a scene in Rimmer's childhood shows him nearly winning a race before another boy trips him up, and we're told his father's favourite phrase is "Winning isn't everything, but losing is nothing". But then we're shown Ace Rimmer in the same sports day, and he ''throws'' the race, because he realises another boy really ''needs'' to win it. While his mother stares in disbelief, he thinks "After all, losing isn't nothing."

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

* An episode of ''CourageTheCowardlyDog'' had [[CatsAreMean Katz]] attempting revenge on Muriel because he always come in second to her in Nowhere's cooking contests.
* ''TalladegaNights'' "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.
* Played with on TheWeekenders. 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.
* The coach of the [[OpposingSportsTeam Hawks]] in the first ''[[TheMightyDucks Mighty Ducks]]'' movie gazes at the one second-place banner in a long-row of first-place banners and remarks, "I sure wish they'd take that one down." Apparently, being perceived as not even making the top 3 or 4 teams that year is better than getting second.
* Fans have criticized the ''{{Pokemon}}'' 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. And then there's the fact that he's competed in special RunTheGauntlet challenges against groups of highly skilled trainers and won both times.
* In an episode of ''{{Futurama}}'', Bender enters Zoidberg in a pet show. When Zoidberg wins second place, Bender says the page quote.
* In ''{{Survivor}}'', Russell Hantz won second place in ''Samoa'', then third in ''Heroes vs. Villains''. After ''Samoa'', he acted like he was slapped in the face and practically ''murdered'' when he came in second out of ''twenty'' people, then third out of ''twenty people'', all of which were former players and several of which were considered the ''best''. however when he won the Sprint player of the year award, he ''immediately'' begun the typical Victory dance in ''Heroes vs. Villains''.
** 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.

* In the ''HarvestMoon'' 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.
* [[{{Yu-Gi-Oh}} Seto Kaiba's]] outlook on life.

** Russell basically acted like a terrible sport in Heroes vs. Villains. Instead of congratulating Sandra in not angering potential votes, Russell begun to attack the game ''itself'' saying that it was "Flawed" if 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.

** I refuse to watch any of them to find out if this is the case or not, but I think second place really ''is'' first loser when there's only one prize given out.
*** Usually, the price for 2nd is something like 10% of the prize for 1st. I know the prize for 2nd place on ''{{Survivor}}'' is $100,000. Not a million by any means, but certainly not chump change.

In a narrative sense, this can be used to give an {{Aesop}} about sportsmanship, or at can be used to squeeze some extra {{Angst}} from a character, especially if the second placing character hoped to use the competition to impress their WellDoneSonGuy.

->''"You don't win silver -- you lose gold."''
-->--Nike commercial that ran during the 1996 Summer [[OlympicGames Olympics]] in Atlanta:

->''And the winner of the tournament won the controllers that were opened for the tournament (worth $80), and $20 in cash. Second place was a can of coke and an autographed picture of Gord. Third place was $20. The Gord likes to remind people that second place is just the first loser.''
-->--[[http://www.actsofgord.com/Annoy/chapter05.php Acts of Gord]]

->''The Olympics is really my favorite sporting event,although I think I have a problem with that silver medal. I think, if I was an Olympic athlete, I would rather come in last than win the silver. If you think about it... if you win the gold, you feel good. If you win in the bronze, you think: "Well, at least I got something." But if you win that silver, it's like: "Congratulations! You... almost won." "Of all the losers, you came in first of that group." "You're the number one... loser." "No one lost... ahead of you."''
-->--'''Jerry Seinfeld''':

Please note that, real or fictional, this attitude is almost never shown in a positive light, and most leagues (especially youth leagues) consider it ''very'' bad sportsmanship. Nike was so roundly criticized for the above quote, they yanked the campaign after just a few days and never mentioned it again.

* In an episode of ''{{Futurama}}'', Bender enters Zoidberg in a pet show. When Zoidberg wins second place, Bender yells at him "Second place? That's a fancy word for losing."