History Main / SecondPlaceIsForLosers

* In Liga MX, the top-level Mexican soccer league, the "Cruz Azul" club 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 most famed curse in football/soccer belongs to S.L Benfica. After considerable success in European competitions in the 1960's, coach Bela Guttmann quit the club after an argument with the club's board of directors over his wages. He proceeded to say that Benfica would not be European champions in 100 years. Ever since then, Benfica have reached five European Championship finals (1963, 1965, 1968, 1988 and 1990) and three UEFA Cup/Europa League finals (1983, 2013, 2014), losing them all.

* In ''Film/TheKarateKidPartII'', 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.

* Macy Jean makes no attempt to hide her feelings after her daughter gets named first runner-up in a talent contest in ''Film/BeyondTheLights''- even forcing ten-year-old Noni (who had been perfectly happy taking second) to throw away her trophy.
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** The 2018 Los Angeles Rams were led by Sean [=McVay=], who at 33 years old was the league's youngest head coach, and soon became the youngest to reach the Super Bowl, the team's first in 17 years, facing the team that defeated them last time, the Patriots. Despite sloppy play by both teams, the Patriots once again defeated them 13-3, tying the lowest losing score with the Miami Dolphins at Super Bowl VI.

* American gymnast [=McKayla=] Maroney has been gracious in her public comments, saying that she is grateful and appreciative of her silver medal in the vault despite being an overwhelming favourite for gold. Still, her face is the picture for this trope, and it could sour fresh cream, as well as having launched a meme (which, to her credit, she's had fun with) – and, given that she ''would'' have won if she'd not sat down her second vault, it's difficult to blame her for kicking herself.
** When the US Women's gymnastics team made history at the 1996 Atlanta Games by winning the first team gold, the Russian and Romanian teams (the silver and bronze medal, respectively) were shown to be in tears, clearly feeling this way.
* Any [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]] team that loses in the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl is more likely to be remembered as a team that choked on the biggest stage rather than being recognized for the success that got them to the game in the first place. See below for some egregious examples...
** The Buffalo Bills 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 AFC by winning it four straight times, they're thought of as chokers, and spawned the initialism '''B'''oy, '''I''' '''L'''ove '''L'''osing '''S'''uper Bowls.
** The 2004 Philadelphia Eagles had one of the best seasons in the history of the franchise. They won 13 games in the regular season (a team record at the time), and had finally managed to win the NFC title game after losing it in the three consecutive years prior. Still, the most indelible memory of that magical season was team's horrible mismanagement of the clock and quarterback Donovan [=McNabb's=] apparent fatigue in Super Bowl XXXIX.
** The 2007 New England Patriots were undefeated in regular season play and were expected to win the championship. Analysts were calling them the greatest team of all time. Then they lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII and suddenly an 18–1 season just wasn't good enough to be the best.
** The 2013 Denver Broncos arguably had the most prolific offense of all time, with quarterback Peyton Manning throwing an NFL-record 55 touchdown passes. They won 13 games, secured home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and beat Tom Brady and the Patriots in the AFC title game. The season is mostly remembered for a different kind of history, however. The Seattle Seahawks drubbed the Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII, one of the biggest blowouts in Super Bowl history.
** The 2015 Carolina Panthers were one of only seven NFL teams in history to win 15 games in a regular season. Little is remembered about that season today except for a sullen press conference by quarterback Cam Newton following a 24-10 loss to the Broncos in Super Bowl 50.
** To say nothing of the 2016 Atlanta Falcons, who had their best season since their last Super Bowl appearance 18 years ago and made it to Super Bowl LI against the Patriots, where they squandered a ''25-point lead'' and the Patriots forced overtime for the first time in the history of the big game, and it wasn't long before that lead was entirely for naught.
** The 2018 Los Angeles Rams were led by Sean [=McVay=], who at 33 years old was the league's youngest head coach, and soon became the youngest to reach the Super Bowl, the team's first in 17 years, facing the team that defeated them last time, the Patriots. Despite sloppy play by both teams, the Patriots once again defeated them 13-3, tying the lowest losing score with the Miami Dolphins at Super Bowl VI.
* One of Liverpool FC's most famous and successful managers, Bill Shankly, who founded the 'Boot Room', a managing dynasty that led to Liverpool dominating the English game for the best part of twenty years after he left the club, once said, "If you are first, you are first. If you are second, you are nothing."
* Averted by the Croatian basketball 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 DreamTeam led by UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird, and had no illusions about winning. In the event they put out a respectable performance.
* UsefulNotes/LebronJames is a straight example. Because of the constant expectation and pressure to be the best of his generation, and the critics comparing him to UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan, Kobe Bryant, just to name a few, he is very disappointed when he comes up short in the basketball season, despite reaching the Finals for majority of his career, and winning 3 of them.
* A quarter of a century later, the Croatian Soccer team lost the 2018 World Cup final to France. While the team did look disappointed during the presentation ceremony itself, that soon evaporated. The Croatian capital had scenes of celebration. (https://www.balls.ie/football/lose-world-cup-final-392896) . After all, gritty, hard fighting underdog representing a small nation of 4 million don't usually reach a World Cup Final.
* The 1972 United States Olympic basketball team still has not accepted their silver medals, as they contend the officials in the gold-medal game against the Soviet Union robbed them[[note]]the appeal the US filed with FIBA was also denied – though the five-man jury's chairman, Ferenc Hepp, refused to reveal the exact vote, between Hepp (Hungary) stating he voted in favor of the Soviets, Rafael Lopez (Puerto Rico) and Claudio Coccia (Italy) both saying they voted for the US, and the other two (Adam Baglaewski, Poland; Andres Keiser, Cuba) being from Soviet-friendly countries, it's accepted as fact that the vote was along Cold War lines[[/note]]; the medals remain in a Swiss vault. They don't intend to do so any time soon: one player has even written into his will that his relatives and descendants are ''forbidden'' from accepting the medal on his behalf when he dies. [[note]]Whether it was a bad call or not is subjective, depending on the point of view; with three seconds remaining, the Soviet team attempted to call a time-out; because it was during a free throw with the clock running, and such a time out is is not permitted, it was not granted. But then a second referee recognized the time out, because the Soviet coach ran onto the field, committing another foul. ''Then'' because of this, William Jones, head of the International Amateur Basketball Federation, told the scoreboard officials to set it to three seconds even though he had ''absolutely no authority whatsoever to do so'', which he later openly admitted. Nonetheless, the time was restarted, and as a result, the Soviet team won 51–50.[[/note]]
* A great {{aver|tedTrope}}sion is the 2008 Summer Olympics and the Men's 100m sprint in track and field, which was dominated by Usain Bolt (who got a world record at 9.69s effortlessly). But the silver medalist, Walter Dix of Trinidad and Tobago, acted like ''he'' won the gold after edging American bronze medalist Rudy Gay. Even Gay didn't look very heartbroken.
* Nancy Kerrigan clearly had this feeling after winning the silver medal at the 1994 Lillehammer Games, given her snarky to the point of cruelty comment regarding gold medalist Oksana Baiul's uncontrollable weeping as well as the clearly displeased expression that she wore throughout. It's slightly understandable given that (a) she lost the gold by a ridiculously slim margin (a mere tenth of a point gave Baiul the gold), (b) skated what is unanimously believed to be her best performance yet, and (c) a myriad of problems had to be overcome – succumbing to nerves, a polemic attack and subsequent physical injury, tremendous pressure to win. Still, petty and needless as Hell, [[NeverLiveItDown and the skating fandom hasn't forgotten it]].
** Similarly, although Japan's Midori Ito probably did not behave this way herself – she won silver at the 1992 Albertville Games after a disastrous week that left many wondering if she would win a medal at all – she knew her fellow countrymen would, especially since she had come into the games as the favorite. As such, she made a public apology for not winning the gold medal.
** After being edged out by Yuka Sato in the 1994 World Championships, French skater Surya Bonaly initially refused to come out for the medal ceremony, then refused to get onto the platform, then yanked off her silver medal, feeling that Sato, who was Japanese, had won solely because the competition was being held in Japan.
** Despite a magnificent career that concluded with her being the most decorated figure skater in US history--12 US Championship medals, nine of them gold, 9 World Championship medals, five of them gold, and two Olympic medals, a feat achieved by very few skaters, Michelle Kwan is remembered for the fact that she never won an Olympic gold medal, thanks to the uncharacteristically mediocre performances she turned in at both of her Olympic ventures in 1998 and 2002, where she'd been the projected favorite.
* Hilariously, after failing to defend his title and finishing second in the men's individual figure skating at the Vancouver Olympics, Evgeni Plushenko initially displayed a ''[[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/22/evgeni-plushenkos-platinu_n_472590.html platinum medal]]'' on the splash page of his website, instead of the silver he won. When the media picked up on this, the page was quickly edited to show the silver medal.
* There was significant media controversy in Australia during the London Olympics centered around this attitude being incredibly prevalent towards the Australian swimming team, to the point where conflict around the long-standing tendency for this trope to be employed towards the team overshadowed the Olympics themselves for the first several days of competition, particularly Emily Seebohm all but bursting into tears in an interview after placing second in 100m backstroke because she thought she'd disappointed everyone, which many thought exposed just how much pressure the sporting culture places on athletes and how much backlash they really do have to fear if they take home anything other than gold. Todd Sampson summed it up on ''Series/TheGruenTransfer'': "We like to think we're a sport-mad nation. The truth is, we're a winning-mad nation."
* Chinese athletes at the Olympics are typically under such overwhelming pressure from their home nation to win gold that anything less than first place is a massive disappointment for them. One example of this is Qiu Bo being caught crying on camera after David Boudia unexpectedly beat him for gold in men's 10m platform diving at the 2012 London Olympics, in stark contrast to Great Britain's Tom Daley who was so ecstatic to win bronze that he did a victory dive into the pool.
* Canadian swimmer Elaine Tanner came into Mexico City 1968 as a heavy favorite, and returned home with 3 medals, 60% of the country's tally that edition. But given none were gold, she was deemed a disappointment, nobody received her back home, and led to depression and retirement at just 18 - and [[https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2016/jul/13/elaine-tanner-olympic-heartbreak one hell of a]] TraumaCongaLine life, where she even considered suicide before meeting her current husband. [[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/more-sports/no-shame-in-silver-medal-tanner-tells-team-canada/article11181503/ Tanner later said]] to be relieved to see Canada celebrating silver medals in later Olympics, but cringed at seeing Nike promoting Atlanta 1996 with billboards saying: “You don’t win silver – you lose gold.”
* The Canadian Women's Hockey team was in tears with their heads hung low after losing to the United States in the gold medal game of the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics, ending their 4-gold streak. When the medals were hung around the players' necks, one of the Canadian players took off her silver medal right away.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers were called "Dem Bums" in part because they would repeatedly win a league pennant before losing the World Series after, mostly against the Yankees. The Dodgers would finally win the World Series in 1955 before losing again in 1956 and moving to Los Angeles a few years later.
* Similar to the Yankees, if a Canadian national hockey team doesn't win a tournament they're playing in, it's deemed a failure. If enough of the various tournaments (IIHF Junior, Men's/Women's Olympic, World Cup) are lost in a row, a national discussion on whether we're "losing our game" ensues. The fact that on the UsefulNotes/{{N|ationalHockeyLeague}}HL side of things the last Canadian team to win the Cup was the Montreal Canadiens in 1993 doesn't help; the national teams are suppose to bring redemption for the Canada's "NHL failures". Doesn't mean the wins aren't [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuJH2WXJGHI appreciated.]] The irony of this situation is that even now, when players come from all over the world to play hockey in the NHL, the league is still slightly over 50% Canadian. In short, even when American teams win in the NHL, Canada still technically wins because as often as not, more than half of the players on the winning team are Canadian.
* Dale Earnhardt was often quoted saying "Second place is just the first loser".
** A slogan which appears on various T-shirts, and may have been adapted for ''Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby''.
** A popular saying among NASCAR fans is that "No one remembers who finished second in the Daytona 500". Which is ironic given that one of things Earnhardt is remembered for is finishing second in the Daytona 500 over and over and over...
** Cale Yarborough had said "If he crowded me on the track it would be ok but when they ran us down we lost it". Basically the racing driver's way of saying "I don't like being shoved out and crashing but I really hate being outrun and finishing second".
* For three seasons (2011, 2012, and 2013) NASCAR season, driver Martin Truex Jr. finished more closest to first than every other driver in NASCAR by coming in ''second'' in race after race after race after race. Rather than this consistent performance being rightly seen as a mark of a highly skilled driver, pretty much all of NASCAR (including Truex ''and'' his fans) consider him "underperforming".
* UCLA Bruins football coach Red Sanders and, more famously, Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, are both known for saying that ''"Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing."''
* In Liga MX, the top-level Mexican soccer league, the "Cruz Azul" club 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 "Neverkusen" by the media, even though it was probably the best season in the whole history of the team.
* One of tennis star Serena Williams' more famous quotes; "At the end of the day, if you aren't first, you're last."
* The 2013 [[UsefulNotes/IndyCar Indianapolis 500]] was Carlos Munoz's first ever and his first time in an Indycar race (Indy Lights notwithstanding), yet he managed to finish second behind Tony Kanaan. Most people would have been thrilled with this result, but he was disappointed with himself for not winning.

* When Denmark lost the final of the 2011 handball world championships, the Danish star player Mikkel Hansen quickly took off his silver medal. The story goes that he tossed it into Øresund[[note]]the world Championships in 2011 took place in Sweden, and Denmark played almost every game in Malmö, which is linked to Copenhagen by bridge[[/note]]. He also took it off after the lost final in 2013, and put it under his tracksuit after the loss at the european championships in 2014. Hansen does not like silver medals.

* The almost eternal "curse" of the Chilean soccer club [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Deportivo_Universidad_Catolica Universidad Católica]], which finished '''fourty-four''' times as second place in diverse Chilean championships until they finally won in April 2016. From [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]]:
-->"Since 2012, the club has always been in the fight for the championship, however, by one reason or the other, it has been unable to finish first, thus becoming the target of jokes by its rivals and adopting a reputation of a "2nd place team". The lack of titles and frustrating important match losses against bitter rivals and smaller clubs, has infuriated a demanding fan base that is now looking for changes at the top level. The hard core fans have been expressing their anger at the games by blaming the club's executives for keeping the club between the elite, not opening up the club to the masses, lack of investment in acquisition of players and poor decisions in the acquisition of a few foreign players that were not up to the club's standards."
* Presidential elections. Even if you have a distinguished political career and win a hard-fought primary to secure your party's nomination, you'll still be a loser in the eyes of history unless you win the general election.
** To add insult to injury, in the country's earliest elections (prior to a change in the election system), the prize for coming in second was getting the oh-so-glamorous position of... [[VicePresidentWho Vice-President!]]

* Any NFL team that loses in the Super Bowl is more likely to be remembered as a team that choked on the biggest stage rather than being recognized for the success that got them to the game in the first place. See below for some egregious examples...
** The Buffalo Bills made it to the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl four straight years, only to lose all four times. Instead of being thought of as a team that dominated the AFC by winning it four straight times, they're thought of as chokers, and spawned the initialism '''B'''oy, '''I''' '''L'''ove '''L'''osing '''S'''uper Bowls.

** The Buffalo Bills made it to the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl four straight years, only to lose all four times. Instead of being thought of as a team that dominated the AFC by winning it four straight times, they're thought of as chokers, and spawned the initialism '''Boy''', '''I''' '''L'''ove '''L'''osing '''S'''uper Bowls.

** The Buffalo Bills made it to the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl four straight years, only to lose all four times. Instead of being thought of as a team that dominated the AFC by winning it four straight times, they're thought of as chokers.

'''[[ImagineSpot Announcer]]:''' And now, Avis Rent-A-Car is proud to present the [[AlwaysSecondBest second best band in America]]. Will you welcome Garfunkel, Messina, Oates, and Lisa singing their number two hit, "Born to Runner-up".\\
''[audience boos]''\\
'''[[LampshadeHanging Lisa]]:''' [[FridgeLogic 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". Heck, because she lost honorably instead of taking a bribe to take a dive, they fashion a sign that says: "2 good 2 be #1."
** Parodied in "Deep Space Homer". One of the astronauts coming along on the mission is Buzz Aldrin, who insists that "second comes right after first", leading to awkward glances between the other characters.

* Averted by the Croatian basketball 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 DreamTeam led by UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird, and had no illusions about winning.

Some real-life athletes feel that way quite deeply, 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. Gold of course was almost always ecstatic, and Bronze medalists were happy to have placed at all, but a Silver winner usually showed disappointment or dejection at coming in second best, unless it was their first time competing. This is especially true in tournament-style sports where the bronze team had won their game but the silver medalists had ''lost'' the game for gold. And then the presentation ceremony takes place immediately upon conclusion of the last match, giving the runners-up no time to compose themselves and put on a sporting face.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash never makes it further than the Top 8 or maybe the Top 4 of a major League tournament, with the few times he actually being the tournament winner being on filler arcs. The one time (so far) that he became runner-up was even hyped up as his ultimate battle and victory InUniverse and out. Understandably, on more than one occasion he is visibly holding back tears in the aftermath.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'': Crystal Prep has this mentality, with Cinch encouraging it to keep the school's spotless winning streak intact. [[spoiler:After she realizes CHS has access to magic, she pressures Human Twilight into using the magic she collected to even the odds.]]

** Averted in the actual Top Gun school: Pilots are sent to the school to learn dissimilar combat training skills, which they return to their squadrons to teach to the other pilots in their squadron. There is no contest nor a trophy. In essence, Top Gun is a school to teach fighter pilots how to teach.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash never makes it further than the Top 8 or maybe the Top 4 of a major League tournament, with the few times he actually being the tournament winner being on filler arcs. The one time (so far) that he became runner-up was even hyped up as his ultimate battle and victory InUniverse and out. Understandably, on more than one occasion he visibly holding back tears in the aftermath.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash never makes it further than the Top 8 or maybe the Top 4 of a major League tournament. The one time he became runner-up, however, the most vocal InternetBackdraft erupted, thanks in no small part to the fact it was hyped up as his ultimate battle and victory.

* One happened around the release of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros for Wii U/3DS'' regarding Mii Fighter costumes, many of which were based on other video game characters. The announcement of a costume based on some characters was often responded to with ''anger'' by their fanbases. As much as an honor it was that the character was given with the costume, most fans only saw it as that character being considered and rejected as a playable character.
** Come the development of ''Ultimate'', and Assist Trophy characters began to be seen in a similar way, with some announcements of characters playing this role in the game (particularly [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Waluigi]], VideoGame/{{Bomberman}}, [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Lyn]], [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Alucard]], [[VideoGame/WarioWare Ashley]], and [[VideoGame/TheMysteriousMurasameCastle Takamaru]], among certain others) being met with varying levels of InternetBackdraft, due to a perception among certain parts of the fanbase that getting represented in the game as an Assist Trophy rather than a playable character is a backhanded compliment at best, an outright insult at worst, to a character allegedly perceived by the developers and [[ScapegoatCreator Masahiro Sakurai]] as not being good enough to be a playable character in ''Smash''. The noise over Waluigi, in particular, was so vocal that it even attracted mass media attention.
* Something similar to the above also happened to an extent with ''VideoGame/PokkenTournament'', where a Pokémon confirmed to be a Support Pokémon was met with a negative response as it essentially confirmed that they wouldn't be playable. (Especially in the case of certain Pokémon like Dragonite who many would have found to be a perfect fit.) However, Croagunk was eventually added to the game despite already being a Support Pokémon, so perhaps there's still hope for the other Support Pokémon.

* ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' has it's famous ''Green With Evil'' storyline that introduced the very first SixthRanger. 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.

** Come the development of ''Ultimate'', and Assist Trophy characters began to be seen in a similar way, with some announcements of characters playing this role in the game (particularly Waluigi, Bomberman, Lyn, and Takamaru, among certain others) being met with varying levels of InternetBackdraft. The noise over Waluigi, in particular, was so vocal that it even attracted mass media attention.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' shows Gumball's mother Nicole grew up to believe this trope was "first place for losers" by her overbearing and controlling parents ([[ViolationOfCommonSense besides telling her that getting an "F" in ''gender'' is no excuse for her to be female]]). She is shown to shut off her parents' comments, though.