History Main / SecondPlaceIsForLosers

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash never made it further than the Top 8 or maybe the Top 4 of a major League tournament, with the few times he actually became the tournament winner being in 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 -- causing a considerable amount of backlash when he lost. Understandably, on more than one occasion he is visibly holding back tears in the aftermath.
** Another League contender believes hard in this -- Guzma in ''Sun and Moon'' (as Plumeria finds out seeing dozens of broken second place trophies and silver medals in his room), which may explain why [[spoiler:he broke off from his apprenticeship with Hala]] and formed Team Skull.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall'' Goku got second place at the 21st and the 22nd Martial Arts Tournaments. He was specifically told by Master Roshi not to expect to win since he was still inexperienced. Goku didn't care and went for the win and was visibly upset that he lost. The second time, he lost to Tien after having the bad luck of running into a truck as he was falling and hitting the ground first (it's a long story). When Krillin tried to congratulate him Goku says, "A loss is a loss."

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' at the end, when Dash (who has SuperSpeed and could win extremely easily) deliberately takes second place in a race to maintain the {{masquerade}}.

** The 2018 Los Angeles Rams were led by Sean [=McVay=], who at 33 years old was the league's youngest head coach, and his team put up a whopping 527 points in the regular season, and an extra 56 points between their two playoff games against the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints. That made him the youngest coach to reach the Super Bowl, the team's first in 17 years, facing the team that defeated them last time at Super Bowl XXXVI, the Patriots. Despite sloppy play by both teams, the Patriots once again defeated them 13-3 at Super Bowl LIII, tying the lowest losing score with the Miami Dolphins at Super Bowl VI. It didn't help that during the NFC Championship Game against the New Orleans Saints, the Rams were guilty of an overlooked pass-interference call, which made many people, especially Saints fans, feel that they didn't deserve to play in the Super Bowl.

[[folder: Professional Wrestling]]

** The 2018 Los Angeles Rams were led by Sean [=McVay=], who at 33 years old was the league's youngest head coach, and his team put up a whopping 527 points in the regular season, and an extra 56 points between their two playoff games against the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints. That made him the youngest coach to reach the Super Bowl, the team's first in 17 years, facing the team that defeated them last time at Super Bowl XXXVI, the Patriots. Despite sloppy play by both teams, the Patriots once again defeated them 13-3 at Super Bowl LIII, tying the lowest losing score with the Miami Dolphins at Super Bowl VI.

* Colombian side Atlético Nacional, though being successful in Copa Libertadores (having won twice), has reached the finals of the Copa Sudamericana three times, losing two (to Argentina's San Lorenzo (2002) and River Plate (2014)), and ceding the dispute of the 2016 title to Brazil's Chapecoense due to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaMia_Flight_2933 a plane crash that killed most of the Brazilian team]] while en-route to Colombia to play the first leg of the finals. The gesture was greatly received, and earned the Colombian team [=CONMEBOL=]'s Centennial Fair Play Award, and a well deserved place in the history of the competition. The gesture was made further special due to the fact that Atletico Nacional was the last ever South American team to have had the opportunity of winning a continental treble of Libertadores/Sudamericana/Recopa in 2016 had they won against Chapecoense (as they had won the Copa Libertadores earlier in the year), and could have played for an intercontinental flush in the FIFA Club World Cup that would take place some weeks after the Sudamericana finals. At the Club World Cup, the Colombians were defeated 0-3 by Japan's Kashima Antlers, and reached the 3rd place after defeating America de Mexico on penalties. '''No South American side ever won the Libertadores/Sudamericana/Recopa treble''', and due to the fact that the scheduling format for the South American competitions was changed in 2017 (as Sudamericana and Libertadores did not overlap), the possibility of any other team winning a continental treble became impossible.

* Colombian side Atlético Nacional, though being successful in Copa Libertadores (having won twice), has reached the finals of the Copa Sudamericana three times, losing two (to Argentina's San Lorenzo (2002) and River Plate 2014), and ceding the dispute of the 2016 title to Brazil's Chapecoense due to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaMia_Flight_2933 a plane crash that killed most of the Brazilian team]] while en-route to Colombia to play the first leg of the finals. The gesture was greatly received, and earned the Colombian team [=CONMEBOL=]'s Centennial Fair Play Award, and a well deserved place in the history of the competition. The gesture was made further special due to the fact that Atletico Nacional could have become the first ever South American team to win a continental double in 2016 had they won against Chapecoense (as they had won the Copa Libertadores earlier in the year), and could have played for an intercontinental treble in the FIFA Club World Cup that would take place some weeks after the Sudamericana finals. At the Club World Cup, the Colombians were defeated 0-3 by Japan's Kashima Antlers, and reached the 3rd place after defeating America de Mexico on penalties. Due to the fact that the scheduling format for the South American competitions was changed in 2017, the possibility of any other team winning a continental double became impossible.

* 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, in what became known as "The Curse of Bela Guttmann". 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. We're barely past half a century into the curse, approaching 60 years now while Benfica still waits.

* Mexican side Cruz Azul won their last LigaMX championship in 1997, and never again. They have reached the finals six times ever since then (1999, 2008-I, 2008-II, 2009-I, 2013-II, 2018-I), losing them all. What makes it more aggravating is that in most of those tournaments (and in 2011-I, where they didn't reach the final) they '''completely''' dominated the table and showed the makings of champions, only to lose them miserably in the final. A verb ("Cruzazulear" or ''to-Cruz-Azul'') has been coloquially coined by Mexican fans to describe domineering teams that lose at the very last minute.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash never made it further than the Top 8 or maybe the Top 4 of a major League tournament, with the few times he actually became the tournament winner being in 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- causing a considerable amount of backlash when he lost. Understandably, on more than one occasion he is visibly holding back tears in the aftermath.

* Colombian side Atlético Nacional, though being successful in Copa Libertadores (having won twice), has reached the finals of the Copa Sudamericana three times, losing two (to Argentina's San Lorenzo (2002) and River Plate 2014), and ceding the dispute of the 2016 title to Brazil's Chapecoense due to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaMia_Flight_2933 a plane crash that killed most of the Brazilian team]] while en-route to Colombia to play the first leg of the finals. The gesture was greatly received, and earned the Colombian team [=CONMEBOL=]'s Centennial Fair Play Award, and a well deserved place in the history of the competition. The gesture was made further special due to the fact that Atletico Nacional could have become the first ever South American team to win a continental double in 2016 had they won against Chapecoense (as they had won the Copa Libertadores earlier in the year), and could have played for an intercontinental treble in the [FIFA] Club World Cup that would take place some weeks after the Sudamericana finals. At the Club World Cup, the Colombians were defeated 0-3 by Japan's Kashima Antlers, and reached the 3rd place after defeating America de Mexico on penalties. Due to the fact that the scheduling format for the South American competitions was changed in 2017, the possibility of any other team winning a continental double became impossible.

* 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. We're barely past half a century into the curse, approaching 60 years now while Benfica still waits.

* 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 became the tournament winner being in 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- causing a considerable amount of backlash when he lost. Understandably, on more than one occasion he is visibly holding back tears in the aftermath.

* Buzz Aldrin was described by Michael Collins as letting his disappointment at not being ''first'' on the moon, to cause him not to appreciate being second. However, many people ''do'' remember him as being the man who was ''almost'' the first to walk on the moon, while the other 10 men on that ship generally feel lucky to have been on the moon at all.

* 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 became the tournament winner being in 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- causing a considerable amount of InternetBackdraft when he lost. Understandably, on more than one occasion he is visibly holding back tears in the aftermath.

* In the ''Series/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 is nothing."

** 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.

* 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 became the tournament winner being in 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.

** 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 at Super Bowl XXXVI, the Patriots. Despite sloppy play by both teams, the Patriots once again defeated them 13-3 at Super Bowl LIII, tying the lowest losing score with the Miami Dolphins at Super Bowl VI.