NationStates Jolt Archive

At a sports award ceremony: A smiling gold medalist, a distraught silver medalist, and a relieved bronze medalist.

The first place winner feels like the king of the world.

The third place winner is happy just to get a medal.

But the second place, some would say, is the worst place to be. In terms of talent, effort and persistence, they are equal to the first. The silver medalist is thinking "what did I do wrong? what did I do wrong? Argggggghhh!"

Maybe nothing went wrong. In a highly competitive field, there is no difference between the best and second best in terms of human effort. To illustrate this, here is my detailed account (http://freshbrainz.blogspot.com/2006/08/bitter-fight-for-top.html) of the competition to be the first team on the summit of Mt. Everest.

Just so happens only one person (or team) can be the best.

Alas in human society, across cultures East and West, people only remember the best. The accomplishments of the second best are at best footnoted, and often just plain forgotten.

Do you think this is right?

second place is first loser!

ah but second place doesn't take drugs :D

You don't win silver, you lose gold.

Sometimes they are worth it, sometimes they aren't.

I'd be happy with secound. Hell, I'd be happy with top fifty percent.

second place is first loser!

Hehe, I'm always using that line! You got here before I did!!!!;)

ah but second place doesn't take drugs :D

Maybe after they lose they do! :D

Depends on how tough the competition was and on how good the winner.

Second last, now that's a real loser. So bad he couldn't even win last place.

Nothing wrong with second place. Better than third.

Eh Second place is first loser.

second place is first loser!

I fucking hate that phrase.

Second place (in the context it's being referred to in) is still quite an accomplishment, I'd be happy to have second place.

Especially if it's a world championship sort of thing.

first is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the hairy chest...

I fucking hate that phrase.

Second place (in the context it's being referred to in) is still quite an accomplishment, I'd be happy to have second place.

Especially if it's a world championship sort of thing.

what, it means they are first at something :p

to be truthful, I placed 37th in the marathon a few years back (the local one, not like a good one or anything) and I was damn happy. I didn't get much recognition other than my friends being like "wow, I can't believe you didn't die"

(there were only 50 runners, so 37 really isn't that great)

first is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the hairy chest...

fourth is the dork, fifth is the brat, sixth is the one with the treasure chest! :D

Little kids can't come up with this stuff on their own can they?

To quote Will Ferrell


"If you're not first you're last!!!!!"

"Call Tom Cruise, he put the voodoo on me!"

2nd quote is unneccessary, but still funny.

fourth is the dork, fifth is the brat, sixth is the one with the treasure chest! :D

Little kids can't come up with this stuff on their own can they?

When I hear treasure chest I see boobs.

Sorry. :D

Personally, I think something like an Olympic silver medal is an outstanding acheivment.

It can depend a bit on the context however.

If you're the runaway favourite & everyone expects you to win (including yourself), then second place is going to feel like a failure.

If, on the other hand, you're competative, but not neccessarily expected to win, then second place could make you very happy.

fourth is the dork, fifth is the brat, sixth is the one with the treasure chest! :D

Little kids can't come up with this stuff on their own can they?

i dont know. kids can be quite creative lol... :D

When I hear treasure chest I see boobs.

Sorry. :D

Now that you mention it... :eek:

first is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the hairy chest...

Then I'm obviously third...

2nd place is not as good as 1st place, but it's better than 3rd place. How difficult a concept is that?

what, it means they are first at something :p

to be truthful, I placed 37th in the marathon a few years back (the local one, not like a good one or anything) and I was damn happy. I didn't get much recognition other than my friends being like "wow, I can't believe you didn't die"

(there were only 50 runners, so 37 really isn't that great)

It's about personal acheivment though, isn't it?

You may not be the best runner in the world, but you made the effort, had a go & did more than most people (including myself) ever will.

It's about personal acheivment though, isn't it?

You may not be the best runner in the world, but you made the effort, had a go & did more than most people (including myself) ever will.

I finished the race and didn't come in last place, so that was a huge deal (my original goal was just to finish)

I start training again soon for one in April, my goal this year is to finish in the top half, or if that doesn't happen not to die........either way. :p

Now that you mention it... :eek:

Well, actually this time my famous "option five" on the poll is actually relevant to our discussion.

Just check this video out:

Who Has The Largest Lungs? (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6699570971014894076&q=brainiac)

:D

Well, actually this time my famous "option five" on the poll is actually relevant to our discussion.

Just check this video out:

Who Has The Largest Lungs? (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6699570971014894076&q=brainiac)

:D


haha, that was very intertaining...

Well, actually this time my famous "option five" on the poll is actually relevant to our discussion.

Just check this video out:

Who Has The Largest Lungs? (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6699570971014894076&q=brainiac)

:D

Deep sea diver looked better anyway. :)

If I placed second in my university rankings I'd be pretty damned proud of myself. And also really psyched. Coming second in your class, especially in the right universities, is given major esteem by any prospective employers or for any research grants.

Now that you mention it... :eek:

Deep sea diver looked better anyway. :)

"Ooh a nice handful over here." :D

Yeah I agree that the deep sea diver is more of a hot babe.

Without 2nd through last place to compete against the winner would be nothing. All are important.

i got third place in a race once. oddly enough i was racing by myself. :(

anyway

it all depends on the competition and how competitive you are. the guy that gets bronze may be even more pissed then the person that gets second if it was just one mistake that took him down from being first to third. i get reminded of the speed skaters in the winter olympics here. the two best people can be neck and neck and go to their last lap and really give it all they got but one of them hits the other ones skate and sends them both to the ice. while the person who may not of been the best wins the competition because the other two were knocked off course.

My rowing coach once told us that in any competition, there's two races going on: A fight for 1st and 2nd, and the fight amongst the rest for 3rd.

If you've ever been in a top-level competition (and I have btw), you'll soon learn that this adage is almost always right.

that's why 2nd looks so distraught and 3rd looks so relieved. The 2nd place guy is standing there thinking back to everything s/he did throughout the race to spot where they went wrong. And believe me, it's really hard to take. the 8s I was in lost by 0.4seconds one year, and the next week all I could do was replay the entire 2km race in my head over and over again working which specific stroke I fucked up that cost us those few cms. As was everyone else in the crew no doubt. trhe fact we'd gone 6seconds faster than ever before didn't really help much.
3rd place guy though is treating it as a win of sorts, cause usually they had already accepted they were never going to be in the running for the top spot. So to get that medal is a huge plus. It means their name will be recorded for prosterity.

Personally, I think something like an Olympic silver medal is an outstanding acheivment.

It can depend a bit on the context however.

If you're the runaway favourite & everyone expects you to win (including yourself), then second place is going to feel like a failure.
That's true.
The Evers-Swindell sisters from NZ are the current Olympic champions (they were also the current world up until today, where they came 3rd). Their only focus is to win, which is why they invariably do.
This also means that anything less is almost impossible for them to take.

One year at the NZ rowing champs, they came 2nd in either the 4s or the quads (can't remember which). They went to the ceremony, collected their medals, had their photos taken etc and then went down to the pontoon and chucked their silver medals into the lake.
2nd is not an option for those two.


I'd wager though that sort of mentality is very common among Olympic champions. That's why they are Olympic Champions.
It's also why so many of them cheat and take drugs too, but that's by-the-by.

To quote Bender (and what better fount of knowledge and wisdom to turn to than Futurama?):

"Second?! That's a fancy word for loser!"

It's only natural that people remeber the winner more than the person in second place. If you want to be remembered then do it best or do it first.

Also, reply has moved back to the proper side, hooray!


The firefox-esque spinning wheel when you click edit/delete and save is also cool.

all is relative
If it appears later that he cheat,well
Baning him is a good idea.
The second one may be first

When I raced karts I raced in the biggest class (not the best, those guys where in the next class up) becuase I figured that even if I sucked I'd still have someone to run with. I placed fourth so often that I started to refer to myself as the Fastest of the Also-Rans. Which is to say, while I would have liked to be in the top three, I had a sense of humor about it. But that was because it was amature racing and it was clear that's as high as I was going to get.

If it really trully mattered I would have been devistated to have that keep happening.

There's a book on this subject that's a difficult read because it's two paragraphs long, and the second one goes on for hundreds of pages, about two amazing piano players who show up to study with Horowitz at the same time as Glenn Gould. No matter how good they are they'll just be 'the others.' To work that hard only to have taken the field at the same time as someone who is going to define what you do, that has to be crushing. The book is called The Loser (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226043886/sr=1-10/qid=1156691768/ref=sr_1_10/002-0708399-7842411?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Thomas Bernhard.

They went to the ceremony, collected their medals, had their photos taken etc and then went down to the pontoon and chucked their silver medals into the lake.




Well, then obviously they didn't deserve even 2nd.

My rowing coach once told us that in any competition, there's two races going on: A fight for 1st and 2nd, and the fight amongst the rest for 3rd.

If you've ever been in a top-level competition (and I have btw), you'll soon learn that this adage is almost always right.

that's why 2nd looks so distraught and 3rd looks so relieved. The 2nd place guy is standing there thinking back to everything s/he did throughout the race to spot where they went wrong. And believe me, it's really hard to take. the 8s I was in lost by 0.4seconds one year, and the next week all I could do was replay the entire 2km race in my head over and over again working which specific stroke I fucked up that cost us those few cms. As was everyone else in the crew no doubt. trhe fact we'd gone 6seconds faster than ever before didn't really help much.
3rd place guy though is treating it as a win of sorts, cause usually they had already accepted they were never going to be in the running for the top spot. So to get that medal is a huge plus. It means their name will be recorded for prosterity.

I've seen this happen. I was only on a collegiate team for one year, and because I was inexperienced they made me coxswain to the four. All of our races except one involved three boats, the first two nearly neck-and-neck throughout and the third falling far behind - every time. So I guess in that case the third boat just felt like crap for not even being able to contend.

I'd rather have an honestly won second or third than to get a first place medal because someone stumbled or was pushed or because the judges were questionable or because the real first place winner was the victim of some malfeasance. Look at what's happened in the Olympics the past few times, skaters who should have been in first placed second because a judge was less than ethical. A gymnast who got first in spite of a second-place performance. I enjoy watching, but I reallly don't respect the awards system anymore.

It depends on if it's me or someone else. If someone else comes in second, I think that's a great achievement. If I come in second, I feel like I've failed.

If you get 2nd place it only means you aren't cheating hard enough.