I've heard the term "second place is the first loser" numerous times over my life, but I never thought much of it. It's just one of those axioms that I've never analyzed too much, but I'm pretty sure that won't be the case anytime in the near future.

For the past 3 years or so, I've been picking 10 college football games (straight up) for my dad each week. He's in this national trucking pick'em type of thing, and we usually see how we can do. The weekly winner receives a $200 gift certificate to a sporting memorabilia store, and I always thought it would be cool to collect some more autographed baseballs if I was ever lucky enough to win.

Dad just got emailed with the final results for the last week, and like always, I wasn't able to beat everyone out to win the $200. After this non-shocking factor went by, dad told me that we finished 2^nd for the entire season. Looking at the pdf file he sent me, I was shocked to see that 1^st place received $2,500 to Best Buy. Naturally, I searched the fine print to see what 2^nd place receives: a nice slap in the face. I learned a valuable lesson today that 1^st place is much better than 2^nd.

As Christi mentioned when I told her, I'll enjoy my slap in the face. I guess it's better than coming in last.