The Buffalo Bills made it to the Super Bowl and lost four straight years in the early 1990s. The Red Sox made it all the way to the World Series in 1946, 1967, 1975 and 1986 and lost each time. Jack Nicklaus finished second 19 times in major tournaments, and Susan Lucci was nominated for an Emmy Award 18 times (!!) before finally winning in 1999. Alanis Morisette, Aaliyah, Christina Aguilera, Destiny’s Child, Drew Carey, Jessica Simpson, Kevin James, Dennis Miller, Rosie O’Donnel, Le Ann Rimes, Dave Chapelle, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears ALL appeared on Star Search without winning. Heck, even Susan Boyle was a runner up. And we all know what happened to Al Gore in 2000.
Two cheers for second place!! One for you and one for me, because you helped to vote Postcards from the Mothership as the second-place winner in the Best Family Blog category of the Canadian Blog Awards!! Yay, and thank you — times two!
The results aren’t official yet, but I can see by the voting form that the voting is complete. I’m not sure I like the new voting system, and that has almost nothing to do with the fact that I came in second by a mere — choke! — FOUR votes!! Sigh.
Speaking of which, I think enough time has lapsed that I’m now allowed to tell you about this, too. Remember back in February, the last time I was grovelling for votes in the Send a Blogger to BlogHer contest? I came in second then, too, although I was asked not to mention it at the time. Sooooooo close!
So really, thank you. I am honoured that you nominated me, and I am delighted that you tossed more than a hundred votes my way. And for the five of you who forgot to vote, you’re getting a lump of coal in your stocking this year! 😉 And heck, there’s always next year. Go for the gold in 2010, that seems to be a message I’ve heard somewhere recently…
Speaking of second place, did any of you watch the Survivor finale last night? SPOILER ALERT!!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!! I was gobsmacked at the outcome. Seriously? Gobsmacked. I was a Russel fan from early on, and I totally think he deserved the million bucks. Nobody has worked this game like he has, and nobody has earned that million more than him. I suppose the contestants don’t see everything we see, and I didn’t yet watch the post show (I was so annoyed I went to bed at 10:05) but I imagine they just didn’t have an idea of the extent of his manipulative deviance. Brilliantly played, though, and I’m beyond excited to see the new season of heros versus villains next year. That AND Lost? The PVR will justify itself in a single seaon!!
So yeah, second place rocks!!
You are number one in my books, but second is very respectable! Congrats!
Love your blog so obviously I think it should be #1. I was delighted that Russell lost. I will admit that I did not see all the episodes as I was travelling…but I found him too arrogant. I did not mind the manipulations as that is part of the game. It was all the bragging that got to me. May the best woman win!
Second place DOES rock!
(Says she who came in 2nd in the Blog Post Series category. Yay for runners up!)
Historically, Survivor juries have voted for respect over niceness – and yet the whole format of the game incorporates the idea that you have to maintain some kind of good relationship with the people you’re voting out in order to win. A lot of Survivor winners have gotten a free pass on that one – juries have felt manipulated, I think, by people who try to get their vote by claiming that they played an honest game and were nice to everybody, and so they give the money to the person with the best strategy. That happened this time too – the jury had absolutely no time for Mick’s argument that he had played an ethical game. Natalie, on the other hand, was an amazing networker, and she played a very subtle final tribal – she managed to play the gender card subtly enough that there was absolutely no backlash against her argument that as a woman she did not have the option to play an overtly aggressive game like Russell’s. That argument also had the value of being absolutely true – there are many, many seasons of Survivor that have been dominated by a male-female team strategizing their way through everything, with the male inevitably receiving full credit for decisions made jointly. That was not the model this time, necessarily, but Natalie did make some key moves and some strong and smart relationships – I don’t think she was a coattail rider and I think she was a more adaptable player: if Russell hadn’t found that second immunity idol he would have been out and she would have been in a much better position to move herself forward.
Russell totally rocked and Nathalie was an idiot. Heroes Vs. Vilains looks to be awesome, can’t wait!
\Way to go on the 2nd place thing.
Happy Holidays.
Cheers,
I just watched it last night – I was shocked too. I was glad Russell won the $100,000 prize as favourite Survivor, he definitely deserved it. He played hard, and he played well. I guess the jury didn’t get that. And I got the feeling he didn’t care about the money at all, but REALLY just wanted the title 🙂
Congrats on second place – I voted for you 🙂
I agree with the Crafty Mom. I don’t think he cared a lick about the money. I was very surprised that he didn’t win. His whole demeanor during the reunion was interesting as well. He just looked crushed. I hope we see him on Heroes vs Villians. Any guesses on who else we’ll see? I think he played the hell out of that game. I mean the argument can be made that her strategy was to let him take the big hits, but shouldn’t he get points for taking the big risky moves right out in the open?