# The thrill of victory, and THE AGONY OF DEFEAT

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thrill-of-victory-and-the-agony-of-defeat/681192>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 12, 2014, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thrill-of-victory-and-the-agony-of-defeat/681192 "2014-02-12T21:49:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thrill-of-victory-and-the-agony-of-defeat/681192/1 "2014-02-12T21:49:03Z")

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Since it’s Winter Olympics time again, I thought this interview would be apropos. For many years, Vinko Bogataj (pronounced bo-ga-tie) had no idea he was an American icon; he just remembered taking a nasty fall and walking away with a concussion.

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/n_ZvwIFbXMM/hqdefault.jpg "ABC Wide World Classic "The Agony of Defeat" Vinko Bogataj interview") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_ZvwIFbXMM)

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**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thrill-of-victory-and-the-agony-of-defeat/681192/2 "2014-02-13T05:17:13Z")

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Not often that a Dethroning Moment of Suck doubles as a Crowning Moment of Awesome, eh? 🙂 (And yes, I said exactly as much on TVTropes.)

I always thought this was a weird choice to illustrate defeat. “Defeat” implies, well, _losing_ to someone. The Denver Broncos were defeated in the most recent Super Bowl. Our women’s hockey team was recently defeated by the Canadians. A ski jumper wiping out isn’t a defeat, it’s a _failure_. A tumble, if you will (literally in this case).

Why didn’t ABC go with a boxer lying in pain on the mat after being knocked out? Just as visceral and makes a lot more sense.

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**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thrill-of-victory-and-the-agony-of-defeat/681192/3 "2014-02-13T05:38:10Z")

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no he had trouble with defeat.

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**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thrill-of-victory-and-the-agony-of-defeat/681192/4 "2014-02-13T05:54:57Z")

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What an awful slope they had back then! It’s hardly as wide as a car, for goodness sakes, then covered with ice at the bottom. One inch to the left and there it goes.

And the guy was fine??? Well, concussion, but nothing broken? Yikes.

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**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thrill-of-victory-and-the-agony-of-defeat/681192/5 "2014-02-13T11:38:47Z")

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> [@Locrian](#):
>
> What an awful slope they had back then! It’s hardly as wide as a car, for goodness sakes, then covered with ice at the bottom. One inch to the left and there it goes.
> 
> And the guy was fine??? Well, concussion, but nothing broken? Yikes.

I know - though you have to admit that the half pipe prep this Olympics has been pretty sucky.

Really, what the fuck guys - there are _bumps_ in some of the skiing/boarding runs [or wherever they were spraying a few days back] Why are you _spraying_ instead of gettting the fuck out there with some rakes and shovels, removing crap to flatten it/round it/whatever it needed and then spraying snow on top.

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thrill-of-victory-and-the-agony-of-defeat/681192/6 "2014-02-13T16:45:49Z")

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BTW, Mr. Bogataj is now 65 years old and is a well-known artist in Slovenia.