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it's okay to be the front-runner.
In a lot of competitions, there's a runaway favorite who is expected to win even before the competition begins. I do not, as a rule, hope that the favorite doesn't win. I know people who do, people for whom being the favorite is enough to make the favorite the bad guy. For me, there has to be one more element: the sense of entitlement.
I don't automatically want the favorite to go down in flames. But I do tend to want them to get taken down a peg when they seem not only to assume they will win, but to believe they're entitled to win, possibly because they're the only game in town. Basically: I insist that the other contenders be taken seriously.
This is a pretty reliable preference of mine, I think, and I have identified it as the basis of my preference against, reading from right to left, James Cameron and his movies; James Horner and his movie scores; the Canadian hockey and curling teams at the recent Olympics; the New York Yankees; and Hillary Clinton, in the 2008 primaries. I'm sure there are other examples, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Any one of these could win, and deserve to, in any given competition they're entered in. What frosts me and makes me want them to lose is the sense (from them and, often, their supporters) that there's no real need to even have the contest, but they'll humor their opponents by going through the motions. That's what makes me want the opponent to kick their ass.
I don't automatically want the favorite to go down in flames. But I do tend to want them to get taken down a peg when they seem not only to assume they will win, but to believe they're entitled to win, possibly because they're the only game in town. Basically: I insist that the other contenders be taken seriously.
This is a pretty reliable preference of mine, I think, and I have identified it as the basis of my preference against, reading from right to left, James Cameron and his movies; James Horner and his movie scores; the Canadian hockey and curling teams at the recent Olympics; the New York Yankees; and Hillary Clinton, in the 2008 primaries. I'm sure there are other examples, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Any one of these could win, and deserve to, in any given competition they're entered in. What frosts me and makes me want them to lose is the sense (from them and, often, their supporters) that there's no real need to even have the contest, but they'll humor their opponents by going through the motions. That's what makes me want the opponent to kick their ass.