The #1 Number 2’s Of All-Time
They say that no one remembers who came in 2nd and that's mostly true but there are a few exceptions and this is that definitive list:
#1. Buzz Aldrin - He was the 2nd man to walk on the face of the moon. Bryan Cranston played Buzz Aldrin in the HBO miniseries "From The Earth To The Moon". When the actor who played "Heisenberg" from Breaking Bad plays you then your life has obviously been pretty memorable.
#2. Ed McMahon - For 27 years he collected the easiest check in show business on the longest running talk show in the industry as Johnny Carson's sidekick. To prove that he wasn't just a laugh track (really what he's remembered for though) he hosted Star Search for 13 successful seasons and was also Jerry Lewis' sidekick for many of his MDA telethons.
#3. The Buffalo Bills - Normally being the team that lost the Super Bowl makes you pretty easy to forget... but they lost it FOUR times in a row!
#4. Al Gore - Considered the first "activist" vice president, President Clinton entrusted NAFTA negotiations to the Tennessee native. Gore was also the first presidential candidate to win the popular vote but lose the White House based on a technicality called the "Electoral College". In 2006 Gore released "An Inconvenient Truth" which was the 9th highest grossing documentary of all-time. Love him or hate him he's assured himself a place in American history.
#5. Brooklyn - There are a lot of red-headed stepchild cities I could have added to this list like St. Paul, Minnesota, Fort Worth, Texas or even Laurel... but Brooklyn stands alone because it's in the largest metropolitan area in the country and it was the one time host city of the Dodgers.
#6. Oates - The other half of Hall & Oates. Daryl Hall was the singer so what did Oates even do?
#7. Pepsi - It's been the #2 cola in the world nearly since it's inception. As a result they've come up with memorable marketing campaigns to try to take over Coca-Cola such as the "Pepsi Taste Test" from the early 80's which challenged people to take a blind taste test and pick their favorite. Of course in the commercials customers always pick Pepsi. While it's never surpassed Coke in global sales, it's a very close #2.
#8. Goose from Top Gun - We love our superheroes and Tom Cruise's "Maverick" bigger than life persona is one of the great movie characters of all-time. However it's hard to love a superhero unless he has a vulnerable side. When Goose gets killed tragically in combat training exercise we see that Maverick (although confident, smart and good-looking) is a human being with all of the frailties and self-doubt most of us are born with. Like a real man of substance though he overcomes his regret, guilt and insecurities and uses those qualities to help him become a better fighter pilot and more importantly... a better person. Oh yeah, this was supposed to be about Goose. Well, other than the bad guys he's the only soldier to get killed in Top Gun so there's that.
#9. Joe Frazier - At one time he was the heavyweight champion of the world and actually beat Muhammad Ali at the "Fight of the Century" in 1971 (their 2nd bout) but lost the rubber match at "The Thrilla In Manila" in 1975 cementing his place as #2 right behind Ali.
#10. Phil Mickelson - Tiger Woods is the undisputed best golfer of this generation. Second overall in PGA tour wins behind Sam Snead (a record he's sure to break) and second behind Jack Nicklaus in major championships. In just about any other generation Mickelson might have been the best golfer in the world as his 42 tour wins and 5 major championships will attest to but he'll always be #2 in our minds behind Tiger... unless we're grading on character :-)