This is really bugging me:

[CanuckAmok]

It's been on my mind for months, and I thought I could get over it, but I can't:


If "we are the champions, my friend...", then why is it necessary that "...we'll keep on fighting till the end"?

I mean, doesn't the title of 'champion' imply that the fight/competition is over, and that all challengers have been vanquished? If one is champion, one need no longer fight, right?

This paradox is driving me nuts.

Damned rotten kids and their music.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. Because

everyone wants to be "The Man At The Top," and Springsteen knows that it never ends:

Here comes a lawyer,here comes a cop.
Here comes a rich, here comes a car-hop.
Goin' on forever, ain't ever gonna stop.
Everybody wants to be the man at the top.
Everybody wants to be the man at the top.
Everybody wants to be the man at the top.
Well, name your gun, son, shoot your shot.
Everybody wants to be the man at the top.
Now rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief.
Doctor, lawyer, indian chief.
Don't ever start to ask them why.
Everybody wants to be the man at the top.
Everybody wants to be the man at the top.
Everybody wants to be the man at the top.
Well, name your gun, son, shoot your shot.
Everybody wants to be the man at the top.
All right (All right). Oh yeah (Oh yeah)
All right now (All right). Oh yeah (Oh yeah)
Man at the top says it's lonely up there.
If it is man, I don't care. Build a big white house.
Build a parking lot. Everybody wants to be the man at the
top.
Here comes a banker, here comes a businessman.
Here comes a kid with a guitar in his hand.
Dreamin' of his record in number one spot.
Everybody wants to be the man at the top.
Everybody wants to be the man at the top.
Everybody wants to be the man at the top.
Well, name your gun son, shoot your shot.
Everybody wants to be the man at the top.
Say right now (All right). Say yeah now (Oh yeah)
Say right...Who's the man at the top?
Who's the man at the top, now?

[illini]

2. I think the premise is...

that its a self fulfilling prophecy. Before and during the game champions psych themselves up for the game.

[CanuckAmok]

4. Yeah, but...

...secretly these preparing competitors are acknowledging that they must need to continue to fight even when they are the winners. So, ultimately, they are acknowledging that their participation is futile.

[Lannes]

3. Because there is always someone who wants to be the champ

and knock you off the top of the hill.

[CanuckAmok]

5. Then you're not the champion; you're only a competitor.

chicken/egg.

[Lannes]

6. I disagree

You can be a champ until someone beats you like in boxing.

[CanuckAmok]

7. Okay, take this model:

You win the a Daytona 500. It is globally acknowledged that you are the champion of the Daytona 500. Nobody can challenge your championship for a finite length of time.

Until the following year's Daytona 500. Then you are only a competitor again. If you win again, you will become champion again. You do not remain champion of the Daytona 500 while the race in in progress.

[Lannes]

8. Cant agree with you there Canuck

To be Champion IMO you have to take down the current champion.Doesnt matter if you are in the middle of a race or a bout,until the champ is brought down he is still the champ.Thats the way its always been here.

[swag]

9. You are far too sensitive

and it rhymes.

It was about sensuality and not sense.

Visceral aureolae of glowing victory.

Perfect, though intolerably obnoxious, for its time.

[EC]

10. Are these the only lyrics that are non-sensible to you?... n/t

[CanuckAmok]

11. Yes. Why?

All the rest make complete sense. Particularly Cocteau Twins, System of a Down, and The Fall.

[EC]

12. Just wondering...