You see, what is so appealing about comebacks is that we identify so with the comeback ers. Life is really not like sports in the sense that we are not neatly defined as winners and losers. Very few of us have such definitive days. We don't come home and say, Well, I put up a W today. Or, I've lost two in a row now.
Real life is much more blurry than sports.
Comebacks relate more to us, because when we are down we keep hoping we'll rise up again. So while champions may be our heroes, we can't reasonably aspire to emulate their grand achievements. We understand them. After all, you can only come back by first messing up. Sports Ilustrated's newsletters and alerts.