The best to never....
 

I saw a blurb that so-and-so just died, the greatest auto racer to never win the Indianappolis 500.

So it got me to thinking about best/nevers.

I wonder if it could be said, by someone, of me, that I was the best novelist to never write a novel.

Or of someone else, the best lover, among those that never made love.

Or what of the greatest competitive eater, to have never finished everything on his plate.

In a world full of competition and braggarts, I think I will seize some of these plums and claim them for myself. The realm of the "modest greatest to nevers." Prime territory.

Your analogies are off. This is precise: Mike Rose, best basketball coach never to win an NCAA tournament game. Bronco Mendenhall, best football coach never to beat a really good team.

yeah, it's kind of a back-handed compliment. It suggests you were in the game, you were great, but you always fell short in the big moments. Not a way most would want to be remembered, I suspect.

I'll go on records as saying I'm the hottest guy to never kiss Scarlet Johannson.

Interesting. She happens to be the hottest woman I've never kissed.