When we are feeling your best and it seems like nothing can bring you down, we almost always, yet unintentionally find a way to bring ourselves down. In "Ups & Downs" by Jayne Moynihan, Jayne earnestly recalls the time her sports team face something of the sort. The day of their game, the team was filled with a sense of electrifying excitement and invincibility. They felt that no other could rise to defeat them, physically and in spirit. Expecting an easy game after their tremendous lead during the game's first half, the team would soon come to experience the exact opposite.
Holding on to their sense of overwhelming pride from their promising performance in the first half, Jayne and her team rushed back out onto the court. However, this time, the team played like they would win no matter how carelessly they played, which ultimately lead to their defeat.

As Jayne states in the fourth paragraph, "The worst part of being on top is the inevitable fall back down...The this quarter was a completely different game than the first half. We played messy and scared...By the end of the fourth, we were grasping the lead by a hair." Thinking that you cannot be brought down and/or that you are better than another, especially in competitive play as in basketball or other sports, will only prove itself to be inefficient. Sure, it may boost your self-esteem, but we must be wary to not let our guard down. Overestimating ourselves and in hand, underestimating your opponents, will gradually lead to cockiness and poor actions. Your rivals now have an advantage and will not risk the moment to strike. Jayne perfectly critiques this aspect from her team's disheartening loss and how too much confidence will result in an unfortunate outcome.