The Contest

Sports beautifully have winners and losers
Complete with joy of winning and sorrow of loss
Borne by the efforts and passions of competitors
Living within the bounds and rules of the game
We who play, those who coach, and spectate 
All know that there is no perpetual winner 
And we root for the underdog to perform
As if to rise, as Phoenix from ashes of defeat
We cheer performance, but are moved by feats
Of sportsmanship, that show the humanity
Of this game of life, and camaraderie of contestants
And we boo the ones who cheat us of this experience,
We despise and ban the ones that bring hate 
And violence that represents the worst of us
Because we don’t want to see, this worst of us in us.
Sports shaped our psyche as Nation 
It is how we first defeated the notion of Nazi 
Superiority, and replaced it with American
Determination in 1936, giving us a lesson 
In resolve, in how to win…. we love these stories.
We love who we were then and can be today.
We carry that notion of fairness into our contests
Of a political nature, and we know ideas matter
We know discourse is necessary, we cannot be 
Divided, though they may try.
We can not be cheated of fairness
We are all playing in a game with rules we agreed
So very many years ago.
We are protecting the democratic principles
We are supporting each other because we
Know that we need each other. 
Without players there is no grand contest,
Without compassion there is no democracy.
We must seek understanding and empathy
As we are part of the greatest sport ever. 

When it is over, let us congratulate and shake each others hands!