I suffered for baseliners, whiners
flaky transcendentalists, showboat former champs,
old washed-up pranksters, mood-disordered
gremlins aching for day treatment,
sacred cow patrician theater managers,
weak-serving stars with stage moms,
racket stringers holed up in stadium vaults,
cowboy acrobats saddling a crying shame

Somebody has to win something, some
great extravagance gains a foothold
and we brave all the commotion
inexorably, funding our competitions
in giant temples of sport, ancient
arts of run & hit, the ball flying
over a still and nameless net