Sports no more let the air breathe light, <br />Nor make laughter look somewhat bright, <br />No more do sports entertain right, <br />May be the spirit is laid <br />Low, if not deeply buried and dead <br />In debris called commerce and trade. <br /> <br />When winners win and take it all, <br />While losers lose face and look small, <br />Forgetting there’s spirit in losing too, <br />In learning lessons all anew, <br />But business end of sports brighter does glow, <br />And spirit of sports smoulders buried low. <br /> <br />Motivation there ever is to win, <br />Most have it hid in hearts’ within, <br />But rare comes a man motivating <br />Him far beyond the prize of winning, <br />For trade is scarce tied within bounds, <br />Nor scars of sports are settled on the grounds. <br /> <br />A team that wins no more than game does win; <br />Is losing such an awful sin? <br />Naught if losing an odd game’s fine, <br />And winning’s not the sole victory line; <br />If fruits of sweat, less exaggerated, <br />Are not pocketed; nor are grounds gated. <br />_______________________________________________________ <br />The ODI World Cup is here in the country. And the IPL jamboree <br />will soon follow. The craze of cricket apart, the fever of <br />commercialism too is very much evident. Hardly is an over <br />completed, the run fully run, or the ball fully tracked, nor the <br />wicket if taken is shown in fair detail, the ads and commercials <br />intrude. Sportsmanship and camaraderie with the rival team is <br />sacrificed on the altar of victory at any cost. In short, money <br />becomes the root measure of all that happens, and all that not. <br /> <br />But we all know this piece is full of wishful thinking. <br />____________________________________________________________________ <br /> -Happenings | 05.03.11 |<br /><br />Aniruddha Pathak<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-spirit-of-sports/
