A Good Sport

His best ever finish is a seventeenth place And 'tis likely now he'll never win any race He goes by the nickname of 'the unplaced athlete' But the main thing about him is that he does compete As without his type others they could not run for gold And stories of their greatness could not be written or told And though for him the bonfires they never will blaze He should be remembered and we should sing his praise. He should be remembered for trying his best And though always found wanting when put to the test Great courage of him we should not deny And credit him for giving it his best try And credit him if only for taking part A sportsman in ways and a sportsman at heart He is always out jogging in rain, hail or sun And every race to him is just a fun run. He will never be one sports writers will recall Though that doesn't bother him one bit at all His next run the ten mile road race on Sunday And of him 'a good sport' seems a fair thing to say.