Bench Warming

I'm sitting near the bench
behind John Edwards, we are
sidelined sports metaphors,
i'm a fan, bare chested, crazy,
he's running for office, but
you'd never know it listening
to NPR, reading the New York
Times like near-sighted sports
casters from hell, focused on
say quarterbacks, million dollar
stars and the front office
where they make out the checks,
meanwhile the best left-end in
the business is sitting there,
on the bench, pounding his fist
in his hand, muttering bad things
about that very same office and
occasionally getting up, pacing
back and forth, the halftime
entertainment reminding viewers
to look the other way, to keep
their eyes on the.....scoreboard,
the billboards, the guy in the
chicken suit doing cartwheels
while John Edwards heads for the
showers and we lose the game, four
years in a row.