The sting of the Terry Fox Ravens’ last-second 15-14 loss to the New Westminster Hyacks in the BC Secondary Schools Football Assocaition Subway Bowl AAA final on Dec.2 is still being felt.
Tonight, Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore is expected to make good on a poetry wager on the game’s outcome he’d made with New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote; the bet’s loser had to agree to read a poem praising the game’s winner at a council meeting.
The wager, which was put to Moore by Cote, was similar to a bet on the recent Grey Cup game between the Toronto Argonauts and the Calgary Stampeders. After the Argonauts won the game, also with a late comeback, Calgary Mayor Naheed Neshi had to wear an Argos jersey and recite a poem that ended with the line: “Now we have business to do and I must end this tale of woe, but I have to wrap it up by saying, ‘Go Toronto Argos, go, go, go.’”
Both Cote and Moore were in the stands at BC Place for the championship game. and after the Hyacks came back to win by scoring a touchdown in the last second and then a two-point conversion on the last play, Cote recruited New Westminster’s poet laureate Alan Hill to craft the poem Moore said in an email to his rival mayor he’ll read at tonight’s meeting. Here it is:
sometimes the best team wins
others try, do their best
but the best is never good enough when you play New West
although we tried hard, we played to win
through teamwork and skill they got under our skin
with coaching exquisite and tackling like tanks
it’s to New West we raise a glass and offer up thanks
they bought their A game and put us to shame
with running and passing, defense and attack
strategic positioning forward and back
we raise up our glasses, we raise up our hats
the Hyacks were better and that's simply that.
But football’s the winner and teamwork the goal
with fun and commitment we all played a role
so cheers to us all, we can all feel proud
to our schools and our cites lets shout it out loud!
