Teams playing a Role in Helping a City That’s Aflame

"Que viva, Chargers! Que viva, Rams! Que Viva, LA!" Poetry by Ernie McCray

Photos from Adobe Stock

My heart continues
to bleed miserably
for the incredibly hapless residents
of Los Angeles
and I, particularly,
can’t imagine
how hard it must be
for the LA football teams,
the Chargers
and the Rams,
that had to board planes
to make it to NFL Playoff Games
while their beautiful city was aflame
due to a firestorm of a magnitude
that’s almost impossible
for one to make sense of in his brain,
one with no time table
as to when it might be contained,
leaving behind,
wives and children
and family and friends,
practically going insane,
evacuating
and being displaced,
worrying about what lies ahead
as tears
gush from their faces
like the rains
they wish would fall
to lessen their pain.
 
But after the coin was tossed
and the games began,
one team,
the Chargers,
couldn’t come up with an offense
or handle the defense
they were up against,
utterly unable
to gain any amount of control
in the contest,
in the normal sense,
like the firefighters
back home
who early on,
for so long,
found themselves fighting a losing game -
and the other team,
the Rams,
in their game,
led by coach Sean McVay,
resembled, in their play,
homes in the midst of all the destruction,
that emerged unscathed,
symbols of survival
and resilience,
hopefully giving some degree
of solace
no matter how small a scale that might be,
to some of the city’s citizenry
who, in their anxiety,
need any amount of relief
they can get
from the curse
that’s been imposed on them,
possibly with the assistance
of human hands.
 
And, as I think of the situation in this way,
I have the feeling that Jim Harbaugh,
the Charger’s headman,
known for turning teams around,
will make his gridironers more competent
in seasons to come,
in several significant ways,
giving the City of Angels,
as did the Rams, something to look up to,
as that symbolizes the kind of dedication
that will be necessary
for its recovery and rebuilding
in the many days ahead.
 
With that being said I can’t help but also say:
Que viva, Chargers!
Que viva, Rams!
Que Viva, LA!

Ernie McCray is an activist for love and peace who acts and sings and writes both poetry and prose, a man who rises each day to do whatever he can, no matter how small or grand, to make the world better in some way.

Unapologetically.