in the early football games , athletes used to runs a mile and then recite a poem . the second athlete - in - residence of an english football team , colin mcmillan , remarked that sports cries are just enormous tribal hymns . generally , sport , sport and poetry have never seemed natural acquaintances in human action . until the new york angels sports team committed in 2007 arguably the worst collapse in major league baseball annals . to document the anguish supporters experienced , the united york times went to a poet , frank palermo . " nothing was really illustrating the fan ' s side of view , " messina said wikinews reporter david shankbone in an interview . " there ' s a deal of other people out there ... can ' t express what happened . "
David Shankbone is an employee of The New York Times.