Sports will always bring out the best in an individual. One's competitive nature only shows how much love one has for the game (whatever game that might be). In Arnold Adoff's "My knee is Only Sprained" and James Whitehead's "Good Linemen Live in a Closed World" express just how much love one has for the game, even though the poems are about two different sports. "My Knee is Only Sprained" doesn't talk about a specific sport, but with a little analyzing, one can conclude that the sport played by the injured athlete is basketball. "Good Linemen Live in a Closed World" is clearly a poem of offensive linemen on a football team.
             The player depicted in Arnold Adoff's poem truly loves the game. Adoff's use of words gives clear indication of that. The player's knee is "only"(1) sprained. If someone who has ever sprained their knee knows it's just not "only " a sprain. A sprain is serious because after the initial sprain, that sprain can come back whenever aggravated again. His love for the game is so strong that he only sees it as "only" a sprain, something insignificant that will never hamper him again. In Addition, his injury, unlike those of professional basketball players "do not make Six O' Clock News"(14), but he'll "play again"(6). Even though he gets no media exposure at all, his love for "the game" doesn't stop him from wanting to continue to play after recovering from the injury.
             Linemen indeed "live in a closed world"(1). I can vouch due to the fact that I am a lineman. Linemen receive no glory at the end of the game when they are the most important component of the success of the team. You have to really love the game to be a linemen because you can't be doing in for the fame, because there is none! As lineman we "maintain...attack...suffer repetition for years and years."(9-10) To go through all of that you have to be one of two things: in love with the game or insane. I know I endure all of that pain for the camarade
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