Is Rick Reilly the Walter Cronkite of the war in Iraq?

The popular Sports Illustrated columnist departed from the scrupulously non-political tone of his magazine to write about former athletes who died in Iraq recently, concluding with a question about whether the war is doomed to failure:

Athletes love teams, and when they run out of sports teams they sometimes join bigger teams, ones with Humvees for huddles and tombstones for trophies and coaches they’ve never met sending them into a hell they never imagined.

And they throw their whole selves into it anyway, because they are brave and disciplined and will chew through concrete to win the game.

But what if the game can’t be won?

Should President Bush be saying “If I’ve lost Reilly, I’ve lost the war?”