Roy Moore

In this Nov. 30, 2017 file photo, former Alabama Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks at a campaign rally, in Dora, Ala. In the Alabama Senate race, national Democrats and the liberal grassroots are treading lightly, trying not to sink Doug Jones' upset bid against Republican Roy Moore. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

(Brynn Anderson)

I never liked the sports movies where the football game is won on the last play, the race in the last lap or the baseball game with the last swing in the bottom of the ninth.

Sure, there's a thrill of seeing your imaginary friends on the big screen walk away with some sort of ... what? Redemption?

In the end, all they really get is a plastic trophy.

"A League of Their Own." "Tin Cup." "The Bad News Bears." Those are the better flicks because the heroes lost. What's a championship worth next to a beer in the dugout with Walter Matthau? Losing is what made "Rocky" better than "Rocky II" through ... How many of them are there now?

How someone loses has always said more about character than how someone wins.

That is, as long as you know how to lose -- with class, with character.

This month, Roy Moore showed Alabama how not to lose. He had no class. He showed no character. But perhaps most importantly, he had no case.

Before midnight the day before the Alabama special election for U.S. Senate was to be certified, Moore filed a lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court. The very next day it was dismissed with prejudice.

There's irony here we can't whistle past: The former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court lost his election court battle because the court where he filed his lawsuit said it didn't have jurisdiction to hear the case.

No matter how rapidly he could recite scripture nor how fluidly he could quote the founding fathers, Moore was never that bright. His argument depended, in part, on the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution -- something Moore has been fighting against for his entire political career. But perhaps he knew that if he pleaded his case before a federal court, instead of state, he might be struck by lightning or, if not, disprove the existence of God.

But even if the court was not willing to hear Moore's argument, let's take a look ourselves.

In his complaint, he cites independent election experts, including a JFK assassination conspiracy theorist, an electrical engineer and a failed candidate for Congress. He attaches Breitbart articles as evidence and leans on erratic and inconsistent pre-election polling to refute the only poll that mattered. He gives credence to voter fraud rumors that the Alabama Secretary of State -- who supported him politically before the election -- has already investigated and proven false.

If it wouldn't have wasted taxpayer dollars, it would have been fun to watch this case play out in court, just to see this silly clown show taken apart one piece at a time, but now the Moore circus is as out of business as Ringling Brothers.

I've heard a lot of people saying that Moore should have conceded the election because carrying on like this was not good for Alabama.

To the contrary, this was great for this state. Alabama needed to see who Moore was, and now it has witnessed that long, pathetic display.

Alabama has seen that Moore doesn't care for their tax dollars, never cared for their tax dollars and never will care for their tax dollars.

Alabama has seen that Moore doesn't respect the will of the people any more than he does the rule of law or the word of God.

Alabama has seen that Moore would rather drag the state through the national embarrassment of his wounded campaign than step aside so a better candidate could take his place.

Alabama has seen that Republican officials, including the state party chairwoman and the sitting governor, don't have the guts to stand up to someone who'd burn what little reputational capital the state has left. (Kudos to Sen. Richard Shelby, state Sen. Dick Brewbaker and the Young Republicans for being the exceptions. Your character was tested and you passed.)

And Alabama has seen how Moore loses. In the end, it didn't matter whether he conceded or not. There's no law that says the election doesn't count if he doesn't concede, any more than a football team may go to the playoffs if it refuses to recognize the final score.

Roy Moore was nobody's hero. But he lost, and that made this sorry movie worth watching.

Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group. You can follow his work on Facebook through Reckon by AL.com.