Breaking away from the sports example above: Can periphrastic sentences be considered beautiful in a wild untended sort of manner?
I think they're quite beautiful. By sacrificing the simplicity of the basic verb constructions (which simplicity has a beauty of its own, related to its economy,) periphrasis adds convolutions, which - when used judiciously - are able to 1) add complexity and texture for those who appreciate such things, and 2) express subtleties of thought and expression that may be lost with simpler constructions.
As a fluent speaker of English, I still have to pause occasionally when assembling a periphrastic phrase in the course of speaking. The innumerable options periphrasis affords (as evinced by this thread) enrich and beautify our language, in my opinion.
