Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-22

m OF % very long ago II was thought
INN that the game Of foot ball would never
IMkb be popular American sport outside OF
AA the colleges and the larger schools OF
49, the country. But now that there are
teams in many Of the larger cities, and games
between local clubs are played almost every
day, this idea has been abandoned. Foot ball
o. . fall and winter sport is gaining in popu-
larity every day and games are now watched
critically and with appreciation by people who
. few years ago did not know the difference
between . touchdown and g quarterback.
An old college foot ball player
when he graduates and goes home
does not like the idea Of laying the inflated
rubber aside for all time, and, If he possibly
can, he starts to work to organize . local team
So it comes to pass that in many Of the anna
teur teams scattered around the country are to
be seen the faces Of men who in their time
have striven for intercollegiate honors. To
the 1ninitiated the game seems rash and dan
gerous, interesting enough to watch, but any
thing but sport to play This is evidently .
mistake, for the true foot ball player never
loses his love ~ the game.
FASCINATING TO WATCH THE GAME.
There is something fascinating in watching
rushing and struggling, pushing and running.
every nerve strained, every man on his guard,
everything apparently in the greatest disorder,
and yet all obedient to the sharp and hasty
orders Of the field captain, and every man
striving with the same end in view, to rush the
ball beyond the opponents goal line or to send
IL on a long and graceful kick between the dis
tant goal posts. All may seem chaos and DIS
order, and yet beneath it all order must reign
IaFa xrflI ri foil Tn,
game does the result depend largely
upon the training and the discipline of
the two teams. In base ball individual play
ing may make the best appearance, but In foot
ball q crack player who knows it all and fails
to work for team play" preferring to rely
upon his own judgment rather than to obey the
orders of the captain, Is a detriment to the
team and some other man will probably be
called upon to fill his place. Sharp and steady
team work Is what scores the points in the long
run. A game Of foot bali may well be likened
to a battle. and the euogists of the game hold
that nothing teaches the beauties of discipline
and good generalship half SO well. Courage,
feetness of foot, endurance, clear-headedness,
fertility of resource IN emergencies and the
ability to grasp the possibilities OF the situa-
ton in the twinkling Of an eye are all reqii-
mites of q good foot ball player.
SOME BRILLIANT INDIVIDUAL PLAYS
Occasionally the tide of victory is turned by
the brilliant work of a single player. Ask any
old college man who loves the history and ira
ditions of this manly sport about "Lamar's
run" II he did not see il he knows what it
was and no one who saw it will ever forget it
1t was within five minutes of the close Of the
second half of the Yale-Princeton game five
years ago st New Haven. The score was so
in favor of Yale. Princeton men were
hopeless. The ball was near their goal La
mar, their feetest half-baek, received the ball
from the quarter. Dashing through the line,
around one man, pushing another aside and ali
the time forging ahead he succeeded in pass
ing every man Of Yale's eleven and with a clear
field ahead Of him, eleven Yale men after him
and ten Princeton men after them, he ran on
and on, while the immense crowd of spectators
went mad with hope and fear; on until he
touched the ball to the ground behind the goal
posts. The goal from touchdown that followed
and made the score to was so close to the
end of the game that the ball could not be
placed in play again before time was called.
And Princeton won the championship.