The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-02-05
VIGOROUS ATHLETICS
Break-Neck Sports Which EndaD4
ger Humen Life.
Disastrous Results Of the "Gentle ana
Joyous" Football Fight and tha .
Festive and Fetching Base-
Ball Battle.

Sir Walter Scott, in summing up that
list of casualties which resulted from
the tournament in which Ivanhoe cax-
ried every thing before him, says in efA
feet that, because only few knighf1
were mortally wounded and severaA
others dangerously hurt, the tournst
ment passed into history and rhyme -
"the gentle and joyous passage-at-azmA
Of Ashby de la Zouche."
This mildly ironical expression Is re-4
called, says the San Francisco Chrour
icle, by the accounts Of the recent foot-
ball game between Yale and Princeoon.t
We read that one player moved down
half q dozen Princeton mem" that I'm
q rush King was badly hurt, but Se-t
vived sufficiently TO 60 on with tA0f
game;" that another player was Eef
tired on account Of INJURIES" and tha1s
several Of the players had to be c.s-
ried off the field at the conclusion OG
the game" Surely this will pass fn1u!
the history Of American sports as ''thet
gentle and joyous football match bar
tween Yale and Princeton"
In the National game, too, the GstO
a seasons casualties Is by no means .
short one. Broken fingers, cracked
heads, bruised legs, spiked hands and
sprained ankles are some Of the mos&.
common accomplishments Of baseball,
and it seems impossible that the game
can be played well or scientifically
| without them.
1t is not intended to throw cold water
upon athletic sports or games OF any
sort, but only to suggest that any gama
which results in personal injuries and
often in Disagreement for life can be-
called 'sport" only by an extremity o6
courtesy which amounts to positive
misnomer. The injuries are not I'M
flicted intentionally, it is true, but they.
are none the less injurious; and all the
apologies in the world will not mend q.
broken leg or cure sprained ankle.
With all our boasted civilization we
are not much better in these mattera
than were the Greeks or Romans.
| Their games were not merely rough,
but in many cases cruel and brutal
They seemed to have very little regard
| for human feeling, or even for
human life, as every reader of Greek,
and Roman history knows. Whether
this callousness was only an incident of
the decadence of Athens and Rome, or
whether it was an integral part of their
downfall, is meter for argument It
has been claimed, with much earnest
ness and plausibility, that the so-called
sports of Rome under the lesser C@saxs
were an index of the disposition and
habits of thought of the people and q
forerunner of the destruction which.
overlook them; and it has been argued
that we are showing signs of the sanne
decadence which sapped the Imperial
city and destroyed the mistress of the.
world.
But this is not logical deduction.
On the contrary, our growing fondnexs.
for athletics is favorable sign, ther
only danger being that we should over,
do the matter. We are like childt
with a new toy-we can not get
enough of our field games and open-air
sports. At the same time there is d
happy medium between the gladiator
and the "Miss Nancy" between puss-in-
the-corner and combats with the ces-
tas. To show our manhood we do not
need to knock somebody down every
time we go on the street, nor to show our
proficiency in manly sports do we need
to play football in such way as to-
leave majority of each eleven Grip
pied at the close of the game. There
must be ways and means of playing
football which do not put the player,
into the category of what life-insuranea
people call extra hazardous risks, " and
it is time that new rules be found or
made which shall eliminate the per-
sonal danger from the game without
diminishing it's interest.
The question is certainly worth con-
sidering. Fun is fun, and working
people like the Americans can hardly,
get too much of it, but when fun is
synonymous with wounds and bruises
and fractures and the like, it is time tos
devise some other kind of fun and tu
put some limits to the extravaganza OF
our athletic youths.
| Rightly Named.