The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-11-25


Football 10 the popular sport Of the day.
No wonder: there Is the hot breath Of bat
tie In it. and II it be true saas all the world
loves lover. it IL stIu truer that all the
world loves . warrior Prix.fghting u
detestabIe. because IL Il merely parting the
red Drawn Of two ison-headsd giadiators
and betting your money on their blood; II
h the mere prostitution Of magnificent
physical powers 10 the level Of the market
A prizefghter Is mere muscular ioafer.
selling bis body TO the highest bidder: be
IL male prostitute, for be sells his body
% Ear ~ Q man can sell bis body.
and he cannot plead IN extenuation Of his
brutality and degradation betrayed sftsc-
ton. weakness or Indulgence. A price
fighter Is the meanest and most inexcus-
able kind Of prostitute. for the splendid
exceptional physiqne he sells forbids the
plea that he 10 physically incapable OF
earning m honest living So The brutal-
ity Of prizs6ghters has no excuse; no re-
lief: IL 10 nothing but the prostitution
and sale Of fns masculine body that 10
too indcient or too unprincipled TO earn
IN honest living.
But football IL not prise6ghting. nor
prostitution of the human body at all: it
is battle, rough battleisometimes, but battle
within the rules of warfare. 1t is not tras
that football IL o mere brutal collision OF
muscular forces; It is game Of war, Of
tactics; seif-controi. strategy. energy.
agility, courage and audacity. Football
In the main Is not brutal: IL stands for
strategy, for skill, for strength and self
control.
The New York Sun has this good word
for football:
1--WE venture to assert that contem-
porary humanity has kept pace In devel-
opment with every other human quality,
ia spite Of the awful crash OF modern rush
lines, which SO many people OF good
health. good spirits, good morals. and .
touch Of experience, nowadays hope fer
ventiy that they may be there to see. Few
things mollify and balance the temper
better than boxing. for the reason that
harmless and give-and-take roughness Is
Part Of IL. Football gives to vastly more
men substantially the same character of
exercise, although on different lines, that
in demanded OF the boxer. As for the idle
crowds and truant boys on pinnacles
~ ~
one can invent q less injurious spectacle
than football, with all its accessories,
which will give TO the public an equal
amount of the play IL needs If il must
work, the world will thank him; and q
free ticket of admission shall be his for
this and all seasons"
Bullfghts, bcarbaiting. prizefghting.
cockfghting, dogighting are detestable.
because they merely minister to the spirit
Of brutality. but football is the art Of war
in tactics. strategy. skill and strength.
governed. too. by the rules of civilized
warfare. All these athletic contests are
good, 30 long as they do not degenerate
into "fad." Athletics should be the
coincident, not the purpose of life. The
moment q man makes q ''fad' of any
thing. of baseball. football, or anything
else that ought to be q mere coincident.
not the pursuit of existence, he makes .
fool Of himself; he becomes In his own
way kind of crank. Hotspur said:
This IL no world to play with mammets and TO
tilt with lips:
We must have bloody noses and cracked crowns,
And pass them current too
Hotspur said this to his lovely, sprightly
wife whom no dearly and tenderly loved,
and yet as long as human nature remains
unchanged We shall love those sports that
bring as to the perilous edge Of bitter bat
tie. Let Us have football In all its fury
and ell its fight, because 1t viii wean our
boys from witnessing the prostitution of
muscular power and agility IN shape of a
prizsfght. Football is rough, but 1t Is
mimic war: II is not mercenary: 1t is
manly battle; II is a fight to the finish not
for . money stake but for honor.