Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-10-01

sible in these days than a good football
player with d closely cropped cdput.
Custom has decreed that this must be
so, and it Is.
Custom has also decreed that, al
though hair on the head is e%minently
proper, all hair on the face must go,
Thus it is that one Of the laws of foot
ball, as Interchangeable as the laws OF the
Modes aud Persians, is to the effect that
mo whiskers need apply" Aud they
never do. II q FRESHMAN who is ambi-
tious 10 get on his class eleven or the
varsity team has blocked out q brace OF
barely d|iscerni6le burnsides, he gives
them a last, fond, despalring look in
the mirror, fiercely stropS his razor to
subdue his pain, and In an instant later
the block system Is 20 more. A strug-
Cling If unworthy mustache meets no
kinder fate. The young football war
rior may be full Of strange oaths as he
seeks the bubble reputation, but he is
never, no, never, bearded like a pard.
There is method, however, in all this
apparent madness, but some phases OF
1t will persist In remaining inexplicable
to the lay mind. Che eleven Suther-
land brothers refuse to grow whiskers
for fear some member of the opposing
Sutherland aggregation may seize them,
pull them out or otherwise maltreat
them In a scrimmage. The same fear
would naturally seem to argue against
long hair, which would be more luxuri-
ant than budding whiskers and an easy
prev for an enemy's grip, but it does
not. The foot ball star is |unmIndful OF
a little hair pulling during a touch
down, but he draws the line at whis-
kerS.
Extended and presumably bitter ex-
]perience has proved to the sageS who
rule the destinies Of football, however,
that long hair is a decided protection
in time OF need. 1t prevents a player
from taking cold during November
games; it is as good as a big fur cap
with old fashioned ear tabs, and best of
all il forms a protective mat on top Of
the head that nothing less powerful
than a piledriver will make a dent in.
A good thick head Of hair is conse-
|quently as in keeping together a foot
ball players brains as the steel helmet
Of Richard the Lion Hearted's day. In
this fact is to be found the true secret
OF the leng hair craze in football, and
many young collegian after the ball
has escaped a broken head, owing TO
the protection afforded by his hIrSute
covering.
The season is young yet, but Captain
Ainkev. Of Yale, already has a head
like a budding brushheap and in envied
bv Captains Trenchard, OF Princeton,
and Waters, Of Harvard, who are only
looking a trifle shaggy about the ears
and neck. On the Pacific coast, where
the kickers have been practicing on the
gridiron for many weeks and where the
glorious climate is conducive TO extrav-
agant growth on the part Of nearly
everything, the various football teams
are said to closely resemble punches OF
chrysantheiums after a gale.
The most important football orgapt-
cation on this side OF the Atlantic
ocean is the intercollegiate association,
compose ed Of Yale, Princeton, Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania and Wesleyan, but
although it claims TO decide the college
championship OF America il can hardly
be said to do so, for the reason that
Harvard, Cornell and other strong COL
leges are not represented in the annual
games.
To remedy this ln~congruitY there
is talk Of the formation OF q six
club intercollegiate football league,
including Yale, Harvard, Prince
ton, University Of Pennsylvania,