The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-12-09
Football.

In the recent wrackful scrimmage which
football has had to endure at the pens Of
a suddenly displayed body Of frowning
critics, the attacking rush line has swept
all before it without availing opposition
until a stand has been made by DR..
GEORGE o. SHATTUCK Of Boston, President
ADAMS Of the State University Of Wisconsin,
and President HARPER of Chicago. DR..
SHArTUCK's opinion is found In the Boston
Medical n Surgical Journal, and we re-
print again the most telling passage of it:
Football is the only sport which In the same measure
develops the majority Of the qualities OF which we a.
Americans are most proud Rather let us sacrifice 0
few bones than give our young men an idea that they
must be strong. but not expose themselves to tn dan
ger OF getting hurt. Let US not give tho youths Of
tho day the impression that the only sports 10 be in.
dulsed In are those which do not call for courage"
President ADAMS is quoted in a news
paper report as saying that I" football Is the
best game for college men, all things con-
sidered, that has ever been played" Presi-
dent HARPER believes in football as a col
lege game most thoroughly. We must never
consider the question of abolishing it."
While we need not suppose that DR..
SuATTUcK actually intended to give football
a clear monopoly of courage, his apparent
meaning makes 1t well to say a word for the
oar. The spirit that carries a man with
cvcr-repeated boldness into the agonies of
football Is courage truly, and splendid, sus-
tanned by u plenty Of accessory stimulants,
all footballs own. But the football players
courage works In O furnace Of excitement,
while the oarsman's is proved almost in cool
blood. Courage of the first water can alone
stand the awful grind of the last mile
In q boat race, when the muscular strug-
gle must he kept up to a ~gasping ex-
tremity, for minutes, and In q monotony
changeless and half the time hopeless. That
crisis will try the prehensile powers of q
mans teeth and eyelids, SO that he may be
forever after classified with the stout-hearts
or the buffers. Football puts the question
differently. It strikes while the metal is hot,
whereas In the boat the supreme effort
comes when the metal Is chilled. However,
let DR.. SHArTUCK's tribute stand, and let
US think for a moment what football is.
IL football is a anne, what sort of a game
Is it Certainly 1t Is not of the grand class
where baseball and cricket belong. After
testing it for all the elements that constitute
a game, II we were compelled to assign foot
SNNAA ~ " A1S SANAGA hAAObA tnO kICAL OOuh
ade athletic games Of skill, demanding pre-
cision and form, In all OF which, as we
recollect them. a ball is q part, or among
the sports Of boyhOod, like prisoners base,
founded chiefly on the idea OF bodily aetiv-
ity, football would have to go down among
the children. 1t is Of tho rudimentary
species, but developed TO such a scale
Of organization, made SO complex In
Its drill, and so dependent In the main
on great physical strength. that IL satisfies
the nervous energy and fills the
min of fullblown youth, and exhibits
IL so ~magnihcently strained and tried, that
popular interest In football has been reused
to q degree Of intensity almost unreason-
able. All the same, IL any votary holds the
that football has rightfully a place
among the great games, he can contradict
with the necessary acknowledgment
that the ball may be left out wholly, and the
substitution Of almost anything in its
place will Leave the game substantially IN
Some features Of play would be
taken out with the ball, but nothing vital.
For example, it MAKES little differences
whether . game begins with a kickoff, as
1t present, or whether a side jumps forward
mass, in the way of last year. Punting,
which We have heard more OF this year,
linked with the names Of various
able punters, Is essentially defensive.
Az the best 1t Is the means to =
more advantageous ass Of an entirely diff
sort OF playing, which would Re
GIVE but little increased Importance
I the punt we're never seen again.
S~ine-tcnths or perhaps ninety-nine hun
iredths Of the punts are made when the
1al[hOlding side, pressed back 70 its eva