Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-30
GOSSIPlFROM THE GRIDIRON
Followers Of Foot Ball in the Wos. Greatly
Encouraged
GAME SBoWs,A MOST MARKED AOyANCE
Nebraska ppa IoN,n Teams Give Evil
d"nccu pr. the Development az
the, smart as Understood
,by Honest Athletes.

the, smart as Understood
,bS Honest Athletes.
The close of the foot ball season OF 'g6
in tho west finds the game upon a higher
/ level than it has ever been before, IL is
better more scientifically and less bru,ally
played; 1t is played ana enjoyed as health
ful and wholesome sport by the many in
stead of the few; it enjoys a higher esteem
among wcs,erners generally than al the end
of any previous season These are bold
statements to make in view Of some dis
couraging incidents OF the season, but to
one who studies all the conditions
that have existed during the season, their
truth is apparent
There can be no question as to the adj
vuuccment of the game in the west from
the standpoint of the lover of scientific
foot bali The Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas
university olcvens arc sufficient proof of
this statement. The WORK of Iowa and
Nebraska especially, was ahead OF any
thing shown hcreahouts before. The i'm
proycmuut was due TO the importation of
Alfred l}ull of Pennsylvania and Edward
n. Re binson of Brown university, as COS chAs
of the Iowa and Nebraska teams, rcspcc-
lively. They brought foot bail up to
higher standard here than II had ever at
tanned. They have given W"stCrn,rS
further proof of the now almost undisputcd
fact that good foot ball depends more ON
faithful training concerted action, strategic
paying and less on mere brute strength
Coach Robinson especially has made
numerous friends by his manly efforts to
turn out Il winning team against great
odds. 1t is no reflection on his predecessors
to declare him the best coach Nebraska
ever had. Some maintain that he is the
best any western association team ever
had, ranking him ahead Of Pop Bliss,
WlI coached Missouri last wear ILDblnSDn
did not have the best of material to work
with. He lacked the heavy men that Bun
found at Iowa City. Yet he developed con
sidcrably better team work than Bun did.
1t would be unjust to dctraCt to the extent
of one iota from iowa's victory ON Satur-
day, but IT must be Acknowledged that
Nebraska displayed superior team work.
Iowa won because its immensely heavier
team had great ADVANTAGE on the slip
perry field, and because of lamcntable
weakness In the left wing of Ncbraskas 5
line.
Coach Robinson has dcvelopcd three great
players in ShCdd Thorpe and Jones. 1t
is likely that all three, certainly the first
two, could succeed In making the varsity
good players, Shcdd CNccling- in offensive
and Thorpe and Jones in defensive work.
In addition, Ollie Thorpe has shown him
self to be Il great field captain. I'll" excel
lent manner In which he selected the plays,
oncouraged- MS men ana led by his own
plucky cNappicss was The best Illustration
iron.
The statement that Nebraska would
have won had It had Holbrools on Its
team i. the veriest nonsense, and no one
game would be guilty of making ~uch u re-
mark, II Is true that Holhrook made r'm
others that made it possbI, sh@Id.
Thorpe Zones would be ta5un on any
G.,3,stcrn team in prefrrgnce to iio3ro2K.
They are capable Of playing a hard. plUc'iy
game. The, fear of being thrown caused
Holbrook to lose a yard or, two many a
time after being tackled, when he would
stand upright like wooden post.
In both Thursdays and SATURDAYS games
Iowa largely depended on Coach Bun to
select the plays Ito be used. the use he
made OF his position as lincsmln to signal
certain PLAYS might be called cleyer, but
was hardly sportsm Unlike. The contest
graduatest Bull cdh scarcely object to criti-
ciam ON this score, as he ana other pennsyl-
Vania players raised great howl about a
similar trick by Marshall Newell in 1871
Iowa gets the pennant of The Western
association for the first time. AMI there is
general satisfaction that Oh lmDiOnship
honors should so there Iowa had a good,
strong team, and well coacnrd. The only
fact that pcascs moro students and alumni
iEtercste9 in the welfare, Of the 2ssociatiion
feeling is probably due more to contempt
cause Of it's mean treatment of v:sitiaa
CrS there ColCh Patterson. ike many other
Yale coaches This year, has not been "a sue
cess Missouri has been badly detellcl by
almost every team 1t has met, and there Is
nut Ilttle regret fett on thdt account lndl-
Iowa and of Robinson to Nehrasll next
ialL Hector CoWan VIII, of course, again
coach Kansas for there is no probability
that the Kansas Legislature - going to BIro-
annual crusade against foot ball huS nj |
ready started. and there is much wild talk
among many lngislnt9rS about pJ, ing an
end to- same that they don't understand
but there hayc been similar cruSaqes by
fren2iod people before, and foot ball still |
continues to draw from 1000 to i5''co spec
Thursday saw the last of the big games in |
,t he cast s. Cornell went DOWN before the
had scored ten points, -four more than Hl"- |
Yard scored CornelIs weak line Mas p0"- !
erless 10 stop the rushes of the Quakers. bu
its back field showed up in brilliant form. II |
was the last game for four men who hayc
done much to contribute to the success Of !
the Quaker teams In the past four years |
tackle and Cielberf. hIiiback. Thcsa rngr |
team this year ana have madc up for tho |