Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-06-25
U-rah-rah, Wisconsin,
U-rah-rah, Wisconsin,!
U-rah-rah. Wis-con- Tiger,

At the starting point Yale men strip
ped to the waist. The Wisconsin men
kept on their rowing shirts. The
water was gently ruffied by a lazy
breeze that was against the oarsmen.
Wisconsin caught the water first
The crew has learned the valuable art
of starting. Yale made its usual half
stroke and then her youthful eight put
forth their strength.
Lift her." shouted the coxswain.
They did lift herewith every heave
she seemed to jump half out of the
water. Now the Badgers did not lift
their boat She seemed to just run
and keep running all the time. For
the first eight or twenty strokes Wis
consin was pulling at the rate of thirty
eight a minute. Yale started with
forty, and yet in those first twenty
strokes Wisconsin gained half a length.
1t was apparent from the start that
these wild Westerners had everything
their own way. And then the sharps
began to study that Yara-Yara stroke
which was making monkeys of eight
young Yale men rowing the Bob Cook
stroke. The Wisconsin men explained.
The oar is whipped into the water and
damned up against it hard. 1t hits the
water all the time until the finish Then
| the stroke is eased eff and the blade
leaves the water smoothly. The hands
are moved swiftly from the chest, but
not whipped away and then the re-
covery is slow and smooth The Wis
cOnsin men say that the work is done
in the leg drive, and the boat is driven
along steadily; that she shoots and
runs instead of being lifted and
checked. If Wisconsin had lost. this
description of her stroke would not
have been printed. 1t would have been
dismissed by saying that no crew row.
| ing such stroke could expect to row
in respectable company. But as a
matter of fact the Wisconsin boys were
sending their boat along and pulling
in beautiful form, while Yale was
splashing and in trouble At the end
of the first mile Wisconsin was seven
lengths ahead and having a beautiful
time. She kept on gaining. There is
no telling how much the badgers could
have won by, but there is not the
slightest doubt that the Wisconsin men
sOldiered most abOminably. 1t is uni
Versally agreed among sweep men that
any member of a crew who takes his
ont of tho hnlt HnCnrJroc To no
branded and to have no luck in life
But every man Jack of the Wisconsin
crew violated that rule 1t was so
delicious to see the Derspiration stream
ing down the bare backs of that Yale
crew as they struggled nightly, while
the badger boat was humming along
JOyOusly 1t was only near the finish,
when the Wisconsin men cursed the
crew for lot of lazy lOafers, that the
winners consented to hit her up" and
the speed at which they drove that
boat through the water was a revela-
ton. They finished perfectly fresh
fifty seconds ahead of Yale. which is
something more than fifteen lengths.
The Yale men watched their crew fin
ish with blank faces. The defeated
men wept, after the manner of oarsmen
who have worked hard and honestly to
win. There wasn't any enthusiasm,
because the twenty Wisconsin men
couldn't make much noise But they
did the best they could Yale men
were glum.
Wisconsin's time was 12m. IS. 1t is
not a straight course, there being a
bend of about Is degrees.