The San Francisco call., 1897-11-13

afIe, ia :. L...... smit6 is5
fmi6 Fn[Ne 55 i5S E seaWPisht STyIn i3S i9S
Erb. I5o .......... Q ............... Code, 54
Daily, l65 -.-....... L. II. R........, Morse. 165
FISHER, I7O.........R. II. L.......... Carter, 6
Cotton, lS5................F. Wyckof lao
To quote the words of Pete Smith, the
big Reliance guard, who in 1892 played
tackle for Cali. ornia. III Stanford can go
through that Reliance line, it can rip the
Berkeley line all TO pieces"
l. should be a battle royal. Reliance
has bent every effort to win this game,
which will likely be its last this season, as
the Butte match has not yet been ar
ranged and seems to be only vague pos
sibility.
The changes in the Reliance team are:
Hobbs. the heaviest fooi ball player on the
coast, moved from guard to center because
Wells is in jured and Burnett is unable 10
practice regularly; Sheeny from tackle to
gnard bis original position; big Bert
Oliver introduced at lett tackle, where
Erskine ana lighter men have played;
Ersklne over TO right tackle, with the
duties of which position he is more fa-
mlllar; and Seawright. last seasons STAN
lord Varsity half, introduced at left end
TO share that position with L1nyon. Then
with Sherman, the Berkeley veteran and
eX- Varsity captain at the other end Code,
Stanford Varsity quarter for four wears,
at quarter; Morse and Carter as haf-
backs and Wyckoff al full, an unusually
formidable team Is arrayed against the
coilegians. AND these men have been
nightly practicing as team for week.
Reliance pariisans are off ring to bet
that this time their team Will defeat Stan
ford, though the preceding games have
resulted in scores of to 4 TO 6 and II TO
6, with Stanford each time on the big end
but never against SO powerful Relian ce
team.
A great delegation of Stanford students
is expected to come up for this game and
try the effect OF some of the new yells to
be used on Thanksgiving DAY.
On the grounds at the corner of Six
te nth and Folsom streets, at 2:30 o'clock
this afternoon, the Alameda High School
team will play the Horace Mann Gram
mar SchooI eleven. And on the same
grounds tomorrow afternoon there will
be match game between the Rincon
team and the Menlo Park eleven. the
Rincon team Is made np largely Of mem
bers of Company H, League of the Cross
Cadets. 1t expects soon to play a team
from Company NJ and another from Com.
pany A, League of the Cross.
1t is not the policy of this department
to lend itself to the foolish but transparent
tain portions of each university team in
their attempts to belittle the chances o.
success for their favorites on Thanksgiv-
ing. Men that are bOastfui deserve to be
beaten. But a healthy confidence is
prime requisite to good performance.
Exaggerat ted stories of disaster to PLAYERS
are only part of a system OF preliminary
deception that the English collegian, the
best type OF the many athlete, does not
resort TO.
The training of the ncen of Cambridge
and Oxford for all their intercollegiate
contests is done in the open, and when
the teams meet it is the best concerted
skill and ability that must win. The true
sportsman feels no humiliation If he IS
the loser in a game he enters for the love
OF the sport and the en- njoyment of the con-
test. When collegians on this coast, re-
gardless OF Eastern practices, come TO look
at tleir contests in this light there will bs
a healthier, better and more ennobiing
atmosphere about what should be the
best exc m plihcation of mateurism.
That Stanford's chances are excellent
for the Thanksgiving game it is ridiculous
to deny. In the opinion of this writer,
who has witnessed practically all the
gridiron contests hereabouts during thr
last seven seasons, Stanford should win
by a LARGER score than the 20 to 0 Of last
year. But no contest is settled until it Is
ended. In football, particularly on a
slippery field, there are innumerable
chances for sudden reverses, for an indi-
uid ual player, perhaps, to grasp an unex-
pected opportunity and turn the tide of
battle.
Whatever be the comparative ability of
the two varsity teams now q fierce and
hard-iought contest can be confidently
relied upon, and no portion OF the Uni
verslty OF California will miss the
struggle. There have been too many sure
things lost in the past. The first STAN
ford California game in 1892 was dead
sure thing FIR California. And Stanio rd
men thought before the last intercolle-
gIate field day that they could not lose
the meet but they did.
With the big game less than two weeks
off the Berkeley team finds Itself in con-
dluon almost C aotic. Tne line-ups for
Thanksgiving day cannot be guessed any
more closely now than ii could a month
ago. There is scarcely position on the
team which it can be said, barring acc-
dents, a particular player will fill. The
men have been shifted from one position
10 another In such bew lderingIy rapid
succession that ii is hard 10 tell for what
position man is a candidate.
Take Greisberg, for example. He started
in al the beginning ot the season playing
a brilliant game at center, having played
guard last V ar. Several weeks later found
him playing halfback. Next he was tried
at tackle, and now once more he is behind
the line. Sim pson has been plaved va
riously at tackle, END and halfback, Ind
low ct guard, tackle, end and halfback,
Tolman at tackle ana fullback. Hopper at
end and halfDack, Cornish at lacklr, full
back, guard and center, and SO on with
other candidates.
The pursual of such policy of expert
menting so late in the season is a decided
innovation. In former year the team mas
been picked, with the exception of one or
two positions, generally a month before
the final contest.
Judging from the nightly varying var
~ity line-ups the following men are most
likely to compose California's 81 team:
Center, McDermott; guards, Barnes
and Mayer; tackles, Simpson. Pringie or
Castelhun; ends, Whippe, Hopper, Col
lier or Craig; quarter, Bender; halfbacks,
Captain Hall and Greisberg; fullback,
kaar berg.
The fact that the second eleven has so
Ee.a..