Omaha daily bee., 1897-01-03

record at Travers Island in September.
| Wefers stands today without peer among
the feet runners" In pole vaulting,
| weight throwing, jumping and hurdling the
! events have been innumerable and wondrous
! the American and English standards all
| being lowered.
Base ball the national game Of this coun-
| try, was also blessed with a most success
full season, the big league gathering in
shekels and glory by the carload. Here In
! Omaha our enjoyment was confined to
! amateurish attempts and, while they were
| satisfactory enough, they fell far short OF
| the real thing, and strenuous effort should,
| and most likely will be- made to restore
| the professional class in this city before
| the opening of our Transmississippi year,
| 1898 Base ball never was on sounder
! basis than at the present time, but exceed
| ing care is necessary to maintain this happy
! condition. pushing Of the Rusie case IN
| the courts might destroy the foundations OF
professional base ball The capitalists in
! terested in the sport are all making money,
! the players are abundantly awarded Tor
their services, and the public is intensely
| Interested in the championship races.
| What more could be desired? Better patch
| up the Ruse affair without going into the
| courts.
Sports afeld and at the trap were bounte-
| ously favored during the year just closed.
| In all the game regions of the country there
! has been a veritable plethora of fur fin ana
| feather, and campers and tourists have mad
such sport as has marked no similar period
| in decade. At the trap there has been
| unprecedented activity not only at home, but
in all parts of the land, and in England,
| France and Germany as well. just now the
| Omaha sportsmen are almost incredibly alive
| to the beauties of this fine sport, and during
| the past fall months we have had more
matches and more sweepstakes than was to be
witnessed during the past four years COM
| blned. This Is but one of the healthful signs
| of the times, and | hope no cloud will arise
! to blacken our prospects and dampen our en-
| thusiasm.
| The boys who glory in chrysanthemum
| hair have likewise been right in the thick
| of the push. In fact, the foot ballists came
pretty nearly taking sole possession of the
| land, despite the wailing and croaking OF
| that class with cinch on heaven The
surprises of the season have been many,
chief among which, perhaps, was the de-
feat of the Thurston Rifles by the
| Omaha guardsmen. Next to this over
whelming event comes the downfall of
| Pennsylvania at the hands of the Lafayette
| college team. Princetons splendid victories
| over Harvard and Yale were star features.
| as has also been the playing of the Carlisle
| lnJunS, ana the devastating marCn OF tne
| giants from Butte. While the outlook all
over the country glows in warmest colors
| for another season of great sport, here in
| Omaha, lackaday we are not peering for
| ward through very rosy glasses The West
| ern Intercollegiate association knocking out
| our Thanksgiving championship game has
| left us a little groggy. Lincoln will feast
| upon the plum next November.
| Tennis had a great innings everywhere
| the gentle art right here having an unusu-
| ally large following and furnishing some
| exceptionally fine sport. The state asso-
citation was much in evidence, and its
annual tournament was the success of its
history. The prospects for 1897, locally, are
very bright as several new clubs Will be
admitted to the association and some splen-
did new courts established in this city.
In Fistiana, despite It's circumscribed
rights and prerogatives, interest has been
more marked than in times when it was but
little hampCred by mock humanitarians and
the law. OF course the winning OF the
heavyweight championship by Bob Fitzsim
MONS middleweight, down in Mexico last
February, stands out conspicuously as the
premier event of the year. Peter Maher,
who was presented with the title by jim
Corbett after he had put Steve O'Donnell to
sleep with a single swat at one of the New
York clubs, was the victim. Fitzs recent
experience on the coast with the big man
of-wagsman Sharkey, whom he knocked out
in the eighth round, but still lost the bat
tie through the decision of a rascally referee,
was probably on par with the knockout of
Maher, so far as interest went Following
these in close connection comes Choynski's
defeat by Maher, Kid Lavigne's remarkable
victory over Dick Burge, the English crack,
Corbett's miserable fasco with Sharkey
Plimmer's downfall before Pedlar Palmer
and the so-called defeat of George Dixon by
Erne, the young Buffalonian.
Since Bob Fitzsmmons' visit here a week
ago | am hardly up to the task of defining
with much precision just where | am at.
The fact that my lanky old friend got full
of booze and otherwise deported himself in
an unsatisfactory manner gives a some
what suspicious tinge to the so-caled com
ing big fight with Jim Corbett. | am not so
cock sure as | might be that everybody
connected with the affair is on the level
However, | do not wish to pose as a cap
tious censor, and before indulging in further
criticism | will wait and note the outcome
of Ftz's visit to New York. l want it
understood, though, by the followers of
the game, that | am prepared for any de
veopment and that the Inauguration of
another long and disgusting argumentative
war by the two great pugilsts through
newspapers will surprise none. l hope the
two men are in earnest, and that next
March they will get together and once for
all settle the question as to who is the best
man,
1t would certainly be dereliction on my
part If | failed to assert that Ftzsmmons
conduct while here was ineXplcable. | have
seen him fight four times, and have been
about him more or less on all of these oc-
casions, but never before did l see him
under the influence of that subtle distilla-
tion of maize called bulge. or even see
him take a drink. except once, and that
was a pony of brandy at his training
quarters down in Jaurez the day his last
fight with Maher was postponed for week
But it was not Fitz's drinking that bothered
me most while he was here, but his exhibi-
tion of bag punching and sparring. which
while fair, was way below the standard
of anything | had previously witnessed at
his hands His fumbling at the bag and
his lack of speed in his bout with Hickey
was a revelation. / have always seen him
work so fast and so brilliantly that | must
confess that | was startled Still, this may
have been and probably was, owing to the
load" he was carting around, and from no
physical retrogression superinduced by
natural causes. If Corbett and Bob do come
together. who do | think will win, did you
say? Well, If you did, you must excuse
me, I've no think coming just now.
Rut as n he G 70 of ho hiu mill .binly