Omaha daily bee., 1897-11-29
GOSSIP FROM THE CRlDIRON
Close of a Wonderfully Successful Season
Brings Surprises.
co.ORDNATING THE EASTERN TEAMS
Pennsylvania Easily Entitled 20 the
First Place, Yale, Harvard. Prince
ton md Cornell Coming In
Order Named.

brought TO close In Philadelphia on Thanks
giving day. The present season along the
Atlantic seaboard has been conspicuous on
account of the large number of closely con-
tested games. the almost absolute freedom
from slugging or other violations of the
rules Of the game, the absence of any num-
Der of serious accidents and the great num-
Der of surprises found at the conclusion of
games that persisted in turning out differ
emily from the way the wise ones had pre-
dicted.
The two most noteworthy incidents con-
nected with the game of foot ball in the east
this year were the rapid manner in which
Yale worked up a strong team after it had
been in the dumps for over two months and
the development of team at Cornell which
rounded out the season with the brilliant
feat of holding down the mighty Pennsyl
vania team to- the Insignificant score of to
0. Both of these accomplishments show how
uncertain the game is and how possible 1t is
for an apparently weak team to work up
into fine form by persistent hard work and
careful handling of the men.
1t was by continued practice at hard,
straight foot ball that Yale worked up into
condition to defeat Princeton, which had in
the three weeks previous to its final game
greatly fallen off in form. 1t was by hard
practice at straight ball embellished with
a number of trick plays that Cornell got
into form TO hold down the mighty Quakers
to the Insignificant score of 4 to 0. 1t is
hard to tell whether Yales defeat of Prince
ton or the manner in which Cornell held
down Pennsylvania was the greater surprise
of the foot ball world this season. Certainly
both were wonderful achievements. That
! Cornell played such a strong game and so
well held the Quakers in hand on Thanks.
giving day was not due to any slump on the
ri Of Iva mi tn On hp
trary, Philadelphia critics say that Penn
sylvania played the fastest, stifest game it
has put up this season, game that would
in all probability have defeated Yale, Har-
ward or Princeton by several more than four
points.
The fact that Yale and Princeton still con-
| tinue to scof at Pennsylvania and that Har-
| ward and Princeton and Cornell and Yale did
| not meet this season makes 1t difficult to
| classify the big eastern teams. There is just
one thing that all fair men will admit and
| that is that Pennsylvania is honorably
| titled to the premier position. Pennsylvania
| has defeated Harvard which tied Yale, and
| Yale defeated Princeton. There is little room
| for doubt about Pennsylvanas ability to de-
feat both Yale and Princeton, as it did Har-
| ward and Cornell. Therefore the Quakers
| must be conceded first place.
Yale by its defeat of Princeton and its tie
| titled to second place. But it should be pointed
| out that this is the Yale team of the close
| of the season and not the Yale team that was
| almost defeated at Brown and tied by West
| Point. Harvard did not succumb to Yale,
and Is therefore entitled to rlnk close to it.
| If it does not enjoy the honor Of dividing
| the hOnors of second place with Yale, it can
| certairlylbe put no lower down in the scale
| than the third place. Princeton, Of course,
| takes fourth place and Cornell, just as nat
| urally is entitled to occupy the fifth There
| are many remarkable discrepancies brought
out by comparison. For instance, Harvard,
| which is given third place, was defeated by
| Pennsylvania. Is to 6, while Cornell, which
| takes fifth place, held Pennsylvania down
| to four small points, but comparisons always
were odious, and more so than in foot
| ball recapltulaton.
| In the central west Phil Kings little boys
| from Madison, where Is located the Univer-
| sity Of Wisconsin. badly defeated Chicago,
| and Chicago in turn defeated both Michigan,
| Northwestern, Illinois end other strong foot
ball teams of that territory. Whether Wis
| ccnsin could have whipped Chicago when
Stages men were at their best and had the
! company of the peerless fullback, Clarence
Herschberger, is a mooted question. But
! we must judge by results and the fact is
! that Wisconsin defeated Chicago quite de-
| clsively. Phil Kings proteges are there
| fore entitled to outrank the pupils OF Profess
sor Alonzo A. Stasg and also the teams that
| the Chicago university defeated.
In the Western intercollegiate Foot Ball
| association everybody knows who won the
| championship. If any one does not know
| he should be tarred and feathered and
| hauled in a cart by the people with the
| frozen heart. Nebraska won the champion
| ship by its successive defeats of Missouri
and Iowa and it's moral victory over Kan
| sas The followers of Coach Robinson have
| brought back that pennant where we had
| It once before" and they are deserving of
| great praise for their accomplishment. Cap
| tain Shedd and his men did good work
| throughout the season, and placed the colors
| OF the Transmississippi state far above all
| other colors on WESTERN foot ball fields. 1t
| is to be hoped that an equally good team
| will be sent out from Lincoln next year,
and that it will have an opportunity of
| meeting Chicago, Wisconsin, Minnesota or
| Illinois in order that we may see how our
| corrrfed players compare with those who
are fed on the substance of the Chicago
river. There are a whole lot of people in
| this neighborhood who believe that the foot
| ball team of the University of Nebraska
could this year have defeated that
| from Chicago, and next year game between
| the two would be interesting, to say the
least Iowa defeated Northwestern quite
handily in the early part of the season. and
we all know what Nebraska did to Iowa.
| 1t is with great regret tnat Ihe bee an
pounces the election of Arthur st. Leger
| Mosse the right guard OF the Kansas uni
| versity to the captaincy of that team for
| the following year. Mosse may not be alto
| gether to blame for the presence of those
| pieces Of iron in his foot ball trousers in
| The game against the Kansas City medcs,
but university team should not attempt
| to condone such an unsportsmanlike
| action by elevating the man guilty of 1t to
the honorable position of captain. At a time
| when the lovers of pure foot ball throughout
| the west are protesting with righteous indig-
nation at the retention of coach by Kansas
who has been most unsportsmanlike in his
| oyery action 1t is something of an effrontery
! for the Kansas team to announce the cleo
! tlon to the captaircy of man who was
openly guilty of a most reprehenslble breach
| of the ethics of amateur sport and fragrant
violation OF the rules of the game. 1t would
now be in order for the Kansas team to
decide by unanimous vote to allow its
players to wear brass knuckles in all of
| next years contests The advisory board
| OF the University of Nebraska is fully justi-
| fed in voting TO allow no more athletic
| contests with Kansas university. At the
| coming meeting OF the Western Intercol-
| legiate Foot Ball association Captain Shedd
| OF the Nebraska team will ask for the resg-
| nation of the Kansas representatives on ac-