New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-12-10
nm THE FOOTBALL FIELD.
THOSE OF THE sEASoN-THE TWO
STRONGEST COMBINATION OK
MJ.AMERICA ELEVENS

The football season of 1899 is ended. II was
wound ND in a clean, sportsmanhke su"eee
NJ Philadelphia on December between '"e
West Point cadets and the Annapohs Ne'"'
Academy eleven A naval victory hao oee"
looked for vet after the series OF surprises '""'
have marked the present season. no one WAS
n,uch taken aback to witness the Army men
walk away from their brothers OF cruisers anu
ha,tleships West Point had a heavier team anu
n had been trained to more confident agsies-
sive football Although 1t had sooo hoN
In Jackson the eleven punted the pan haro''
If all in the first half and for its gains re-
lied entirely upon steady rushing arouhu '"e
,nds and through the line The onsaughts OF
the Army backs were heavy and well direc'eo'
and there has been no exhibition Of line BUCK
Ing this season that has excened the spectacie
,ba, the West Point team presented In work.
Ing the bali steadily from it's own twenty-five
yard line right uD the field and over the An
ronols goal line for touchdown. This per-
= formance was virtually twice repeated ana was
- hv ALI odds the best exhibition Of the day. 30
far as the quality Of football is concerned the
game hardly deserves TO rank with the Harvard
Yale and the Yale-Princeton contests out 'ne
Immensely wide interest taken in the ARMY anu
Navy game the brilliant attendance OF an en-
thusiastic following from the Army ana navy
o,s a,d tho nresence Of many high officials
,,ade the e,,oe In general interest fully equal
10 the other largest games OF the season Inc
MANAGEMENT Of the affair was excellent Inc
University Of Pennsylvania is deserving of much
credit in this regard.
The overwhelming defeat Of Columbia on
THANKSGIVING Day. any extended comment on
which was crowded out from this column last
week. put an end to all Columbia's hopes Tor
classification in the fifth place among the regu-
lar University teams and Wisconsin's decisive
victory over Michigan in the West together
with Chicago's defeat of Brown. also makes
slight shifting in the relative ranks necessary
so that now. to my mind. the university elevens
would run about like this: Princeton Harvard
Yale. Pennsylvania. University Of Chicago Cor
nell University Of Wisconsin. Columbia and
so on.
LIMITED TO EASTERN PLAYERS.
Now, when it comes to choice of a so-cailed
aIl-America team l have decided TO conine the
selections 70 the university elevens east OF the
Allegheny Mountains, for to include the teams
Of the Middle West and Far West would open
up such a bewilderng array of material un-
known to most readers Of this column that IL is
deemed best to limit the choice TO players with
whom the public is more familiar. In this class
ifcation l also omit from putting in any OF the
Carlisle Indian players. for, while from their
actual prowess it is pretty certain that one or
two Of them are entitled to a place on the all
America team at the same time. owing to the
fact that they are in no way governed by the
rules as to eligibility and amateur standing that
prevail at the universities. think 1t fairer to
leave them out after a word of the heartiest
praise for their work. / also leave out the CO.
iumba eleven for the reason, also, that this
team was made up largely Of graduate players
from other institutions. such as could not have
been the case had the same rules held as at
Harvard Yale and Princeton. Cornell also Is
not quite so strict this point as she might
he, though the only one OF her players that
ought to be barred out strict eligibility rules
is Wabridge.
THE TWO BEST ELEVENS.
Even after limiting the choice as have just
described. Of course the result that 1 reach will
be different from that OF almost any other writer
on football topics. 1t is natural that those
coaches who sometimes make up an all-Amer-
ica team should see points Of excellence in all
their men that are blind to the eye of the casual
outside observer. In any case, however l will
give my choice for first all-Amerca team and
then for a second, arranging them side by side.