New-York tribune., 1901-11-12
TIE FOOTBALL SEASON.

II is Interesting TO consider wherein lies the
| fascination which the game of football eXer-
cIses over n vast number of persons of both
| sexes and all sorts and conditions. There is no
| doubt about the fact. OF comparatively recent
! Introduction in this country. football has be-
come the foremost Of intercollegiate sports. The
| attendance at every important match puts a
strain the seating accommodations. notwith-
standing comparatively high price for tickets,
and it is fair TO conclude from the volume OF
| football talk at this time OF year and the
amount of space which the newspapers surren-
der to the doings of the grdrOn that the num-
Der of spectators would be increased indefinitely
| if the wish 10 be or hand could be cheapy and
easily gratfed. And yet unQueStionaDly only Il
small proportion Of all who watch a footpal
game with intense eagerness and become wildly
enthusiastic at short intervals Thoroughly uhder-
stand if. Indeed, it is probable that not more
| than one person in ten is able TO comprehend
! the character and merits of a success1h
manuuvre and knows by what means a gain
or loss has been made. The great majority see
| the ball advanced. swiftly or slowly, as the
case NAV be, toward one goal or the other, and
are quite satisfied to note the result without
discerning the process They know. because
they have been told. that little is done at nap
hazard; that the strategy is fine: that signals
accidental opportunities, game OF football Is a
series OF prescribed evolutions executed with
high degree of precision. But they DO not
actually see any such thing as that.
How, then is it that football Is observed with
degree of interest which frequently rises to rapt-
ure: OF course. college partisanship-as nearly
an unseltish partisanship as anywhere exists-
accounts for II in psrt. But we suppose Whe'her
or not the hypothesis is cre6itahie to human nat
ure that the attraction is due in much larger
measure to the fact that football is a series
OF physical encounters between ardent young
men in admirable bodily condition whose honor
Is unpurchasable. II is the element OF personal
contact which supplies the chief exhilaraton-
the collision Of opposing human forces at ire
mendous tension of muscle and purpose. This
condition of the sport ut once constitutes 1ts
intrinsic attractiyeness for the multitude and
exposes IT TO the danger of degenerating into a
brute combat II is gratifying to be able TO say
that the quality of the game morally as we'll as
otherwise is not declining. but steadily rising.
and that examples of unfair tactics and I'M
seemly passions are now exceedingly rare In
comparison with the practice Of only few
years ago.
The season of 1901 is eliminating, and
the state of things Is peculiar. 1t would seem
safe TO saw except for the recollection Of several
swift advances from medlocrity 10 great pro-
ficiency in the last week or two of previous
seasons. that no of the principal teams Will
come up 10 the highest standard this year. or
the ''hig four" Pennsylvania is already seen to
be far below par having been overwhelmed by
Harvard last Saturday. Yet that game gave
Harvard no cause for boastng but to compe-
tent observers was full of signs Of ominous
weakness on the part of the Cambridge eleven.
~ tba .rro members nf thp quartet the
most that can now he said Is that each has
more reason TO fear than 10 admire the other.
Princeton and Yale have displayed grave faults,
which there is little time left 10 eradicate before
their meeting next Saturday in New-Haven.
though II should be added that both OF them.
and Yale especially have a way of rounding
into form with remarkable rapidity as the
supreme test approaches. and the next few days
NAV witness n satisfactory fulflment of the
expectations and calculations Of the trainers.
On the whole il must be said that the West
Point team has gained more distinction than
anv other this year Commonly regarded
belonging in a grade considerably below the
"big four" the young soldiers have recently
played tie games with Yale and Princeton not
by accident but on their merits, and lost 10
Harvard by a single goal at the last moment of
the second half That is n record 10 be proud
Of As matter Of course the cadets possess
the highest possible measure OF courage and
fortitude and their enforced mode Of life keeps
them in perfect physical condition all the time.
But that is the only advantage they have, and
II IS more than offset by the fact that under the
rigid discipline OF the academy they have little
leisure to devote to the art and science of foot
ball The indications that they will easily
trounce their dearest foes from Annapolis In
their annual encounter Philadelphia three
weeks hence. and close their greatest season In
q blaze of glory.