Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-21
GOSSIP FROM THE CRIDIRON
First Week Of Practice Indicates Changes
Likely in Big Teams,
COACHES AND CAPTAINS CONSERVATIVE
Experience Teaches Them Not 60 BE
Too sansuine About EIevens
Until Material Has Been
Wen Tried out.

Wei Tried Out.
Practically the FIRST week Of real practice
In the foot bali world has now been com
pleted, and a glance over the many teams
of the country shows already changes from
their outlooks as they we're imagined to
exist 4 week ago. Just before the assembl-
ing Of the squads. Strange to say, the most
remarkable feature of the weeks develop
ments seems to be that most Of the teams
have suffered a lessening> Of their pros
poets n that time. Coaches and captains
usually leave a wide margin for the pos
sibility Of the non-appearance OF players
in the fall. They are never too sanguine,
preferring TO err In the other direction. For
that reason statements as to a colleges
foot ball outlook made before the squads
have assembled are conservative, and can
be relied upon to be none too favorable.
This year all the schools began announcing
along toward the first OF September how
poor their prospects were and now after
one week OF practice Il Is found that even
at that the chances we're overestimated.
After every allowance was made for all
OBJECTIONS Of old men considered possible,
IT develops. that still more OF them will
remain out OF the game and in conse-
quence a smothered howl is going up from
most foot bali training quarters.
Aside from that fact the interesting de-
velopment OF the week in foot ban circles
is that affairs in this sport are becoming
more conservative than they have been OF
recent years. Two facts make this plain.
In the first place, the commencement OF
training has been universally postponed
several weeks. As the football fever has
QTduvn In tutnnaftv durfpC tha let docoao
candidates and coaches have been devoting
more and more effort and time to prepara-
ton for the season. 1t is a short one,
only two months, beginning practically
on October 1, and always closing with the
Thanksgiving day games. Most colleges
open about the middle Of September and
si1i years ago or so the time between reg
istration and the first game wac considered
ample for preliminary training. But as
competition grew keener and interest
vaxed fierce the time Of preliminary work
was heightened, till finally foot ball men
were asked to report before the college
year opened. The season OF 1901 was the
climax in this line. For the big teams Of
that year candidates spent practically the
whole summer preparing. Everybody took
a pigskin home with him for the summer
. vacation and did what he could with that.
SoNA va sSGESs~I SV Keep II
good shape all summer, and to report
many weeks before school opened in per-
feet condition physically. So all such a
man needed was a hardening and training
in the game itself. Even as far west as
Wisconsin this extreme spirit was evident
in 1901, as the squad was assembled in
3 August, more than a month before the
FIRST game. '
The year 1902 shows a waning Of this ex-
aggeration, though the game of foot ball it.
self has a stronger hold on the colleges than
ever. 1t is now undoubtedly the national
college sport, but there is little chance Of
its ever being made so very great a part of
an undergraduates life as 1t was last
year. Towit, the championship team
of the world Of last season, that Of Har-
ward, is yet to assemble. 1t being called
together for tomorrow. while the last week
has marked the first gathering OF almost all
the important squads.
The second sign of a coming conservatism
is that training itself is not so exaggerated
as in the past. The pace is not so killing.
Men are put TO work slower and kept at
IL easier then before. More attention than
ever is paid to the actual conditioning Of
the players, which is their main safeguard
against injury. They are not thrust 30
quickly into the ~scrimmages Of the actual
game. They are taught how to play It
theoretically very thoroughly before they
are asked to do It in action. They are not
compelled to learn the proper place for them
IN the interference by being knocked end
over end in a scrimmRge whenever they lose
that position. They are shown with pencil
and paper, with non-opposed lineups. Just
what is expected Of them before they are
asked TO do 1t in actual practice.
In fact, the blackboard is becoming a
great part Of foot ball training. Every play
that a team uses is figured out in detail.
Each man has a number, and a relative posi-
tion where he should be at different points
in the progress OF the play. When the days
work at ppnting and falling on the ball and
signal practice is over the squad is assem-
bled by the coach after dinner and an hour
each night is spent in quizzes. Each man
in turn goes to the board and is made TO
explain any point about any play, and he
As also expected to be able to diagram the
play completely.
In pursuit Of the spirit OF conservatism
only one OF the teams OF the Big Four has
vet had scrimmage work. That is the Uni
versity Of Pennsylvania squad, in training
at E~aglesmere for the last three weeks.
The ouakers were taken out unusually
early. because they we're SO weak last sea-
son. DR.. Williams is bending every energy
and applying all rules Of eommon-sense
and anatomical science to build up a great
eleven, and his prospects grow brighter
each week. Till last Wednesday signal
practice was the nearest his elegens came
to a scrimmage. and they haven't had much
Of Il yet. Meanwhile the major portion OF
the time is still being spent in practice in
kicking and tackiing the dummy and fall
ing on the ball. The event OF greatest in