New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-22
ExAGGERArEnA EoorRALL.

EXAGGERATED FOOTBALL.
The present agitation over football for the or
ponfzatiou and direction of which CUR two great
local universities are largely responsible. has
brought to attention many signincant 1acts
concerning the evils from which that sport Is
suffering These include wantOn and deliberate
brutality in play. unintentional but yet serious
and sometimes fatal injuries. professional
ism" In what certainly should be purely anna
teur snort the growth of excessive luxury
through the enormous swelling of gate receipts
and the loss of time and impairment OF scnoi-
arship which too close application to the game
Involves These evils are great ana 1t may
well be argued that they are suf1clent 10 haAe
at least 4 radical reorganization Oh Tue sanio
necessary. But we are not sure that they' any
or all of them, are the most Significant anu
sarious feature of the case Rather should we
oiva that unenyiabIe distinction to the exag-
gera4ed interest In football and the exaggerated
estimate of the Importance of the game as ols-
closed by the unprecedented pother that is now
being raised over it
1T is we believe quite within bounds TO say
that the present agitation, not only among IN
darora duates and unofficial alumni. but among
the faculties and corporations of our colleges
and universities over the question Of mendlns
mr. ending this game surpasses anything htner-
70 known In American educational history
There have at times. been widespread contro-
yersies involving intercollegiate conferences
over other matters. Among these were co-edu-
cation of the sexes the higher education OF
women in any institution, the INTRODUCTION ol
the elective system into the curriculum, Tue re-
tention of required classics, the shortening OF
the coarse for the baccalaureate degree TO three
wears and thu maintenance or aboliuon OIL ue-
oree distinctions among the different courses
The ~ snail visitor from New.Zealand or from
Mars might naturally suppose that sucn ques-
lions involving some of the fundamentai prih-
ciples of academic culture would nave prece-
dence in educational councils over the quesuolS
whether five yards or ten yards must Do naue
IN three downs" or whether tackle oelo"
tba bfns shall be permitted. Yet not one OF
them ever stirred the entire college worid SO
profoundly or provoked so earnest anu even
orirnonious q controversy as this matter OF
football.
That circumstance we submit, indicates a
deplorable distortion Of estimate 1t SHOWS
that football has been advenutlousy e&asser
o+ed into an importance far greater than any
or ali college sports could deserve Anu uhshe
fact. as it seems to us. is perhaps tne most con-
vincing condemnation of the game as It no"
exists For a single athletic sport, no nalIeE
how ENJOYABLE or meritorious, to be exalted as
o s,nrann fetch over all else in college lie, LOT
i+s interests to be regarded superior 10 Inoee
of discinline and scholarship, is an evil winch
cannot be too quickly abated- To-Day IN hore
than one institution, undergraduates, DacAeu
nv alumni. are protesting against and threa1en
ING TO DEFY the authority OF faculties anu COT
norations in the regulation Of college games
and are predicting wholesale desert1ons from lne
ooIIaoas and the decline OF the institutions aS
saats of learning if they are not perrnltled 10
nlay this one particular game In their own par
ticrIar WAY, A more ridiculous and at the same
time melancholy attempt of the tail to "ag the
dog we never saw
columbia University, in raising the oirec'
issue whether college athletics are or are not "
10 ,,nder college control, and New-York UnVer-
et+v I'm onening the way for concerted CONSIDER
alton of and action upon the matter by all the
COLLEGES of the land have performed great
nubIin service But it may be that their hlgh-
est service lies in provoking this most 1HulLilla
five exposition of the preposterous ana lntoler-
ab1a exs pgeratio of football 1t was une lol
s1ch an exposition to be made ana 1t Is ulne
P,r the oyerblown bubble to be pr1ckeu. IL
vounp men are going TO a college sunply VI
chiefly because it is football college, Ihey
will do themselves no injustice ana lhey WIZ
relieve the institution of much 1n1usuce ny le
firing expeditiously to the farm or the "ofh-
shon If any college exists and prospers ohiy
or chiefly because of the proWess OF us looC-
hall teams it will do well to surrender us ciiai
ter as a seat of learning and seek recoshiuoh
as a school Of physical culture IL Is nlSn Iilne
to establish with good deal or emphasis Tie
nr,ncinIe that colleges do not exist for the sake
of football, but that footDall-ano lnueeu go
other game and SPORTS at most only minor
ond subordinate adjunct to the immeasurably
more important elements or academic me-