Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-11-22
Ky that we fail to see what Is at On,

sky that we fail to see what Is At o,,.
feet.
.. President Eliot's condemnation !,
ioul play and of unnecessary rough.
ness should be useful, although -
course. Ii Is not new: but every ono
interested in the game has said nro.
cisely the same things before. As No
other game brings about such close and
violent personal contact. no other e,,,,e
is SO likely to be complicated and AL
credited by collisions between ~
dividuals whose ethical ideas are ~
developed. or who have not learned ~
great football lessons that ought to ~
printed and displayed in every taano-
room, viz, that the better studou,.
they are the better football they win
play; that, on the whole a clean te,,,
and clean game are good footLaI,
| policy as well as good morals and ,ood
nanners;that time spent in uuarrelin,,
and disputing is time wasted; and tI,a,
| every moment employed in sIugpinp nv
calling names, or in unfair play of apv
| sort, lessons the effectiveness of the in.
| dividIal player and weakens the yorl
| of the whole team.
If these statements are true as
| believe. ana if these views areas
| also beiieve-often inculcated hy
coaches and trainers (even If only RI
the sake of policy and not Of princinIe,
the evils relating to unnecessary rough.
! ness will correct themselves in due
| time. Meanwhile, it might be well IN
remember the remark of Mr.. Roney
| 4 "a ff,Y. irt
| by Colonel Higginson to the Yale ana
| Harvard teams, that eff violent en-
| counters on the football field do lead ~
the temptation Of infiicting needless
personal injuries on an opponent, they
| also give opportunities for resisting this
temptation, and consequently for the
development of the highest form of
courage and self-control." .......-
Every one who has really followed
| football closely, and has known ,he
players personally and well knows how
admirable is their average sclf-re-
| straint, and how relatively uncommon
are purposeiy inflicted injuries 1t is
| unfair to the game to ignore this side
| OF the question and concentrate atten-
| ton and base opposition upon the more
conspicuous but rarer examples of I'M
necessary roughness. I think, how
ever that the penalties for such rough
ness should be increased and that the
powers which the rules already give
the officials should be more frequently
exercised, so that the player or the
team SO deficient morally or intellec-
tually as to try to win by rough, brutal,
or unfair tactics may be excluded from
;t1rf trina ion in ;. -,
which skill. strength. endurance, ana
mental alertnesS should be the con-
trolling factors.
6. As to many of the other objections
advanced, it may be said that they are
either unproven or already disproven.
Whore did DR.. Eliot get his warrant for
saving that "the mental qualities of
the big. brawny athlete are almost GER
tain to be inferior to those of slighter
quicker-Witted menu If mental
qualities" and "uuick- WittedneSs" are
synonyms. the statement is equivalent
to saying that the athlete is mentally
inferior to his mental superior-a logi-
cal result that might have been
reached without aid from DR.. Eliot.
In any event, the arbitrary assign
ent Of mental superiority ofsaiiX. sEactz
on the basis of lesser size or strength
is contradicted by most of the facts
historical and scietftifc-1that have any
bearing upon this subject; and Pres-
dent Eliot's further assertion that
neither the merits of body nor those Of
mind belonging to such men. are 'Of
the must promising sort for future ser
vice out in the world is, so far as my
knowledge goes, without foundation. |
admit, with old Thomas Fuller, that
"often the cockloft is empty in those
which Nature has built many stories
high" but 1 insist that it is as often
or oftener-unfurnished in one and
two-storied fellows.
What does Dr. Eliot mean when lie
says that the precautions taken
against trickery, like the armor and
padding against hurts. show what the
game has come to be-" OF course
every one knows that "armor" is pro-
hibitCd. and that it is the rarest thing
for a player to be found wearing any
thing that could by the widest flight
of the imagination be so called. Only
one instance occurred to the knowledge
of the public during the season Of 1904
and in that case the players were m
structcd to take off metal thigh-guards
worn for their own protection. but be-
iicveG by the officials to be "A possible
source of injury to the opponents. AS
for padding against hurts. if that be
a mark of deterioration of a game let
the cric'eter discard his legpads. ana
the baseball player his padded gloves,
CONTINUED on Page Seven.)