The news & observer., 1905-11-19


which they must leave the car, that
ished on the desk.
Yet, so founded, a game will live
and grow despite the criticisms which
about this time of the year. come
forth in hundreds of editorial para
graphs written by men whom one is
obliged to believe are short and
round and bald headed, with neat lit
tie stomachs and terrapin predelic-
tions! How futile these cheap jokes,
these pat cynicisms and these oracu-
lar epigrams must seem to the Splen-
did young animal riding on the
shoulders of his friends! And how
sad to think of him with the light
of victory in his eyes, with the scars
of battle on his face, reeking with
the honest sweat of sustained effort
as he will be ten years and more
away, perhaps, sleek and soft and
deferential. t-always-better.
cleaner. saner. for the men over whom
he won, and the men before whom he
went down without dishoner.
A very few years ago. there were no
"old" football men. The game it
self, was too young. The most an
cient of the veterans were red cheek
ed, willowy fellows who could have
gone into the game and for a while
made good" Now there are old
players who are old. One sees them
at the games watching the play with
the closeness of a hawk, muttering
over errors which the great crowd
fails entirely to see, siding around
between the halves to brush elbows
with football jacket once more.
veritable things of the past in a world
in which their future lies before them.
There is something very moving about
these old ex-champions with their
heads teeming with the names of for
gotten stars, looking at the team on
which they used to go to battle. real
izing that they know not player eX-
cept by reputation. Yet it is his col
lege and once he. too, had a right to
wear the sweater and in 1889 it was
he who had made the run that won
the game; it was he who was carried
on the shoulders of the crowd; it was
he who forgot the speech he had in
tended TO make at the banquet and
choked up and cried like fool in the
middle of it so that the applause
nearly upset the table-and, now. oh,
now, we'll he is forgotten by these
boys who were babies then for all
their beef and new-fangled methods
of defense, but they could have show
when there were no professional
coaches, even if they were forgotten,
And the old half-back walks moodily
up and down the line, thinking and
waiting for the next half and wond-
ering bitterly how many times more
that fellow is going to out-run his
interference. But. as he walks past
the stands. he stops short in amaze
ment, while his ears burn and the
int h 20 H.
confound that fool habit-while the
water rises in his eyes.
For up on the stand, some fellow
has pointed him out walking along
with his bent shoulders and Whispered
a word that has been passed around,
and now they are cheering while the
students beat time with their sticks
and the flags wave and the old shout
comes out with the old bark and at
the end the short, quick three
"Rahs!" and the "Smith."-and that's
the old half back, blushing there with
the many eyes upon him. making his
curious, Self-conscious bow, with a
lump in. his throat and sunshine in.
his heart and the pride that he had
almost forgot he had singing like wine
within his head!
''Trot out another has-been." the
stands are saying as the old half back
moves off, but he does not hear nor
would he care. After ALL" he is
thinking, mot forgotten yet, any
howl"
Fine as the spirit is, fine as is the
game itself. football is just now in the
greatest danger of adding itself to the
illustrious line of corpses of well-in-
tentioned and worthy developments
which have been killed by their 'fool
friends Behind its popularity lies
the ideal. A fight-and football is
that-cannot remain popular with the
public at large unless it is backed by
pure sentiment. Baseball is simply
game. 1t is skill without the per-
sonal element that makes football
great. Anybody can understand base
ball. no one has to understand foot
ball. The one is a question of result
which is interesting because everybody
understands and follows it's coming
about. Football represents loyalty,
self-sacrifice, desperate courage. 1t is
based on high standards. 1t is in
tensely patriotic and intensely parti-
san. DisaSSociate it from the college
and you have ruined the game The
college is the real contestant, not the
men who make the elevens They
know that and the crowds know it.
dldQldtOfS tndt lney are, the players
are insignificant in a sense. They are
trustees of the honor of their Alma
Mater AS such, they have the support
of all who have. in the hundred and
one different ways. an interest in the
institution they represent. When the
rival Universities clash, it is a matter of
State moment Collegiate lines vanish.
1t is our. the citizens, University. 1t
is his team. 1t matters not at all
whether he understands or not, he
wants to see the issue drawn between
what represents him and what repre-
sents the other fellow. Much as he
may be aroused during the progress of
the game by the sight of manly con-
f1ict. he could waste no time on football
as a mere spectacle. That is. he would
not continue to SO waste time. Profess
sional football elevens have always
been dismal failures. They represent
nothing. The public is not remotely
concerned whether eleven particular
men are physically and skiIfully bet
ter than eleven other men. Football
is nothing if not cause. 1t will last
only so long as the cause is purely
fought for. Here and there, that is
being forgotten. One sees players now
and again who are men. That is not
right: man has no business at a col