The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-10-14
spoRr TOE SPORTS SAKE.

SPORT FOR SPORTS SAKE.
 The Journal and Courier is delighted to see it's sprightly contemporary, the Yale Alumni Weekly, raising it's vyice in behalf of larger view of the aigni- ty of amateur athletics It prot sts against the introduction of mystery in the training of football play CTS md voices the intelligent demand for open practice. It raises the issue of Sport for sports sake" and it has raised it none too soon, even though the trend of undergraduate feeling is that way. No matter how self-convincing given movement Is, 1t requires the encour- agement of an advocate. In assuming that role the Alumni Weekly looks it's best
 The Weekly rightly credits the coaches with a conscientious belief that while the game may be generally practiced in the open, secrecy during the closing hours of preparation is necessary in order to astonish the op- ponents at critical moment and thus win the game through that element of unexpectedness which makes foot ball the game par excellence it is." The coaches have this end constantly in view and 1t would be unfair to ex- pect of them personally to sacrifice 1 habits of preparation which might | leave the result in doubt That, how ever, is not sport for the love of sport, though we do not deny it's humanity It certainly is not the point Of vew of those who dearly love a contest Of skill and endurance. whether on tne grid iron, the diamond or the river, or in any one of the minor sports, and wh> delight in nothing quite SO much as in the victory cf the best team regardless of the colors worn.
 It is In this connection that the Alumni Weekly philosophizes with re- gard to the attitude of the undergrad uates and the public opinion of the graduates. It says: Are they to drift back to the old time standards of np- prehension and mystery. or go forward to frank interchange of sport for sports sake? If we are to return to the days when, fat and lean alike worried their stomachs among the underbrush on the cliff between Gales Ferry and Red Top and studied their rival crews by telescope, well and good. Accepting Ahat atavism we can then understand the probabilities and hlro agile gum shoe gentlemen to chamber among the rafters of the football stands ard whack intent rubbers from other grid irons over the skull with orange-wood sticks. But we are beyond the Under
 brush days. We are more and mere in
 the open, Football is, and f fr a long
 time to come will be, we hope, the
 American college game. It is still nm developed It still offers a virgin field
 each year for experts to experiment in
 Is it unreasc nable to hope that Yalc's
 latter day policy of limiting secret
 practice to a short time each day to.
 ward the end of the season may some time be broadened hy eliminating tn. custom, with the reservation noted, a., together?"
 , Of all the colleges and universities l in the country Yale is in better DO. sition than any to set up higher
 standard of amateur srortsmanship. I
 may even be questioned if she is nc
 per SC the especial conservator of tl' ! principle involved. as she is acl;nowl , edged the representative of the demo
 cratic spirit in youthful assa ciatic n
 Every Yale man rejoices when hi
 team wins. He would not he a Yalt
 man if he did noJ, but it Is slowly De ing recognized that victories wol q the sacrifice of the highest standard of amateur sportsman9hip are no worth what on the surface of thing they appear to be worth. Yele should prepare openly for the contests on tn athletic field and take her chance with the teams set up against her. Al mystery has disappeared from the ri\ CT Thames. A stop watch put upEl the Harvard crew fr)'i; a plucc If con cealment would be considered phD , sport. Baseball has emaneipated itsel from every obligation but hat itnpos ed by skill. Why should not the kin of outdoor sports take its side by tn other major sports?