The morning journal-courier., 1908-06-27
A SPORTING PROPOSITION.

h
 It Is deplorable that not all of the otherwise bright young men who write sporting news for their newspa- pers are familiar with the amenities of sporting life among amateurs In no other way can some of the ac- counts of the Yale-H Harvard boat race be explained. One writer. for exam pie, attributes to Harvard oarsmen a criticism because the Yale authorities took GrIswold from the boat in dead faint and then sent the plucky seven on to the finish line. Others criticlse John Kennedy for giving Grlswold the place of stroke because of his high nervous temperament, and then send ing him into the race in an overtrain- ed condition So runs the marvellous stories of these chiefs of the rocking chair fleet
 It would have been brutal not to have taken Griswold from the boat though the act in itself was a dellb- crate sacrifice of all chances to win. II would have conserved no sporting principle 10 have made the seven live men carry their dead mate over the course. It would have been sporting manners gone mad IL would have been lnconsIderate of the Yale author ties to mar the satisfaction of the Harvard eight by falling to cross the ine Right then and there Yale gave the very finest exhibition of true sportsmanshlp possible, Her men put themselves into the places of their rivals and realized that failure to cross the line, though knowing that the race was already lest, would have given Harvard the victory by luke and deprived her of the right 10 claim race IL Is not tho Yale way to thus take from an honorable antag- onist the rights that belong to him.
 Men who have pulled m oar, or who are familiar with the earliest principles of watermanshlp. know that a nervous temperament is essen tial, nine times ont of ten. in m ef- fectlve stroke oar. For one thing a nervous temperament means imagina- ton and a man without imagination should not sit In the strokes seat. It is to that quality, and the additional qualities which always accompany It experts trace the source of great boat ing victories The phlegmatic tenn perament knows no field of employ ment in the world of nergy sports Nor was Griswold overtrained He was at~ft as fiddle. Tho trouble with him was that the first stop Of the ppuli WHtn luz uToke ms Snoe lacing, got on 10 nerves already strained to their utmost and gave the nervous excitement of the moment a new and uncomfortable angle of ac- tlvity. Experienced oarsmen know know what this means, and while it is possible that at another time Griswod might have overcome the new ad- verse influence, 1t is A fact that Yale's chances were looked upon as doubtful the second the boat made Its first stop, and before he had showns signs of a breakdown
 Whether four miles constitute too long and too hard strain upon young oarsmen has nothing to do with the boat race this year That Is a question 10 be argued and determined from different points of view. The breaking of Griswolds nerves under nerve breaking conditions, which had nothing to do with tho length of the course, cannot be accepted as evl- dence going to show the advantages of a shorter course, whatever else it may show The Judgment of the exper- fenced men in charge of the boating affairs of Yale is more reliable than the judgment however earnest, of pulchritudinous members of the rock ing chair fleet To say the least they are not A sporting proposition