The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-03-07
DISSATISFACTION
OVER THE RULES
tBy j. II. Ritchie.)

(By j.. II. Rttchie.)
Minneapolis, March Worse and
worse it grows: 1t appears from lat
est reports that professional iniquity
has crawled into the very cradle OF
the cheeld and bitten the little brute
in the neck.
At a recent meeting Of the faculty
purity league. Nvers and sundry young
men appeared before the Judges and
with tears streaming down thcire
cheeks pleaded guilty to running foot
races for fifty cent purses at cross
roads ptcnics. Their objectionable
sins were perpetrated when the youths
had reached the austere age of II
years or Whereabouts.
But the deepest villainy was vet to
he unearthed: A d%epraved youth from
Hancock. Mimi, is said TO have con-
fessed n a once upon &. timc-time
being when he was 10 years old-hc
Won a fat and juicy purse Of 25 cents
in il ~pie-eating conflict staged by the
grove west of Hancock OH the after
noon. OF July 4. and that aforesaid
facts are knOwn To a large number
of people resident of that locality.
The evil that men do lives after
them. On that dim and distant and
hot and dusty afternoon of the long
this criminal from Hancock little
thought Of the day to come when he
would asptre-as a man-to represent
the great and geelorious University Of
Minnesota tn track contests. He may
have thought the sins of his youti,
would fat: to keep up with him when
he left Hancock. but sin. brethren. is
the tortoise that can outstrip the raw
cling rabbit in any sort of a speed
n for length or duration. The
young man came to the wicked city.
hlf tho 0tyN n0ntp,ct xI4 o-- 81 -S-lS
intercollegiate amateurism was rid
ing on his baggage and was not to be
shake Oft or denied. Now that pie
eattn contest with it's curse OF eelt
rises up and Is said to be really held
as a sin against the code of amateur
ism as understood by the big eight
universities.
Other desperate criminals against
the code Of amateurism are said to
have confessed tn transgressions such
as running foot races at country pic
MICS and taking G6 rents in cash when
the wife of the county commissioner
ate the box of candy really offered
for the prize.
Only the country boys are caught in
inns net of accusation. The town kids
know not the joys of the amateur
sports on The Fourth of July. and tho
dangerous delights of the prize-grab-
bling at the Sunday school picnics. The
town Kid does q little sharpshooting
from he pitchers box on a SUNDAY
afternoon under an assumed name.
pockets his $40 If the duty is we'll per
formed or SIS If the game is lost, and
Keeps his mouth shut. He gets by
and the lad from. tho dusty lane belt
with q two-bit ,ransgrcssion on his
mind fcsses mp and gets the cant hook
right in the thick of his amateur am
billions.
Tue whole blooming thing in the big
eight has ~dogcnrratrd into such n
bowling farce tina tho state at large
is laughing at the frantic cndeavors
OF the throrist&to get somewhere. In
stead. they are getting hailed up worse
thhn ever. and it seems about time for
President Vincent to. clear the air OF
III" whole business. j..
Other schools are yappins and yod-
ing about their. likes and dislikes un-
M the whole mess is becoming a posi-
tive nuisance. The conference seems
hopeless on account of the widely d.
Ncrgent interests in athletics repre-
sented. Chicag" is getting ready. to
drop all interc"lls giatc sports and
some Of her followers would like to
see this courstm adc general. The
time is most oplortune for Minnesota
10 from he conferences and
align herself With Michigan and ILL
nois I'm II now triumvirate. The ron
Terence seems tn be on it's last legs
ANYWAY and within a few weeks after
Michigan and Minnesota got. together
with Tllinois.!c WISCONSIN would he
seeking relations. Then put athletics
upon II common sense basis with broad
rules and an end to petty technical
interpretations and protests. Attn
lettcs would soon cease to he the mem
&c" the ~fiat-chested delegation is con-
stantIy proclaiming them to be-.