The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-07-10
BY CHARLES E. CAKE.
sportsl


A word badly misused, though sane
toned by the leading moralists of all
times. 1t came into being no doubt
because of the instinct Of man to con-
test, to combat, another. Yet there
was also certain playfulness about
ito enter into spirit of pure fun.
But sports have come tip-toeing
through the centuries, attaining great
supremacy here and descending to low
depths there, until widening over a
circle as big as the earth itself.
All peoples demanded sports. It mat
tered little the form, so there was the
indulgence in a pastime-a moment
when energies must have full swing,
whether in rivalry OF in mere play.
Emperor Augustus, in looking out
from his palace upon the great Circus
Maximus, holding over 100000 people,
saw the pent-up forces of the Roman
empire indulging a diversion. The
Coliseum, not far from the circus, wit
messed another form Of pastime-a real
combative contest-the gladiators strug.
Cling for the upper hand. Even in time
of war, the Romans regarded as great
fun the famous eatapult, which only
manifested another way Of directing
certain energies. The Trojan horse,
while supposing to aid the soldiers to
enter the gates Of Troy and thus spring
9 coup, was purely sport, even if his
torians term it allegorical
The bull fights, while brutal and In
human, and therefore condemned by
most people, still are acclaimed in Spain
and Mexico; a peculiar sport, indeed, but
the kind the people of those countries
enjoy.
Soon there will be assembled in
Stockholm, in the great Stadium, rep
1esentatives of all countries, men who
will participate in nearly every conceiv-
Rble sport known to modern civilization.
= They are all sports. Those Of early
history were no less so than those of
the present time. They are sports be-
cause humanity must express itself in
some form, and this expression oftenest
follows the most moral lines; when it
fails to, the sport declines quickly; the
former representing the continuity of
cleavage; the latter representing the
sporadic burst of the moment
There IS another virile element in the
human makeup. While this form has
the added virtue Of bringing both sexes
in closer union, without the exercise of
anything greater than osculatory pow
ers, still it must be classed as a sport.
Thus, there are the games of E'post-
office" of "kissing bees" and of call
hands around - probably typifying, in
western civilization at least, a diver
sion more far reaching and more effect
I've than chariot races or gladiatorial
contests, if definite connections of sexes
are an index.
This casual review tells in word how
men have got away from the daily care;
Hisuniting responsibility and freedom,
and thrown themselves into the whirl
IF relaxation.
But diversion is not always for the
put-of-doors. Truly, men love to see
1.-TWO down." one on third, and a clean
Single to the field, giving the run nee
kssary to win; or 'fwith ten yards to
gain" push the pigskin over for the
Necessary touchdown; or, furthermore,
zee a skit jumper leap 100 feet in the
air and clear the best mark made. All
ibis lifts a Saturday afternoon crowd
20 its feet amid deafening din. Still,
al cannot get out of doors or do not
wish to.
Then WHAT To another diversion,
and this brings to mind the most sci
lntifie of sports-the game of billiards;
and scientific for the reason that greater
brain power and mental poise are rel
suired than in any other pastime which
Fields an equal amount of physical di'
Version.
Billiards is not of recent creation. It
ias not come up along with other mod
srn sports. In truth, it began its ex-
silence about the time the characters
we're driving four abreast or when Han
libal was hung his way over the Alps
rom Carthage in a vain attempt to
hslodge Scipio and wrest the crown
rom the imperial Romans.
The authority is Shakespeare, and who
doubts this sage7 But the great bard
'efers more especially to the time of
dare Antony, which, of course, does not
femove it from Roman activity of the
,sme period.
BIT billiards then and billiards now
re, 1manifestly, two varying kinds of
port. What precise form it took in
larly history is not clear, save that
here was some fat surface about which
balls were knocked, clearly indicating
;he diversion proclivity; confined, no
toubt, to those of less muscular power.
There was no hurrRh about the game
It SO early date. There was nothing
Q excite the populace, or to draw the
4 anee IN retaliation of an offense. 1t
sas much after the game of present
lay quoits, or horseshoe throwing, in its
+ Iulet and gentle manifestations.
stlll 1t continued a sport. On up
through history it found claim among
me Normans, among the French, which