The Washington herald., 1912-09-22
THE TALET OF TIE NEW "DOWN'---By Fo.

4 do they gain distance on downs now as
they did in the days of the Gordon Browns
fthe De'Witts, the Poes and the Haughtons.
The man who Is carrying the ball can
not be pushed or pulled by his fellow
iplayens. He must fight his battle alone,
helped as he may be by his team mates,
who can ward of the attack of his op-
ponents. How different from the year in
which Glass played guard for Yale!
Hefelhnger was powerful guard for
the Ellis. but there was one afternoon
when the display of physical strength ex-
hibited by Glass shows the marked con-
trast between the manner of the down
in the past and the present.
Third down for Yale. two yards to
go" shouted the referee of the game
which was being played on Yale Field.
Sixteen, twenty-five, one hundred and
eleven." commanded the quarter back in
jerky accents. If that isn't the right
signal, it answers all the purpose of the
one which would be correct.
The Yale forwards crouched on their
toes. The ball shot back to the quarter
back from the centre. A Yale end. a
Yale tackle and two Yale backs cut into
the tackle ahead of them. Behind them
rushed Glass, towering above the field,
with head half turned, and behind Glass
came Chadwick, the half back, with the
ball in his hands.
Into the line, boys, with a rush,
shouted Glass. His huge shoulders
banged against the forwards, who yaiuly
tried to oppose him. and embracing the
half back, he tugged him forward, sweep
ing aside the defence and never relin-
gushing his grasp until the combined
weight of the opposing team was pitted
against him.
The referee dived forward and found
Chadwick, arms stretched forward, clasp
ing the ball and the ball advanced beyond
the necessary distance. Time and again
Glass shouldered the opposing line out OF
the way that afternoon, as il the players
over and Yale had won, the big guard
seemed but little distressed, although he
had lifted, carried and pushed away
poundage enough to have satisfied a Her
cules.
That was one way of making a down
when Uncle Bill was at college. Tha,
was what was called mass play. There
is no mass play now. There are times
when the players become considerably
mussed around, but they can't take hold
Of each others arms, they can't grasp
each other around the waist, they can't
even pick up the runner who has the ball
to assist him when he has fallen. They
may bump into the enemy as they will,
but when they do so their arms must be
close 10 their bodies. If they forget and
grasp some player when they should have
remembered that only the body may work
above the legs. the blast of horn disturbs
the other sounds of the field.
The players stop. Holding in the line
shouts the umpire, pointing to the spot
where he saw Cuttyhunk man hugging
a Bunnyport player to keep him from
catching the man with the ball. The
referee PAGES off the distance Of the PEN
atty, fifteen yards, and the captain of
the team which suffered by the foul on
the part of one of its players feels like
the man who has walked two-thirds of
the way up a hill covered with ice only
to slip back to the bottom because of a
false step.
-Four downs. three yards to 60" II
sounds unreal, but it is here very much
among US, obtruding its presence like n
trunk on an elephant, and if this coming
football season proves that it is worthy
of further consideration it may be of as
much importance TO the biggest autumn
pastime in the United States as the trunk
is valuable to the pachyderm-