The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1913-10-31
TEAMS ARE TOO SLOW
Football Follower Says Modern
Play Lacking in Speed.
Contention Is Upheld, in Small Way
by Recent Showing of Maroon and
Hoosier-Hyde Park the First
Real Fast Team.

Ever and anon some old time fol
lower CT football rises to complain OF
the slowness of modern teams as com
pared with those of decade ago.
man who played the game in the lat
ter '9Os and the early part of this cen
fury was among those at the Indiana
Chicago contest, and after the con
test the chief subject of his converse
ton was regarding the lack of speed
displayed in the teams lineup.
IF teams were as slow as that wher
played the game" he declared, they
would have been drilled for speed te
the exclusion of everything else
Coaches in the old days would not
permit loafing in lining up, and once
lined up the plays went off with
snap that I have not seen in the last
five years"
His criticism was partly justified
for both Chicago and Indiana were ID
mentally slow getting the ball into
action. This was partially explained
by the failure of the Maroons to know
their signals. With only two weeks
of preparation, Stage was compelled
to give his men more than they could
digest in the way Of formations, for
Indiana was so strong it was not wise
to take chances with the Hoosiers. In
consequence, only three or four Of the
plays were fixed firmly in the minds
of the players and there was notice
able confusion in getting the plays I'm.
der way at various stages of the
game.
Indiana contributed her share tow.
ard slowing up the game by lack OF
condition. Criticism of lack of speed,
however, is not always so just. II
anything, the speed of teams now is
better than it was in the days of "old"
football. There were few teams OF
ten or fifteen years ago with more
than ordinary speed despite every fav.
oring factory. The first fast" team
was the famous Hyde Park High
School eleven of 1902, and although
the college teams on which members
of this squad played later we're fairly
fast, none of them were much better
than the teams of the present. With
weight at premium, it is scarcely to
be expected the old teams could class
in speed with the ones today, where
speed is the chief requisite for indi.
vidual candidates.
The growth of formation" football
has much to do with the seeming slow.
ness. 1t is the exceptional team
which goes on the field nowadays with
less than thirty formations to re-
member, while 1t was the exceptional
eleven in the old days which had more
than ten or twelve to remember. The
old style attack consisted of straight
bucks, cross bucks and end runs, with
their variations. The lineup was near.
ly always the same, only few for
nations, like the tandem, the whoa.
invented.
Series plays were the rule rather
than the exception. One set Of sig.
nails usually served fer three or four
successive plays in the old days, and
often a team would traveres half the
lSuSIu VI Tic uelu WltHOuI Iue quar-
ter-back calling numbers more than
three or four times. Now the series
signals have been abandoned owing
to the exigencies Of the game. Each
play is a separate problem, and its So
luton depends entirely upon the posi-
ton of the ball, the amount to be gain
ed and other circumstances which
could not possibly be prepared for in
advance.