New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-08-10
L00yu Tennis y Baseball e Comment Cycling 4 RaznS IN
Comment and Gossip
on Sports of the Day

OF regret and serious loss 10 INC
popular breeder and owner OF heh,
tuckv The colt was highly tired ana
10y his racing IN the West gave lhu'-
cation Of some class.
England has the right idea Of sport,
the United States has the wrong
writes l.. NJ. g.. and adds: why
should the 4 ude of Englishmen on
the Olympic be constantly mis-
interpreted an, neld up TO ridicLle?
II is one thing to play and another
thing TO specialize Englishmen play
fo- the love Of IL; americans play for
the CORY Of il. Conditions must be
understood to insure fair judgment
This question, like the tariff, is a.
ways with US Personally, | see no
reason &c make il an issue or to ld.-
cule what is purely a point Of view.
IL is largely matter of temperament,
and i'm commenting on this very sub
ject Casper Whitney drew comparisons
that are a bi, drastic, to say the least
when he said recently i'm Outdoor
World and Recreation:
"They accept decisions, we harry
them. They play, we fight. Theirs is
the playground; ours is the battle
field. Our disposition and methods
make for victory with a comparatively
few highly trained and expert mel;
theirs make for recreation AID the
all-round development of many mea.
Theirs is the greatest good to the
greatest number; ours the Superla i've
skill of handful of specialists"
This may have been true ten years
ago, and may be partly true now from
the broad point of two nations, but
over here, in this favored land, gen
eral participation in sports of all
kinds. the love of play, is not mucn
behind that IN Great Britain. even
though the intensity of il is more eX.
aggerated.
II must be admitted. however. that
specialization is oftentimes carried to
extremes in this country, and on this
score Mr.. Whitney, in commenting on
the British idea Of sport, about hits
the mark by saying:
Undoubtedly a great many sports
men of England are reluctant to change
their traditional attitude toward sport
and resent the tense purpose which has
been interjected into mans play. !
confess ! find myself comprehensive of
and somewhat sympathetic with their
feeling.
"His idea of sport does not encom-
pass the sacrifice of time and money
and ideals. He clings to the tradition
that sport is sport; he wants TO keep it
so. He wishes to feel that a chance TO
make the team or the boat is open 10
him without abandoning his business
and Shaving at the training as though
il were indeed the one vocation of his
life instead of the play Of his free
hours.
and in the frenzy for point winners
which is sweeping Europe he finds HIM
self in the position of having either to
compete at a considerable disadvantage
or to modify his time-honored tradi-
tions-almost to outrage them-in or
der that he may enter the race on
level terms with his rivals.
England is paying the penalty of
her long sustained athletic supremacy.
Quite as the projection into Henley of
foreign crews hot pace to beat the ac-
knowledged preceptor Of all eight
cared rowing changed that regatta
from a weeks holidaying of good fun,
good sport and the best of blade work
into a mecca for the oarsmen Of the
world, trained TO the highest possible
efficiency for the specific purpose Of de-
feating these Englishmen at their fun
so the march Of the athletic point
winners has brought England face to
face with the shocking necessity of re-
vising its hours and its methods and
its point Of view of play.
"And the Englishman does not relish
the compulsory change from a player
Of games for sport to specialized hu-
man engine for the winning of points"