New Britain herald., 1915-03-06
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BY GRAVY"

What is the matter with the wrest- ling game? Why has it lost so much Of it's old time popularity? These are questions in which many fans are in- terested. c. $. Sherman, who has been writing sports for a quarter of a century and who is now the sports editor of the Nebraska State Journal and Lincoln Daily News, answers these questions by declaring that the mat sport is the object of a conspiracy or the part of the boxing fraternity. Many will disagree with MT. Sher-
 mans vigorous statements, but his letter, from which the following ex- tracts are tawen, makes mighty inter- esting reading.
 'I am not lugging brief on behalf of the wrestlers, but I am frank to say that the grapplers never have had a square deal from the men who mould opinion in the realm of sport. I have had nearly twenty-five years of experience in newspaper work, during which I have met up with dozens of fighteers, fight managers and pro- meters and wrestlers. My experience with the whole caboodle is that the wrestler is the only decent one of all By a wrestler, I mean the smart ones who live cleanly and keep in con- dition.. The fighter, nine times out of ten, is a double-crossing grafter and cannot be trusted. I have had moro or less chance to do some observing, which has convinced me that the un- popularity of wrestling is due to a conspiracy on the part of the fighters, the managers and the prom oters. In spite of this, I predict that wrestling iS.. hn, tn han 11ar. sport.
 Boxing has been styled the manly art of self defense It is nothing of the sort. The ability to box won't save any man who is in a tight hole, and pitted against rough-and- tumble slugger. The real art of self defense is wrestling. The wrestler is superior to the boxer or fighter in muscular prowess; in the ability to put the other fellow out of business when the occasion demands. I can dig up a dozen or more Wrestlers, any of whom could be pitted single-hauded against the fighter and put the latter on the bum in less time than it takes to write this line. If there is a fighter anywhere who might say he would like to be shown, you can bet your last nickel that he would not risk a cent on the outcome.
 Most of the stuff in newspapers about fake wrestling matches may be traced right back to the desire of writers to be fiippant or because they gre taking money from somebody con- nccted with the fight game.
 "One hears a lot of gulf about the gentleman fighter My own belief is there is no such animal. The fighter doesn't live whom I would be willing to entertain in my home, whereas I know plenty of wrestlers who would be welcome. The fighters are a mess of grafters. In truth, most of them belong on the rockpiie. Gotch is a smart, level-headed fellow who never tasted liquor in his life. Zbyszko is a graduate physician from the University of Warsaw. Compare the Sullivans, the Corbetts, the John sons and their ilk with Gotch and Zbvszko. It can't be done"
 Referring to. the Welsh -Shugrue bouts, Mir. Sherman says: Had the wrestlers pulled this sort of stuff, every sports writer in New York would be bawlng fake at the top of his voice. If boxers meet twice or