The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-13
INTERSECTIONAL FOOTBALL
 RECORD WILL BE SET IN 1916
East and West Will Match Strength Earn $282000
 Auto Racing Game-Tenns Ranking Not Satisfactory

New York, December 12.-Indica tions point to 1916 as a record breaker from the point of intersectional football Although the gridiron armor has scarcely begun to gather dust since laid away at the close of the past season, the managers of the big college elevens are already in corre spondence regarding feature contests for next autumn. Institutions with records above the average and prospects for strong combinations a year hence are looking for broader fields to conquer. AS a result eastern and middle western teams as well as elevens from the Pacific coast and the Rocky mountain regions will match gridiron strength and skill during the football season of 1916
 So keen is the interest in these inter- sectional games that the rival universities can afford to offer unusually large sums for transportation purposes, thus remov- ing one of the serious handicaps to such contests. While the subject of these games has just been taken up at a num- Der of the more important institutions, the possibilities in this direction include matches between Dartmouth and Illinois;
  Jefferson; Harvard and some prominent college of the middle west; Nebraska and Cornell; Northwestern and Nebraska; Syracuse and some far western college, in addition to the usual meetings between Pennsylvania and Michigan; Syracuse and Michigan; Army and Notre Dame and similar fixtures. The 1916 season will also be featured by number of intersectional interscholastic games between the leading preparatory and high school elevens of the east and middle west.
 At the coming meeting of the baseball! rules committee of the major league a special ruling will be requested to cover the following instance which occurred on a southern professional diamond last sum- mer. An umpire, very recently promoted from the playing ranks, was officiating behind the pitchers box. With runner off second the batter drove a high line drive over the hurler's head and the um- pire, thinking that he was still shortstop- ping, speared the ball and threw to sec ond, thus completing double play.
 The ranking committee of the National Lawn Tennis association in it's report to the parent body again emphasizes the un- satisfactory response to its request for data upon which to base it's ranking of players. According to the committee, the replies received this year were less than the number turned in at the end of the 1914 season Blanks were supplied through every club holding membership in the association, to all players who com peted in sanctioned tournaments during 1915.
 
 It is estimated that more than 5000 racquet wielders competed in 142 tourna- ments sanctioned by the U. S. N. l.. T. A yet but S6 singles and Az doubles record blanks were returned to the committee As result portion of the ranking had to be done upon unofficial and press re- ports of the play. Since but a small pro- portion of the tournament players evince any desire to supply the committee with the necessary data for ranking purposes ether methods for recording the progress of tennis competition will be adopted be- fore the 1916 season begins.
 President Charles H. Ebbets of the Brooklyn club is authority for the state ment that an effort will be made at the