The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-12-11
MYTHICAL, FOOTBALL.
TEAMS FLOURISHINC'
Ranking Grdron Elevens Of Country and Selecting Aal
Timber Proves Interesting Indoor Sport-Walter Camp
Does Not Depend on Himself In Selections

SO far as the actual playing Of the
game Is concerned, the football season
of 1876 is practically over. but there
remains the orgy of mythical team
selections in which newspaper men
all over the country feel compelled to
indulge themselves as soon as the
headgears and the spiked shoes are
laid away, writes f. A. Bachelor, in
the Detroit Free Press.
Although the open season on "aIr'
something or other teams Is just be-
ginning, there are abundant indica-
tons that the sport will rise to stage
of development never before attempt
ed. Papers in Hong Kong, Cape
Town and Mexico City will select their
Ail-American teams with even moro
abandon than usual while almost
every daily IN the United States and
most OF the weeklies will come crash
ing forth with some sort OF pickings.
One reason for the abnormal rush
to pick Ideal" elevens this fall Ia the
abundance Of good material. 1t would
seem that moro football players es-
sayed stellar roles this year than ever
before. In almost ali Of the import
ant games some one man stood head
and shoulders above his comradeA
Chick" Harley. for instance, made
Ohio State University champion OF
the Big Nine" almost entirely by his
brilliant individual play. Pollard.
Browns negro halfback, beat both
Yale and Harvard through hts ability
to elude tacklers In the open field. OIL
plant, of the Army; Berry. Of Penn
sylvania, and Shiverick, OF Cornell.
were the means Of bringing their
teams victories In one or moro I'm
portant battles.
Can't Sec 'em An
It Is. OF course. entirely absurd for
any one man to try to pick an ALL
American team and have It include
all the best men in the country The
field from which selections must be
made is entirely too large. Probably
Walter Camp comes as close to get
ting the ideal team as anybody, and
very often he boots one" Mr.. Camp
does not depend entirely on his own
! judgment in selecting his men, but
has correspondents In various sections
OF the country who keep him posted
on what the players are doing. The
dean OF critics tries to see as many
elevens in action as possible, but the
season Is too short for him TO get
around to all OF them.
LoOhiIlE ~ team III Ofte game
does not always give a correct line
on the merits Of the individuals COM
posing It, either. For instance. Camp
saw Minnesota play Illinois, and in
that contest the Gophers gave A very
poor exhibition, so poor that the
Eastern critic may we'll have taken
home the impression that there was
no all-Amer.can timber on the
Gopher squad. Yet II Mr.. Camp had
delayed his Western visit until the
Chicago game, he would
have seen an eleven that ranks with
anything the country has produced
since the new football rules came '-.0
effect Wynan. the Gopher ful1back
probably would have made an all
American berth by his work against
the Maroons II Camp only had been
on hand to view IT.
Very often men who narrow their
choices down to all Eastern or all
Western. find 1t impossible even, TO
cover that feld fully and thus let
For example, one OF the Middle West
ern teams this season had one very
good tackle and one who was Just
fair Nobody who had followed this
eleven closely could shave been mis-
taken about which was the better mar
and most Of the plays were built &C
that the stronger tackle would bear
the hrunt of the work.
Yet in spite of the very apparen,
and undisputed superiority OF one OF
these linesmen over his running mate
a writer whose opinions carry con.
siderable weight. nicked the wrons
one for his aIl-Western team. In an
other case, a player who had shown
flash OF wonderful form In one OF
his midseason games. but who was
prevented by injuries from doing HIM
self Justice later. was selected over