The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-12
N. 3. COLLEGES
SEASONS TO BE
CUT THIS YEAR
Only Six Weeks of Competition Likely for Varsity Teams
of New England Principle of Conservation Hits In
tercoIlegiates AS Well AS Business.

The whole matter of intercollegiate
sports for Harvard and Yale has yet
to be settled. but a conference of the
Big Three representatives which is to
be held shortly, will attend to that
part of it. There is a new confidence
now that Harvard will come back to
the fold and let it's team grapple with
other varsity mines this spring.
Harvard baseball will be up against
some serious inconvenience this year,
however. Nominally, the season
starts in the middle of April, which
is usually the first time that season.
able weather is provided for outdoor
sports In previous years the Har-
ward ball team has gone on its South
ern trip to Washington, D. c., as soon
as the season has opened, giving the
Crimson athletes a chance to timber
up in the somewhat superior climate
| south of the Mason and Dixon line
There will be no Southern swing this
year, however, and practically all the
playing of the Crimson team will be
done inside the boundaries of New
England
| Unreasonable weather from the mid
die of April to the beginning of May
has thwarted the major league season
in Boston on more occasions that one,
and Harvard, which must stay at
home for its early games this year,
will have to run the chance of buck
ing the inclemency. 1t may not be to
the disadvantage of the Crimson to
delay the opening of it's spring season
for a week or 10 days, however for
the development of the nine will prob
ably be that much behind schedule.
Heat has been cut off from the base
ball cage on Soldiers Field for more
than month, and there is no imme-
date prospect of the return of an
thracite reinforcements to Cambridge.
for the baseball cage, at least. The
call for the battery candidates was
issued some time ago for next Tues
day, and although Coach Hugh Duffy
will receive the men then, there is mo
telling what he will do with them.
While the baseball cage remains I'M
heated it will not DO good policy to
work out the pitchers and catchers.
The likelihood is that baseball work
will be held up for a couple of weeks
due to the coal shortage. Coach Duff
fy may be able to speed up his work
when once the men get started under
more suspicious circumstances, but il
he can have them in as good form by
the middle of April as they have been
in previous years, he will have per-
formed feat bordering closely on the
miraculous The campaign will be
shortened by two or three weeks, it is
true, but that will not tend to solve
Duffy's main problem of getting the
team ready for the opening gun.
Another Harvard ale sporting fix
ture which will be transferred to an
earlier spot in the spring bill OF
isports, if it is placed on the bill al
all, is the crew race. Formerly the
H arvard-Yale aquatic battle on the
Thames at New London was the finale
of the commencement week festivities
for both Yale and Harvard men. The
insistence that the glamor of peac,
times be routed from Harvard Y ale
athletics in these war times means
that the dual race, if it is held at all
will come earlier in the season, with.
out the blaring of trumpets that thu
event received in former days.
The scarcity of racing opponents fol
the Harvard crew almost necessitate.
the scheduling of a race with Yale i
there is to be any season at all, bu
it is decidedly against the wishes o.
the Harvard potentates of sport tt
have a spectacular crew race provid
ed. The chances are that the 'varsit!
crew at Cambridge will have only ont
l big formal race, and that would nat
urally be with Yale. An attempt will
!, be made to book other races on the
Charles River with club and schoo
crews.
1t is practically decided that Har
Ward will enter its varsity crew il
the Childs cup regatta that is pro
grammed for Lake Carnegie a
Princeton, n. j., this spring. Tht
!, leading colleges of the East will have
their eight-oaredl shells entered il
this event, and the Harvard athleti
compittee may decide that the Grim
sons participation in this event will
suffice for it's formal competition. I
, that were the case, a Yale race woulC
be out of the question.