New Britain herald., 1919-03-17
DEAN MCCLELLAN IS
 FOR A BIG SEVEN
U. of P. Athletic Head Would Have Big Colleges Meet Each Otber

In the current issue of the Penn syFanla Gazette, the graduate week " magazin of the University of fennSylNania, Dean William McCIel- lan, Chairman of the university coun- ell on athletics, proposes a novel plan . TOT the elimination of many of the evils of college sports, particularly those which crop out in football He would do away with the so-called
 practice games" played with the small colleges on the theory that they are temptation to the small institu-
 tions to violate tho ethics of college sports in order to be strong enough to beat the big colleges.
 Dean Mcclellan thinks that inc seven leading universities in the east, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard. Dart mouth, Pennsylvania, Princeton and
 Yale should play each other as col le2es possessing the same traditions
 resources, etc. His article, in part
 follows: z
 ''In all talk of exclusive groups of
 big colleges, leagues, federations, etc.
 one important point seems to have
 been overlooked. That is the so-called
 practice game, which to my mind is < responsible for much that is unsports-
 manlike in college athletics. I have
 in mind football, particularly, but the
 criticism applies in some degree to
 other sports as well.
 ''There are seven colleges and uni. versailles in the east which, because
 of their student enrolment, traditions
 and other resources, arc natural com
 pctitors. These may be listed as
 Columbia, Cornell, Dartm outh, Har-
 yard, Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale. I believe that most of the ob- jcctionablc features of our college sports would be eliminated if in foot ball and other sports, too, these insti- tutions would confne their schedules 1 to games with each other.
 When one of these institutions 1 starts 10 make up a football schedule the sole aim seems to be to arrange i games that the team may work up to ! it's maximum strength at the end of ! the season when it is expected to ! meet one or two strong competitors l The schedule is arranged so that in 1 the early part of the season teams | are played which are not real coni- petitors at all and cannot be expected : to win except by reason of some ex-T / traordinary circumstance.
 So far as this group of large in- Stltutlons is concerned, there can be no decision as to championship or , first place. But the effect on the smaller institutions is very question able. The desire of many of these when they get on the schedule of a big team 1 is to strive to win that particular 1 game because Of a certain prestige ! which victory will assure them. Ger ] tainJy the development of such q team
 IS not normal. Moreover, the tempta- ! fi%y, l tutions to seek powerful individual i players who can be counted upon to 1 bring frequent victory over the big l team. There have been instances 1 when this temptation has been too 1 powerful to overcome, and strong l players have been enticed to small l institutions by means which would 1 not bear publication. It is to the l credit of American college sport that 1 on the whole small institutions have l resisted this temptation : l There are one or two competitions, l which are almost traditional and which have right to a reserved place at the end of the season. Such 1 competitions embrace the Yale-Har- ward game and the Pennsylvania 1 Cornell Thanksgiving day game. l There are numerous others among l the smaller colleges. but none among 1 the big institutions that I know of. ! There is no apparent reason, there 1 fore, why the seven institutions listed
 above should not conf1ne their games 1 to each other. There can be no valid 1 objection to any two of these institu- 1 tionS playing each other in the first 1 game of the season. There would be ! schedule difficulties. of course, due to
 the fact that the season is short and i that teams cannot travel back and | forth without limit. There would be
 no danger to two big teams playing 1 early in. the season be-
 cause the development of prac- ticc starts about the same time everywhere. The details of the plan l arc too complex to be settled by one 1 person. Particular reference is made I to football because the play is so l strenuous that games cannot be mul- 1 tiplied at will.
 There is no reason why there i should not be minor leagues in co.'s legiate institutions just as there are 1 elsewhere. As a matter of fact even 1 under present football rules, small
 institutions are not reasonable com petitors for large institutions I am
 such a thorough believer in intercol- l lcgatc competition that I find no diff
 ficulty in considering an eastern
 league and western league of nat!
 ural competitors, and I would leave
 opportunity for the winners to play
 at the end of the season on some neu.
 tral college ground or municipal sta-
 dium which would be conveniently ac- ! cnSGib blc tc hnf6 ~