Evening star., 1920-02-02
NUMBERS FOR GRID
PLAYERS ASSURED
Demand by Public Bound to
Prevai|-Objections to
Practice Are Cited.
BY WALTER CAMP.

The demand which forced the
the game at Pasadena is likely to be
heard more firmly. and. backed by the
public and thousands of graduates,
will in the end prove effective. The
problem might as well be faced
squarely. Those who object to this
numbering have certain arguments.
The first is that it is distasteful to the
player. If it meant that by number
ing himself the player desired greater
notoriety it might be true. but with
all the players numbered there is
little in this, and. moreover. no player
can hide himself any more than he
can play under an assumed name.
Another objection is that it would
tend to spoil team play by making
grandstand players. The coaches will
never permit this effect. 1t is said
colleges but the scout who is sent
knows the individuals almost as well
as do the assistant coaches on the
home field. and the only way to de-
ceive such visitors would be TO dis
guise the players. 1t is some added
expense but not a large one.
Now, on the other side of the. ques-
ton, foot ball is the only one of the
major sports where the players may
not at all times be distinguished by
the spectators and that. too. individ
ually. In track athletics every con-
teStant is obliged to wear a number.
In base ball the players have certain
assigned positions and order of bat
ting on the score card. Hence, in all
these games if an individual does
badly his work is apparent to every
one. In track the spectator knows
-lan III
knows who makes the hit and who
makes the error In a crew he sees
who makes the break in the boat.
1t is true that foot ball contests be-
tween two college teams are prma-
rily for the test of the two teams at
foot ball and not for a spectacle, and
if numbering the players altered that
condition or made hippodroming
proposition out of it it would be a
different matter. But. on the other
hand, the tickets are largely in the
hands of college graduates, and very
few Of these graduates a year or more
out of college can recognize the
players and hence they ask that ia
cilities be afforded them to get the
| interest out of the game through
being able to place the individuals.
Harvard's Remarkable Finish.
There is one strange thing about the
Harvard-Oregon game which has not
been satisfactorily accounted for as
yet, and which Will take great deal
of explaining. 1t is very unusual for
an athletic organization to journey
! into strange climate and not feel
some of the effects of this change and
this journey, and these effects are
generally shown, not at the beginning
| of the contest, but rather toward the
end. indicating lack of endurance
under new and strange conditions.
/ n q Oa al
| experience. the Harvard team was
coming stronger at the end of the
game than in the beginning, and Ore
| gon, on the other hand. was showing
] palpab1e weakening in defense in
the fourth quarter. Hass tI
| Going back to the last game ont
! there, when Oregon defeated PennsyI-
vania, it is found that the two teams
We're a tie. 0 to o. at the end of the sec
ond period: that Oregon scored a touch
down and goal in the third quarter
and followed it with another touch
down and goal in the fourth quarter.
1t is true that this second score of
OregonS against Pennsylvania had the
way paved for it by an individual run in
which Parsons of Oregon ran over forty
yards on a split play on the right side of
the line, being caught finally by Berry
on Penn's one-yard line. from which
Oregon put the ball over. But Oregon
had worked the ball down to Penn,s
fortyyard line before this play came.
| In the last few minutes of play
Pennsylvania, by the use of forward
passes, one to Williams of fifteen
yards. another to Williams of eleven
yards. and a final to Miller of ten
yards. carried the ball down to
Oregon's twenty-yard line, but this was
not by means of running plays. but
in final despairing effort to score.
and was practically all the overhead
route.
Harvard's Feat Remarkable.
Thus it will be seen that a COM
parison of the two games shows that
the eastern team this year made an
exceptionally strong finish in
strange climate and contrary to the
usual run of things OF course. the
loss of Steers was a bad blow to
Oregon, but Horween had also been
put out of the game and the lack of
his punting put even harder work
upon the Harvard team.
Copyright, 1921