The Washington herald., 1920-12-24
PEP OF COLLEGE
PARTISANS GIVES
FOOTBALLAP
Professional Game Lack
ing in Elements Which
Make Sport Popular.
ny t. HOWARD KELLY.

ny T. HOWARD KELLY.
NEW YORK. Dec. 23.-strike him
in a frank mood and the strongest
supporter of college football will
admit that It is more of a spectacle
than a game.
Not that this admission belittles
the quality of the gsme-not tribe!
The game is all that it's cracked up
to be. But the colorful crowd. the
sportAtogged girls with armfuls Of
flowers and outbursts Of college
frenzy are at the bottom Of its ap-
peal.
Imagine Yale and Harvard play
ing to an empty bowl.
Football, IL IL Is any kind of foot
ball at all. punches vital reactions
into the spectators. But stripped of
its gala trappings, the game is bit
drab. Reduced to a contest between
paid players of expert ability foot
ball falls short of the game that coll
lege spirit and rivalry have made IL.
For these reasons IL doesn't seem
possible for the professional game
ever to compete successfully with
the classic sport as We know IL
now.
Gridiron Play Thrills.
There are many things In the col
lege phase of the sport that get un-
GER the skin of the football fan and
warm him to this kind of game. For
instance. there is a certain despera-
tion about the play of the collegian
that makes his lgridiron work more
dramatic and thrilling than that OF
the paid player. The fire and pep
of the college elevens cleate fire and
pep in the crowd. And IL is fire and
pep that make football what IL is.
Lots of people at a football game
don't know just what it's all about.
But that doesn't matter. They have
big time shouting themselves
hoarse in the general excitement So
IL Is plain to sec that the football
audience has learned to demand all
that the college boys have given 10
the game.
Now. unless the professional game
can do all OF these things IL is GO
ing to have a hard hill to climb.
Football dope in its highest form
is mostly founded upon an accumu-
lation of comparisons. Every year
the leadings teams are ranked ac-
cording to the comparative data
yielded by the season. All-American
and sectional teams are picked by
comparing the records of players. In
view Of these facts It is not amiss to
substantiate my belief by compara-
tive methods.
Army-Nnvy Spectacle.
fash back TO the last Army
Navy clash and the game between
Jim Thorpe's team and the Buffalo
outfit last Saturday provides good
material for some practical compari-
sons.
When the Army and Navy met
here a great horseshoe shaped stad-
lum held its fill OF $4,000 people. The
throng was agog with song and
cheering while fever of rivalry and
emotion worked in its veins. All eyes
focused on the field of play during
third quarter saw this:
Army digging in on her lS-yard
line to repel further invasion. Navy
on her toes for the new attack. Al
sudden. tense silence over the whole
'estless scene.
Signals.
Navy backs sweeping full tilt
around right end. Then a writhinE
knot of blue sweatered gladiators
contracting as the West Point de-
Tense smashed head on into the An
napolis attack. Suddenly a lone man
wriggling free of the swaying knot.
Touchdown,
FIFTY thousand People in mighty
rproar. \ goat dragged up and
Town the side lines against his will
BY two delirious midshipmen. Moth
ing less than Bedlam turned loose
in the Polo Grounds.
"Pros- Cause No Enthu.iasm.
So much for the Army Navy spec
sacle. Just one week after tn.
anne great horseshoe shaped stad-
ium created quite a different i'm
preston.
a colorlcss. voiceless gathering of
ONE 10000 people. curiosity bent.
watched u football game. coolly and
lnalytically. No cheering. No spec
acle. Just a becalmed crowd won
Iering when Jim Thorpe would un-
ork another flash of his old-time
'elf-waiting on a thrill
Jim came across again. He
ipped of forty-five yards through
a broken field. There was much
hand clapping for his feat and
;ome cheering. the kind a fireman
night expect to get after a mildly
dangerous rescue. Every other
player worth mentioning got the
same kind of a reception. Not an
,unce of emotion burst from the
stands
The spirit that makes college
football fans blood run faster was
not there. Yet there was plenty of
~
New York's nrst real professional
Vana