The Washington times., 1922-01-15

) For myself, have a regular routine
that follow out to the letter when
ever take a team away from home.
quiet hotel, none Of the miserable
felse economy Of crowding into few
rooms, a careful supervision OF diet
and sleep and a rigid avoidance OF the
well-meant but fatal attentions OF hos
pitable people, are all prime necessi.
ties. The men understand before they
leave home that the trip il a business
matter not a tunket and that there 10
no place for amusement except that
which provide and supervise.
The. Washington and Jefferson
team's travelling schedule was 80 ar
ranged that the players had a chance
to get a couple Of good warming!up
drills on the trip west, with only
enough time at the end to accustom
the players to their surroundings. This
results show 1t IL not an impossihility
to take a team across the continent,
though the team that attempts II spots
irs opponents at least one touchdown.
Harvard and Washington and Jeffer.
son are the only Eastern teams that
have played in the New Years game
ct Pasadena that have not regarded
the trip as good deal Of pleasure
expedition. In view Of the wonderful
in the East are particularly gratified
ut Washington and Jefferson's show
Ing.
Carries Other Sports.
When all is said and done. it GER
tainly has been q remarkable season.
Newspaper reports Of tremendous re-
ceipts from championship football
games sometimes profit and perhaps.
In some cases, these receipts are not
altogether wisely used, but in the
great preponderance of instances every
penny Is managed as carefully as II
would be in any big business and ap-
piled scientifically to the general ath-
letic needs of the university or col.
lege. I have no use for football as q
pure money making spectacle. But
nearly always athletic finances are in
charge of graduate managers and
faculty committees and the surplus re-
sulting from one sport Is devoted to
the needs OF another.
This is especially true at present be-
cause of the increased expenditures
due to the diminished purchasing pow
er of the dollar. This bears down with
peculiar weight on the athletic budget
for which university finances make
practically no allowance from their
regular funds. The rise in prices hurts
athletics just N much as anything
else. We have to pay nearly three
tir1es as much for q pair Of football
shoes as we paid four years ago, and
the same proportion Of advance holds
good in every other direction. But We
cannot ask for help from endowments
and 1t is almost impossible to get 1t
from private generosity. We simply
have to earn II by the drawing power
OF our profitable sports and bear what.
ever burden Of criticism this involves.
1t might be better to endow ath-
letics and regard them a. they prop
erly should be regarded as an Intrinsic
part Of the university's educational
plant, but this has never been done
and strongly doubt whether II ever
can be done. and, in the meantime
IL we are to have athletics at all, their
cost must be met somehow. Meeting
It out of football and baseball receipts
is not altogether a bad way of doing it,
1t Is only fair that the people who
insist on seeing college football should
pay for the privilege. and the fact
that their money is used to finance
sports which they do not care to watch
but which do almost or quite as much
for the men who play them ought to
be q source Of pleasure to them rather
than a ground for complaint.
Fans Don't Complain.
1t would be pity indeed to sacrifice
the splendid sport Of rowing merely
because It cannot be managed behind
closed gates and viewed by only those
who pay for the privilege. The man
who pays for football ticket in the
fall Is always paying for half a dozen
nf fo vnr ha
to see but which ara Just as impor-
tant to the all-around development Of
the student body as football itself.
Not that the football spectator COM
plains OF paying for his seat. I never
hear Of such an instance; In fact.
they are only too glad to pay the
regular tariff and even more than the
usual charge to be able to get in, but
do hear, sometimes, well-meant re
marks from people who do not 60 to
the games and know nothing. or less
ebout the circumstances. The college
football game In not run for profit. II
Is spectacle incidentally and not pri.
raarily, and the student bodies whose
rivalry makes Il possible are In tbs
position of welcoming for the day
body composed mainly Of graduates
and their connections, each of whom
makes without protest a contribution
to the general athletic fund of both
colleges, which Is gratefully received
and wisely used. s.. ........
Moreover, there is never enough -
the athletic treasury to finance -
nlany sports as would be desirable and
II we could double our funds, W.
should still be able to find a useful
and helpful application for every
penny of them AN application which
Hyould exert direct influence In
building up more men with healthy
bodies and clean ideals of sport than
We can do at present.
Copyright. 1922. by Bell Syndicate.)