The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1923-10-24

"a football player or a player in the
game of life should never shirk his pre-
liminary work It is here that he gets
the training which will enable him to
make accurate decisions and to act upon
them instantly.
'Not how little but how much one can
give should govern him in whatever he
undertakes. There is no place on the
eleven for a man who is giving the least
he can. The man who puts the most
into the game will get the most out of it.
This is equally true of life.
"The successful football player must
have initiative. He cannot always rely
on someone else to think for him, but
must work out his own problems.
"One must be self-confdent without
being over-confdent. One must be
ready to meet his opponent evenly with
out giving ground.
Mental poise is essential. A quick
temper may result in election from the
game or penalty that will lose the
contest.
can opponent should always be treat
ed with respect.
"Above all, one must play the game
fairly. He must make foul tackles
The man who is doing the right and
manly thing can put much more into his
game and can stick longer. When this
man wins he will have clean consci-
ence. He will know that he has done
the fair thing and if he loses he will
know that he has done the best he could
and has done it in clean, manly way
al
+ betting, which is certainly pat and has po
ible timelness.
Betting throws around college ath-
letics an atmosphere entirely foreign to
the true spirit embodied in games"
Fundamentally, all college athletics
are based on the principle of play for
plays sake. The theory of every game
is to gain given goal by overcoming
whatever obstacles present themselves
In life We encounter natural obstacles
In games we encounter artificial obstacl-
es placed there for the purpose of MAX
ing the game more interesting. The
greater and more difficult the obstacles,
the more intricate becomes the game,
and the more intricate the game, the
greater the interest in playing it and
the greater the satisfaction in winning.
To overcome these obstacles for the
sake of the satisfaction that comes
with success is the ideal embodied in all
games. To a greater or less degree,
depending upon the extent and nature
of the practice, betting commentaries
this ideal and to that extent robs it of
much Of its keenest thrill and satisfaction.
"More practically, however, the prac-
tice of betting interferes with the pro-
gress of college athletics by stimulating
ill feeling and destructive criticism on
the part Of those who bet Most stu
dents, alumni or townspeople who bet
on their team have some vague idea
that by so doing they are demonstrate
ing their loyalty. AS matter of fact,
they are in nearly every case sowing
the seed of actual disloyalty. The time
when team needs and appreciates sup
port is when it is losing, and then is the
time when the one who bets usually for
gets all about loyalty.
Students especially have no business
betting on games Usually they are not
betting their own money, and if they are
they can seldom afford to do so. 1t is only
human nature to blame some one else for
their hard luck, and before they know
it, they are finding all sorts Of fault
with the team, the coaches and every
body from the water boy up to the presi-
dent. All this because they lost few
dollars which they had no business bet
ting.
Furthermore, when players know that
large sums of money are at stake, they
are apt to lose sight of the greater
ideals for which they are playing. The
gain or loss that some personal friend
might suffer temporarily overshadows, in
the players mind, the true spirit of the
game. He forgets that he is the repre-
sentative of great university, of its
students, alumni, and friends. He for
gets all the traditions that are behind
him and all the generations that are
before He forgets that he is playing
the game for its own sake and for all
that it will mean to the spirit, morale
and unanimity of his university.
GAS result, his game suffers. Just
as all the great battles of history have
been fought and won by soldiers who en-
bodied great ideals, SO all great ath-
letic contests have been fought and won
by athletes who idealized their play
To substitute mercenary incentives for
ideals detracts from the keenness of the
contestants-& can't do otherwise.
Concentrating athletics detracts from
the spirit of play, and it breeds criticism,
disloyalty and lack Of harmony among
the various forces that 60 to make up