New Britain herald., 1927-08-27
THE OBSER YER Makes Random Observations
 On the City and Its People

'SAs~s AS0 = SVKA~
 Flying Machine" and with which
 he jumped off the roof of his resi-
 dence on Bailey street, two houses
 up from Snyder's Drug store where
 they had the dandy elastic garments
 for sale. Immediately after the
 first experiment Swemble was rush. ed to the New Rochelle General
 hospital where examination proved that he was suffering from internal injuries and a possible fracture of the skull. For days he lay in a state approaching coma. calling feebly for someone named Emma" or Hen na," but this proved nothing in the problem as to whether lighter than air machines were really practical for anything but jumping off a house and being carried to the New Rochelle hospital in an ambulance. But after the var-what a change took place! Wages came down and prices stayed up: the Y. D. division came home; Hugo Shines or some body was elected president of Ger many and attention swung to the younger generation with its rolled | stockings and bobbed hair. All this. mind you. was before Luis Firpo, "The Wild Bull of the Pampas" had come up out of South America to knock Jack Dempsey through the ropes.
 In our next lesson, now that we have explicitly explained the first steps of the amateur aviator in pro- curing plane. we will show the juvenile "Lindbergh" just how to fly the darned thing.
 For the past few days we have been in the midst of a heated argu- ment as to just which was really the gRat American game, baseball or football. Although " ehaven't got fur coat to our name and our Alma Mater is the Beenis School of Applied Undertaking and We all ways get sore throat from yelling, we have always stuck out for the idea that football is the great Amer ican game.
 Let us explain. We like a game of baseball as well as the next one. We even know the difference be- tween a hook ball and Texas leaguer. We can, If you give us a little time for thought tell you who won the pennant in the American league last year and why Coveleskie is better known than Dazzy Vance. We have seen at least half a dozen major league games and we've yell ed Kill the umpire" and fingered a soda bottle with murder in our eye but still we like football.
 In the first place. at about every football game we have ever attended. excluding a few profess sonal games which, to us, were sad Hops, we were surrounded by crowds of young people to whom the game meant everything. Let the stock market go on the rocks and let AL bania become indignant at Uruguay, the days game must be won. Elev- en men carry with them the hopes and fears of many times eleven youngsters and these youngsters take their football seriously. Tension per meates everywhere, from the time the little fat man in white knickers tootles his whistle for the beginning until he tootles it for the end. Let he opposing backs pour through the home teams line and strong men weep while pretty girls rend handkerchiefs to strips. Let the star on the dear old Blahburg L. team make stirring gallop around right end and hats are crushed in the enthusiasm. Total strangers em- brace each other fervidly as the ball at last is edged over that last white line. We know, we got kissed at a Navy Princeton game and maybe that's why-who said that? But the real reason for our en- thusiasm for football lies in the | sportsmanship which is shown on the bleachers. In view of the fact that somebody from Harvard clut- tered up a prominent magazine last season with caustic comments on what happened when deah old Hah- vud met the hoodlums from Prince . ton. we're not so sure of the sports manship in the line. Personally we think that all statements between the two teams are apt to be dis torted, but that is beside the ques- tion. What we really know, is that 1 In baseball. the pitcher weakens for an inning and throws a couple of bad ones. Maybe he walks two men. What do the stands say? | Plenty-including Take him out!" Hes rotten." and many other nice little expressions of support. In football, player makes a bone l head play. He runs backwards and gets tackled for fifteen yard loss. i He drops a pass that would have meant a touchdown. He fumbles on his own seven yard line and the enemy recovers. What does one | hear then? In back of us. in a voice that could be heard approxi- | mately in Albany. fat red-faced man with tears in his eyes bellows:
 Trough luck, ole kid, tough luck"
 1 That's .why we think football is really the Great American Game. i That sentiment is truly American.
 The Observer. for lack of anything 1 better to do, visited the stores of the city on Thursday morning. in an ef- fort to gather some data on the manner in which the clerks spent their Wednesday afternoon off.