The Washington times., 1929-07-20
~. TODAYS |
|\S.ggI0QIAI|
xiii Miller
My friend. the genus "fan."

Is an 0ud creature.
That is to say, he has his odd
moments.
At baseball and fight stadia
he will "boo" at the strangest
times.
There seems to be no account
ing for his "boos." They fol-
low all kinds of performances,
good or bad, and pop out Of his
system often with no provoca-
ton whatever.
We have seen Babe Ruth
cheered and jeered at the same
moment by different sections Of
the grandstands and bleachers.
We have heard Gene Tunney
lauded and cursed coincidentally.
He was booed the night he re-
ceived the title belt a few weeks
after his Philadelphia victory
over Jack Dempsey. The set
ting was at the Old Madison
Square Garden and just before
a comparatively unimportant
fight was to go on he was
called from the ringside and
presented the trophy. Jack
Dempsey was also called to the
ring.
It, the genus "fan," cheered
Dempsey, the loser of the belt,
to the rafters and the reception
they gave Tunney was some
thing to make real sportsmen
hang their heads in shame.
We understood from the radio
account of the late Loughran-
Braddock fight that the g, 900
spectators, at least enough of
them to make themselves heard,
booed their disapproval at the
time the verdict was rendered.
At what, may we ask, were
they booing?
Certainly eve.y newspaper ac-
count of the fight which we
have read, say about half dozen
stories written by men whom we
rate as knowing their resin,
clearly gave the victory to
Loughran.
Yet, the fans cat-called, booed,
whoopeed and otherwise voiced a
scowl.
Did any of them think Brad
dock won?
Hardly!
They were booing the winner.
Fight fans don't fancy the
type Of ringman that Loughran
happens to be. They don't care
for the counter boxer that was
Tunney. They want stand-up,
toe-to-toe fighters. For back
peddling they don't give j hang.
So they booed Tommy Lough-
ran because he hit and danced
away-hit and danced away
all night long. They liked Brad
dock because he was ever in
there taking it on the knob,
blindly, stupidity almost, keep
ing his face out there and do
ing no back-stepping whatever
despite the terrific lacing he
was taking.
The genus "fan" therefore
discounts almost altogether ring
science, of which the Loughrans
and the Tunneys are, or were,
full. They like the old school
yard style of standing up and
slugging it outlet the fists
fall where they may.
I imagine the promoters, too,
rather fancy the latter school of
fisticuffing. They can pack
easily twice the number of fans
into their arenas when they
have a couple of sluggers to
sell, even if the slugging is half
wild, poorly aimed, hit-and-miss
slugging.
The promoters and the fans
alike will gamble on the lucky
swing that will send its victim
sprawling into the dust of de-
feat. To the fancy, clean-cut,
steady lacing that Loughran
and Schmeling recently gave
their opponents many fans give
only derision.
And it might be well for the
promoters and the young fight
ers coming up, and the young
managers too, to develop this
swinging, winging, banging
school that viii stand up to
anything, ever gambling on the
lightning-like bolt which comes
from nowhere to lay an op-
ponent prone on the canvas,
even though the layer thereof
falls in a faint after he has
done his chore.
There is no doubt Loughran
did a workmanlike and methodi-
cal job on Braddock, but Jimmy,
ever coming back for more,
futile though his coming, was
the one who got the cheers, not
the scientific and deserving
victor.
MMSA M Tnp