Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-15

to all outsiders The field Of
cogitation will be a golf club
near Atlantic City.
From what members of the commit
tee have said. 1t is extremely doubtful
If any changes in the rules would be
considered, if it were not for the fact
that plans to rewrite and simplify the
and that it is felt that If changes in the
rules are ever to be made, that now
Is the time to make them.
Even under these circumstances GER
tain members of the committee are
loath to make alterations. The chief
change to be considered is the agita-
ton to call ball fumhled in scrim-
mage dead at the point of recovery, If
4, recovered by the defending team. The
point made is that the penalty for a
tumble of this kind is at present too
| severe. Some complain that the best
/ team doesn't always win.
Why should it?
7 Foot ball is supposed to be a contest.
! If the best team is so watched and
| protected by the rules that 1t is practi-
cally impossible for it to lose, the only
question left before the game will be
the ultimate size of the score
Sport reduced to the basis of a
mathematical science loses much of its
! thrill. 1t Is human nature to root for
the underoog. Spectators certainly do
/ not care about seeing the underdog
muzzled.
I Some Comparisons.
Beyond an admiration Tor skill, the
final match In which Bobby Jones won
/ the amateur championship from T. P.
Perkins was about as stimulating as q
good, deep breath Of chloroform. The
thrill came in an earlier match, an 18-
hole battle with q veteran, in which
Jones finally was the winner by the
width OF an atoms eyelaSh. q
Jim Corbett was so far superior to
1 Jim Jeffries in boxing Skill speed and
knowledge of the game that there was
no comparison. For over 20 rounds he
ran over the big boilermaker In a man.
ner which would have made Yost,s
''point-a-minute eleven look stationary
! as q mud puddle. Then Corbett FUN
bled, and woke up in his dressing room.
Critics might tell you that was too great
q penalty for one seconds blunder. one
small mistake. Some of them will say
that the bell should have been rung and
Cerbett revived and given the fight.
There is small emotional disturbance
when Ttlden beats Van Ryn at tennis,
but when Van Ryn trims Tilden it is
worth headlines.
Old Coaches Reacti0nary.
Ever since the forward pass was in
eroduced into foot ball the old power
OF the big universities has been broken.
1t gave the weaker fellows a chance.
and many Of the old-time coaches re-
garded it as an outrage. Gil Dobie to-
day believes that it isn't real foot ball,
and so do some others. It took away
the mathematical certainty of the re-
suit. and it packed the stands
What brings the great crowds of to-
day out to the Stadiums is that no game
iSedn the bag" Il that.taae small team has
chance to win; that there is a fine
possibility OF an upset. and of q thrill
There is nothing which brings crowd
TO its feet in wilder excitement than to
see a member of a team, pounded back
to- its goal line by superior force, sud-
denly snatch up loose BAH and streak
down the long field, pursued by pack
OF angry tacklerS, Here Is something
which breaks the orderly monotony of
existence, which losses to the winds of
chance the stereotyped pattern of the
game.
In every boys book, in every chron-
icle of true romance, the hero must win
against heavy odds. Make the odds so
heavy that they are insurmountable and
you have no hero-only helpless VIC
tim Of circumstances. You must give
the little fellow possible fighting
chance. You must not take his sling
away from David, or his beanstalk from
Jack.
Luck? Sure. The little fellow needs
the chance of a lot of luck and the on
locker likes to see him get it.
(Copyright, 1929, by North American News
paper Alliance.)