Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-11
SUCCESSFUL ONLY
ASCO|N GRADERS
First Game of Kind in Dixie
Conference Will Take
Place in October.
BY LAWRENCE PERRY.


showing the hcc dvav which
n the policy Of night foot ball
IA is making among the colleges
4 "A Of the country. the fact may
be mentioned that the first
Southern Conference grid game ever
to be played under the stars will take
place at Montgomery. Ala. next Octo-
Der when Florida and Auburn meet.
Auburn had a night encounter with
Birmingham last Fall and
the results In the way OF GOODNESS and
attendance were so satisfactory that the
authorities are enthusiastic about Fri
day night contests. Auburn. as a fact,
will open the foot ball season on the
night of September 81 with game
against NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..
The proposal TO have Georgia Techs
first two games played under artificial
lights is still another indication OF
what may come to be a definite early
season custom in Dixie. Meanwhile. in
the Middle West the University Of De-
troit's first three games, those Of Sep
TENDER %. against De Paul. october
5 against Dayton University and Octo-
Der II. against Tulsa. will all be played
after sunset. and in Cincinnati this
practice will be continued in response
70 popular demand.
Helps the Attendance.
Night foot ball. it has been found,
results in a much greater attendance
than is drawn by early season games
played on Saturday afternoons. This
is due chiefly to the fact that many
who normally would 60 to foot ball
games are employed in stores, factories
and business houses which do not close
on the last day of the week at an hour
xuffciently early to admit of visits TO
the foot ball arenas while the lure OF
golf keeps many others away.
So far as the colleges are concerned.
the idea OF night foot ball is almost
purely mercenary. Enhanced gate re-
ceipts is the impelling influence. But
to the write. who has seen several
games under the electrics. the scheme
has little or nothing to recommend 1t.
The color the inspiration in college
crowd, always important elements In
foot ball game, are lacking. The spec
tators sit in vague, ghostly bulk and
such manifestations of college spirit as
one hears strike the ear as unnatural
and uncanny.
But so far as the playing OF the game
ts concerned. nothing Objectionable may
be cited. Visibility both for player and
spectator Is perfect. The art, or what
ever 1t may be called, of Illuminating
q playing arena has been so improved
that a game may be played with alb
point through inability to see.
Just the same it does not strike one
n the old college game with its dark
son1ber stands. its players charging ana
tackling and kicking in an unreal,
siSsling, greenish effulgence.
VIII Cover Press Stands.
Harvard. 80 Bill Bingham graduate
Rnauager of athletics at Cambridge,
saws. has begun or is about to begin the
work of covering the press stand OF the
stadium. There will be an open front.
In this way the section devoted to the
press will differ from those In the Mo
die West which are inclosed In glass.
Nor will there be heating appliances
nor the service Of hot coffee and sand
wiches.
= So far IS inclosing the front Of the
stand Is concerned, those whose business
it. Is to follow the play in the interest
Of publicity will be perfectly satisfied
not to sit behind glass which fogs from
the tobacco smoke.
Yale, too, Is going to put roof over
her press stand, a tacit recognition that
the press plays part in the Eli scheme
Of foot ball, albeit it Is ofhcially denied
in the alumni organ of the university
that publicity has been the agency which
has resulted In calling mighty throngs
to the bowl to witness the interesting
contests which the Blue has been stag
ing in recent years.
Fails to Credit Press.
e. Surely" says Editor Oviatt. "a pub
Nc-spirited organization like the press
will not lay serious claim to having been
the informing spirit in the immense
growth of foot ball crowds. Rather let
It be said that journalism is the highly
eficient hand maiden of natural
phenomenon following the public
where the public leads. Today,
BY some divine stroke the press were
to be abruptly annihiated. the ath-
letic associations of the larger uni
versities would continue to- send
out their pari-colored application
envelopes to students and alumni alike.
with their absurd prices and their alb
s,lrd limitations And they would come
back full of checks. The sports editors
sense this widespread interest and re-
feet It.. But they do not recognize 1t.
All Of which Is a matter Of argument
in which the press last of all will wish
to participate. Give them cover under
which their tipping mills and the bugs OF
their telegraphers will be protected from
rain and snow and they will blithely
meet the public demand for informa-
ton, comment and opinion without
worrying whether the egg came f1rst or
the chicken.
Copyright, 1927