The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-12-20
/ ALKING
IT OVER
BY JOE WILLIAMS
NEW YORK. Dec. q

"HERE IS talk JnaL the army
Il Notre Dame game will be played
elsewhere next year. 1t appears that
New York has not accorded the Ca
diets the courteous treatment to
which they have been accustomed
at other ports of call. One OF the
damning indictments against the
metropolis is that the children IL
the streets run alongside the buses
transporting the Army footballers
end shrek: we hope youse guys get
whipped" The quotation Is veroa-
tim, and is not a gay attempt By
the writer to interpret the fictitious
argot of the community.
This indictment strangely comes from
Major Philip Fleming. graduate manager
Of athletics at West Point. and Is so un-
like the customary Army Eive-apd-take
procedure in all matters as to suggest that
possibly the majors rat,ons have begun
20 backfre on him, and that his usually
fudisiaI temperament has been knocked
out of alignment
TT is charged further that TINS
i discourtesy extends to the crowds
attending the games at Yankee sta
dunn. and whereas the Cadets log
icallv feel entitled to the moral
support of New Workers, there have
been occasions when all they re-
ceived in exchange for their artiS-
tic performance was a prolonged
Bronx cheer delivered in raucods
die lect.
While the major does not demand that
all the cheering should be lavished on the
hav-foot. straw foot boys. it is his con-
tentIon that there is a growing diserlmina-
ton In favor of the Irish. as they are
JocularIy termed, and in view OF this
situation he feels it might be for the best
II the game were taken from the ticket
scalpers of Broadway and played before
an audience addicted more to academic
comments then hysterical emotions
n
TT IS hard to believe that there
l. isn't something more vitality dis
turbing behind the majors COM
paint than the trifling fact that the
neighborhood youngsters may not
seem sufficiently stepped in patriot
ism to distinguish between a po-
tential Black Jack PerShing and
Casey Stengel on his way to the ball
yard. Up to now, / have found
every che and everything in connec-
ton with the conduct of Army foot
ball admirably free from imperious-
ness and the slightest t.ncture o.
snobbery, a circumstance which falls
to jibe in full with the majors
utterances of dissatisfaction.
Nor Is IL easy to believe that the Army
officials or Cadets seriously distressed
by the shriII notes of derision that rise
from the populous stands and go floating
out on the crisp November air to burst in
singing fury against the bashed-ln
eountenance of a ball toter, who has just
beeh thrown in the bunker for a ten-yard
deficit.
This happens to be not only part
of the noble game, but a privilege
of the cash customer, as well as one
of the strange behaviOrismS of the
great American kibitzer.
u
INDEED, happen to recall in this
Il connection that the Cadets were
rather vigorously ridiculed by
supposedly Well-mannered and high
principled college clientele last fall
in the Yale bowl when a little wart
of a guy by the name of Booth ran
the Soldiers light out of their sweat
shirts. OF course. it might we'll be
true that the quality of the razzing
in New Haven differs sharply IN
tone and intent from the throaty
exhausts of a New York mob, but
in a general way, the instincts and
effects are probably much the same.
To a sensitive soul very likely II doesn't
make a great deal of difference whether
you are called a bum with no reservations
on the banks of the Harlem or club
footed truck horse with a collegiate mis-
chievousness in the Yale bowl. 1 am in
cIined to believe the ma JOr is actuated by
additional grievances in his threat to de-
mand a change of venue.
mat JnlS may De SO, Is suggested
by his criticism against the city au-
thorities in refusing to furnish the
team with a police escort to the sta
dunn, a courtesy which the Notre
Dame team enjoyed.
= n
TT develops that James j. Walker,
L the $4,000 mayor of the village
was asked to accept a box from the
Army on the provision that he and
his party must occupy it, which
was equivalent to warning a fairly
distinguished gentleman in national
affairs that in the event he was I'M
able to make use of the stubs per-
sonallv he should not offer them to
scalpeES at current quotations.
q
Am I to imply from this that Mr.
Walker became resentful and decided on
a retaliation which took the form of deny
ing the cadets an escort equipped with
ear-shattering sirens? And can ii be that
this is really what's wrong at the Point?
At any rate il all sounds very childish and
churliSh and distinctly un-Army like.