The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-10-21
TALKING
IT Over
By JOE WILLIAMS


IN standpoint of box Office sue
cess professional football doesn't
rank with the major sports, but the
game is still being played on an or
panized scale and I note that 1t Is
of sufficient interest technically TO
lure college coaches on their days
of.
have seen more than one college coach
in the stands at the Polo Grounds watch
ing the New Workers and their opposition
in action and Il is my suspicion that they
we're there to study the flashed funda-
mental work saIaried players invariably
show, rather than to bask In the zippy
breezes from the Harlem river.
II n n
Whatever else the pro game may lack
70 comes close 70 periection IN tle D s3,1S
t 2Gss a. ven 1s trained team Of pros would
prove more than match Tor any ooieEe
eleven.
Nevertheless. this Is one of those popular
theories l should like to see subjected to
the test Of actuality before placing q
mortgage on the yacht. the Southampton
estate and my string Of polo ponies for
wagering purposes.
Il n
VXTnLIAM ULLMAN, who has
w seen a lot of football played
on sundry football fields, has ia
vored me with an interesting mono
graph on the subject.
n
He writes: The most outstanding fault
Of the pros Is their lack Of effort and ardor
in taking out the opposing seeOndaries on
the oTense. This fault is particularly glar-
ing from the stands, causing pile ups
which retard the speed of the game ana
vivas the ypectator a feeling Of sluggish
ness as contrasted with the sharp vicious
ness Of the collegiate game. This point Is
also applicable to the taekling of the pros
which Is neither eIeanly nor enthusiastcai-
" done. In short. the pros seem and no
doubt do lack the spirit of what John Nc
Graw once called 1.-THE Old College Try"
q
.sAt the same time. I think these points
could be corrected provided the proper IN
centive existed, When i comes TO pass pass.
md execute these plays with much greater
skill and So gacitv than the coneglans On
the s rom t iay s stsndpont Of
execution and natural ability was seen at
ne Polo grounds the other day than at
the average college game or even the
above -the-average college game.
n
This marked ability of the pros de-
oreases the suspense and uncertainty that
is felt at the college games. but increases
the high tone Of the play. 1t is incOn-
ceiyabIe, for example, to picture Benny
Friedman with his team leading by six
points and few minutes to play throw
inr a mass madly and thus inviting the
fatal consequences that rode with Long
neoker's heave into Hoot Ems arms at the
Yale Bowl year ago. The pros lust don't
play that kind Of football.
II
A MOTHER example: In the
N game. the other day the New
York team had the ball on fourth
down with fourteen yards to go.
1t was an interesting situation.
What would be the play? Fried
man shot a short pass to Haggerty.
It worked for a first down and
subsequent touchdown. In a SIM
liar situation the college quarter
back would have done the expected
"a long grounded telegraphed pass
into the end zone. Carideo OF
Notre Dame and Wood of Harvard
and Dobbs of Tennessee might have
had the subtlety to do something
different, but there aren't many OF
those around.
q n
THE chief handicap professional foot
half faces at present / think Is that the
customers are not football savvy. We are
baseball wise. but football ignorant.
think this is true statement in spite of
the millions who annually attend games
from coast to coast. Football draws be-
cause the color. the dramatic appeal. and
the old grid sentiment is tremendous.
4 n
THAT only a scattered few know what
football is all about was demonstrated ten
DAYS ago when a touchdown was Illegally
scored BY Yale against Georgia and. as
you later pointed out. $4,000 people sat
in the stands none the wiser. Not to mem
ton the players. the press box experts and
the coaches themselves. Surely there
can't be much over-emphaSis of football If
after all these years the rules of the
game are still unknown to practically
everybody"