The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-01-20
/ ALKING
IT OVER
BY JOE WILLIAMS
NEW YORK. Jan. %.


Il citation has just announced a
new set Of regulations governing
the annual padding jousts on the
Pougl1keepSie. One of the new reg
Ilations provides that once the race
has started there shall be no recall
except for actual breakage of equip
nnent during the first thirty seconds.
The purpose of this is to eliminate
the false start. long a plague and
source of skepticiSm in rowing. The
paddlers are thus made TO conform
to the common law Of all sporting
competitions which puts every star
ter on his own after the barrier is
sprung. leaving the element Of
chance to Mr.. Sweeney and the
whims Of fate.
In taking this long deferred action the
rowing heads reluctantly imply that the
hns flower Of coIleEiste sport may not be
totally immune from the poisonous In
auence Of deceit and that II is not wholly
rational to assume that the younK men
viii always spurn open and legally
proper invitation TO improve their chances
Of victory.
CERTAINLY in the past 1t has
~ not been easy to give some OF
the crews full benefit of the doubt
when after a comparatively unad-
yantageous start the distress sig
nails we're hoisted and all the crews,
leaders as we'll as trailers, we're
called back for a fresh start. The
suggestion that any of the young
men might possibly slip an oar or
catch a fictitious crab at a moment
when a reStart seemed desirable has
always been dismissed as snacking
of vile professional tactics and be-
ing at variance with the traditions
of the concepts of sport for sports
sake
TINE association also adopted
Il rule by which a crew falling to
appear at the starting line within a
specified time shall forfeit its priv
ilege to compete in the race. Spe-
officially this rule grew out OF the
excessive hardness of the Cornell
crew Of last season. which delayed
the start of the race by more than
one hour and for no cause which
appeared justifiable.
Here, too. the changed regulation i'm
plies that the Young men at times may be
disposed To place such an extraordinary
value on victory 20 distort some Of the
finer forms Of sportsmanship. Heretofore
this has been a device employed exclusive
" BY prize lighters who sought by delay
ing their appearance in the ring to neGtle
and hArsss their opponents into q state
OF rage and excItabIlity and thus make
Me business Of winning less involved.
TE is quite possible Of course that
l the rowing heads harbored no
such suspicion in regard to the
young men and that the revised
rule was actuated by desire for
greater punctuality and orderlineSs,
but whether this is so or not it is
pleasing to know that in the future
the race will be started on schedule
time.
In the main the conduct OF all college
sports from the standpoint Of ethical pro-
cedure Is beyond reproaoh or criticism. but
the urge to lead Is a human passion and
II f. not surprising to find at times that
this agency Of zeal manlfests itself on the
campus In strange and sinister forms.
When the star halfback suffers busted
ankle on the eve of an important game it
Is the quaint practice TO roll the other
ankle IN wards OF tape. This is done with
the obvious intents OF ooncealing the true
position Of the hurt
I REGRET to report that this
L stratagem is looked on as a
necessity by most coaches because
there is a tendency on the part OF
overeager opponents to capitalize
misfortune of this nature by seizing
the said busted ankle in the heat
Of scrimmage and imparting thereto
sharp. vigorous twist.
couple of seasons ago a member of the
PENNSYLVANIA back Geld went into a big
game similarly truSsod and after the game
the sound ankle which had been tapped as
a decoy was In worse condition than was
quently had be been vrenched In that re-
xion.
OF course, all you can say about
this is that boys will be boys, the
mischievous little bratS.