The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-09-23
L ALKING
IT Over
BY JOE WILLIAMS

NEW YORK, Sept. 23.-It must
IN be that the people aren't very
bright. have no right to be
looked upon as an expert. I
wouldn't want to say I haven't
tried nd tried nobly but it just
doesn't seem to be in me. No mat
ter how call 'em-ball games,
fights, hoss races-they turn out
just the reverse.
There was q time when I suspected the
whole thing was a vast conspiracy in
spired by the soviets and that the class
performers waited to read my forecast and
then for certain sinister reasons decided
70 put on the old double cross. But I'm
even beginning to weaken on this theory.
Here lately I have tried a different
system and 1t doesn't work either. By way
Of keeping my information strictly con-
hdential have been writing letters to
myself. naming the winners Of various
events. with the admonition. boldly writ
ten. not to open until the FIRST edition is
on the street. They say the Soviets are
very terrible people and 1t NAV be that
they even tamper with the United States
mails. and I wouldn't be surprised, but
anyway even with all this secrecy I am
unable to guess EN- right.
And yet the people still persist in writ
ing TO me and asking serious questions,
practice which is most embarrassing be-
cause II makes me feel that am either
hoodwinking the people, Of whom I am
very fond. or that the people are quite
dumb indeed. Scarcely a week goes by,
for instance that some one doesn't write
in asking me whether in my opinion John
L. Sullivan was ever the world heavy
weight champion.
once in a while there are a few re-
marks to the general effect that the
writer looks upon me and can you blame
him?l as the last word in sports and that
the crowd over at hook and ladder No.
2 has decided to pay of on my decision.
The fact is of course all I know about
John l.. Sullivan is that he was a large
fat guy with handlebar whiskers who lost
10 Corbett and said, 81 am glad the
championship stayed in America"
n n
Il YER so often some baseball
IL fiend will submit a compli-
Gated problem to me, such as with
three men on base and two out, the
batter hits long drive over the
fence which lands in the front seat
of a Is and taxi cab driven by
man of foreign descent going north
in great haste. What is the capital
of North Dakota?"
Almost invariably a stamped envelope
is inclosed for a reply. a mute challenge
TO honesty and decency. and in the cir
cumstances some sort OF answer is i'm
perative.
The other day / wrote column in
which l mentioned something about the
Warner system and the Rockne system. and
l must have made it sound pretty anthem
tic because l am in receipt of a rather
sincere letter begging me to explain what
the two systems are The letter reads:
Il have read so much of the Warner
system and the Rockne system that I
would like to know what they are and
how they differ. I am sure a great num-
Der of your readers would also like to
know it,"
Let's take the Warner system first then.
For the public this system is typiaed by
the strange arrangement known as the
double wing back formation, which is to
say that two backs are aligned with the
wingmen. This innovation is popularity
credited to Warmers ingenuity, but the
fact is he picked it up at an obscure
winter school while lecturing to a lot of
Main Street coaches. Some bird from
Oklahoma got up. sprung the idea, and
asked Warner If he thought it would
work.
The Warner system relies mainly on
deceptive quality. The power usually is
behind the ball instead of being in front
OF it. Herein is one of the vital clashes
with the Rockne system. which places
the power in front of the ball Warner
uses bewildering variety of Stratagems.
including spinners and terrific pressure
on the ends. This pressure on the TANKS
is, of course. football fundamental. It
is conspicuous in the Rockne system as
it is in all systems"
The Warner system needs a lot of man
power. At Stanford he has this in abund-
snce. I have heard opponents of the
Warner system argue that the double
wing back is extravagant in that it
clearly wastes man, and that given two
teams of equal strength the Warner sys-
tenn will be beaten.
And vet the records speak for them
selves. The old man has turned out some
of the greatest teams in the country.
Whether 1t is man power or Warner
magic is a question--it is always a queS-
tion in these things.