The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-10-31

If all this sounds little incon-
| gruous, turn to the sporting page OF
any newspaper tomorrow morning
| There you'll find reports of wha
every major squad in the country die
| in the previous days practice Ses-
sion against the formations OF next
Saturdays rivals, which were being
used by the freshmen or the second
team against the varsity. Unless
you're one of those simple souls who
still believe in the Virgin Mary and
miracles, you'll realize at glance
that the plays to be used by next
Saturdays opponents didn't just drop
onto the practice field out Of the
| skies.
1T ALL reduces the game to such
degenerate levels. One cold evening
last season I dropped into the Col
umbia training quarters at Baker
Field to chisel some passes from an
old pal. The squad had finished sup
per and was huddled around o black
board. At such time they should
logically have been discussing their
| own stuff, but instead they sat before
diagrams Of all of the plays and for
nations used by Syracuse University,
whom they were playing the follow
ing Sunday afternoon. There was
grim seriousness about the coaches
faces as they went about the task of
detailing ways and means OF counter
acting these. And mind you, these
were full-grown and matured men
taking themselves seriously, not chill
dren at play.
Out at Purdue University this year
all four backf1eld men IN the start
| ing lineup, Carter, Pardonner, Purvis
and Hecker, are accomplished for
ward passers and finished pass re-
ceivers. To have one such on his team
is enough to delight the heart Of any
coach in the business-and Purdue
has four. Yet in their first three
starts this quartet completed exactly
one pass in twenty-five attempts, and
in their fourth game against Wis,
consin last week they abandoned
passing entirely. They had been
secuted to the point where every pass
| formation they use Is understood to
a ''T" and as the receivers go out
they are covered like hawks.
When Harvard dropped q 1o-T de-
cision to Holy Cross two weeks ago,
the sporting gentlemen Of the press
marvelled that major outfit like
Harvard should have so little stuff
under its belt, for all afternoon they
showed nothing except straight foot
ball. AS a matter of fact, they had
| plenty hidden away in their bag of
tricks, fear not about that. But at
the moment Harvard was pointing
for its rty-eight-year-old football
classic against Dartmouth the follow
ing week. Eddie Casey, Harvards
head coach, didn't drop OF the
Christmas tree either last month or
last year, and he knew full well that
Dartmouth's scouts swarmed the
stands like wasps. He couldn't afford
to permit his team to trot out the
stuff they had up their sleeves which,
had it been only case Of team
against team, might have enabled
them to take the boys from Worcester
over the jumps.
Perhaps this is all legitimate part
Of the game and ought to be ac-
cepted as such without any wailing.
Maybe it enhances true sportsman-
ship and enables team to put into
each contest everything it's got. Per-
chance 1t enables the players to meet
each other on their own mettle and
fosters a spirit Of true competition OF
skill and wits. And yet again, II may
likewise mean that games are won
or lost by the trained seals m UNI
form for whom the rah-rah bogs
cheer so loudly,