Evening star., 1939-12-02
Dopesters in Pickle
As Injury Rumors
Fill Atmosphere
Forkos, Malone to Ploy
With Bondoged Legs;
Edwards Hobbies
BY BILL DISMER. Jr.,
Star Stan CORRESPONDENT,

RYE, N. Y, Dec. with bones
of contention being gnawed all over
the place and habitually blase New
York strangely expectant, the Red
skins and Giants tapered of today
for this sections final game of the
1899 professional football season
which will decide the Eastern cham
pionship tomorrow.
Almost as effective in their at
tempts to outfox each other as they
are in raising their players morale
to the highest pitch, Coaches Ray
Flaherty and Steve Owen are en-
gagged in don't believe him, but
I'm telling the truth" debate which
has resulted in as confusing a pre-
game situation as ever arose.
Owen, whose Giants offensive
swing for four successive games, is
moaning over injuries which Che
says threaten to deprive him of the
services of Tuffy Leemans, Johnny
Del Isola and others. Flaherty poo
poohs Owens plants with a fine
Irish sarcasm.
Flaherty, on the other hand, re-
fuses to admit that several OF his
own key players are plagued with
minor wounds which, the Giants
have heard, should keep them from
being at their best Flaherty dis
misses any reference to a possible
casualty list with the words every
Redskin will be able to play to-
morrow"
Mystery in Each Camp.
Thus, cause for mystery can be
found in each camp. Leemans' leg
wound has been rumored as being
everything from gangrene to nothing
more than slight infection. Flah-
erty says Capt. Turk Edwards will
be in the starting lineup tomorrow,
but Turk hasn't worked out with
the squad this week and has hard
time walking upstairs to the Red
skins private dining room here in
the Westchester Country Club.
And both Andy Farkas and Charley
Malone have been receiving extra
special treatments from Trainer Roy
Baker the past few days, indicating
that their legs still are far from
sound. Both will enter the games
with their legs heavily bandaged,
for both recently suffered painful
charley horses. and, If hit in the
same spots again, might be forced
to retire.
The most amazing thing about the
game however, is the reaction of
the New York fans. Far from ac-
cepting it as just another ball game,
as they have grown accustomed to
treating World Series. you hear the
chances of the Giants against the
and vice versa, discussed
on every street corner along Broad |
way, in hotels. barber shops and
night clubs. Indeed, tonight's usually |
hectic intracity National League ice |
hockey game between the Rovers
and Americans pales into insignif1- |
canoe when compared with the Red
skin-Giant game.
New Workers Sure Of Giants.
New Workers, it appears, are
adopting the same attitude about |
the Giants as the Giants have them
selves and which led one local sports
writer to describe mot so much
spirit, as pride" They have grown
to respect the team which, "outsta-
tisticked" in every angle, still wins
the bali game. They have become
accustomed to seeing the Giants
capitalize on an opponents miscue
to turn the whole tide of the game.
No longer do Giant fans groan as
they see their favorites pushed
steadily backward toward their goal
line, confident-through experience
that at the last moment some New
York player will intercept a pass
or pick up a tumble and demor-
alize the opposition by running to
a touchdown. That's the way the
Giants have been winning their
games, but they still pay off on
scoring.
And inasmuch as the Redskins
have fumbled 81 times in 10 games,
some Giant rooters are smacking
their lips IN anticipation of what
use they can make of such things
tomorrow. For they say the Giants
are the fastest in the league in con-
verting themselves from defensive
to offensive players, blockers spring.
ing up as if by magic when a team
mate Unexpectedly seizes control
of the ball.
If the Giants get a break tomor-
row, they may break the Redskins
hearts. If they don't Well,
maybe the better football team will
win and make George Marshall
happy. For we still think, man for
man, that the Redskins are the
best team in the league.