The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-08-18
GRID PROPHETS
 OFF TO SPEEDY
 START ALREADY
Only About Three Weeks Left Before Football Sea.
 son Gets Underway
(Reg. U. s. Pat. off.) BY HARRY FERGUSON

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 New York, Aug. 18-tUP)-You must hurry, hurry, hurry because there are only about three weeks left in which to become & pigsEin pro- phet--a guy who sits down on Wed- neSday of each week and decideS who is going to win the college foot ball games on the coming Saturday.
 The pigskin prophets are off to a flying start this year. Already there have fallen on this battered desk IA applications from all over the country from gentlemen-and one lady-wfo claim to have an infall- ible system for picking winners. These IA prophets want to sell mo this information so that I, in turn, can pass it along to you and all of us can get rich by betting with our friends on whether Slippery Rock Normal will defeat Podunk State, Teahcers College. In case one of your friends happens to buy infor- nation from prophet, then it will be a case of the irresistible force meeting the inmovable object.
 The emergence of the pigskin pro phetS is only one manifestation of what sports writers call "tlae autumn madness s"-The desire of the great American public to bet on football games. But before you purchase the prophecies of any prophet, please remember that you, too, can be a prophet. All you need is sched- ule, a pencil and some paper on which to record your prophecies.
 Of course, you are going to be wrong hell of a lot of times, but don't let that stop you. It never stopped me, and I'm a pigskin pro- phet as you shall find out to your sorrow when the season gets under way. Most pigskin prophets are .667.
 But in case you want to climb up to around .998, here are a few sim pie rules:
 l. Make prophecies on as many games as possible and by all means don't confine your predictions to the closest 20 games in the coun. try. The more games you pick, the more so-called "pushovers" you are going to get. You know, Tennessee vS. Sewanee stuff.
 2. Be able to tell on Wednesday the eaxct weather conditions on every major gridiron in the country for the following Saturday. Then you will be able to apply the princi- pie that 8 heavy team with a good ground attack has the advantage in the mud over light team that de- pendS on passing.
 3. Have every football coach in the country telegraph you on We'd nesday the exact physical condition of his squad. Whether, for instance. Joe zilch, a halfback and & great oreakaway rurnner, really has 8 twisted knee or whether that is just a bear story put out to make the op- position over confident.
 1. Demand from each coach in the country list right now of the games he is pointing for. That's irn- portant, because ale, for instance. is satisfied to lose every game on the schedule so long as they can beat Harvard
 5. Have the faculty committee of each university supply you week iy with the academic standing of the football heroes. Then you can tell whether a star is about to be- disqualified for low grades. (If a star ever is disqualified for low grades, let me know and I'll drop dead.)
 6. Have all local draft boards ad. wise you daily as to which player, are likely to be indducted. Take nt nonsense from them either. Threat, en to write to your congressman provided you are sure he can read If you don't get good service iron the draft boards.
 Possessing all this information you have good chance to compik an average of .998. A margin of CT. TOT is left because blocked pun sometimes invalidates the best ~ prophecies. In case you have bad Saturday sit down and write all you friends about the wave of upset9 that swept college gridirons.
 Any questions?