The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-03-13
Stop, Look and
 Listen Mr. Byrnes!
Rv < 1/c T. II. BANGHARDT

Tn1S N H pheH lTOIl U AAVVAc OOb in a big machine, @ serviceman. After talking to men of our armed forces at home and at foreign bases as well as on the high seas, l know I'm speaking for countless thousands of them when say please leave the athletic situation as 1t is.
 An increase over the present per- centage of athletes entering the armed forces will force the with drawal of sports for the duration of the war. This, in my estimation, would be a major victory for Adolf, Tojo and their filters of dogs.
 The Washington big-wigs base their complete platform on the fool- ish idea that if a person can com pete against "top athletes of the country" he can surely hold down an Army post. If he can hear Q quarterback calling signals he can certainly hear a sergeant giving orders.
 They do not realize that foot ball player is never more than fif- teen feet away from the signal caller and, I'm quite sure, 1t is little ouieter on the playing field than the battlefield Secondly, If his tricK knee doesn't 20 out of place on the playing field 1t won't on the battle field
 Again, they do not take into con sideration the care given to a trick knee by trainers. It is heat-treated, rubbed down and If possible. spe- cial brace is put over 1t before the owner takes his place on the play ing field. Even then 1t Is subject to dislocation, but not as easily as II the brace was not on.
 can see 1t all now, the command for charge is given. After CT Joe's Buddy tells him, as he is partly deaf and 1t is too noisy for him to hear. away they go. Wait. CT Joe's trick knee just went out of place. That's OK though, all will wait till son1e- one puts his knee back in place. IT CT Joe is a good fellow. they may even give him a nice rubdoWn for about half-hour. YES, Yes, Yes -.
 What I got a tremendous kick out of was the title given as. top athletes of the country" or the 500 odd professional baseball players last season, over 40 percent held 4-F cards. The other less than 60 per cent were a mixture of; waiting to be called players, youngsters under draft age and men who had seen their day making comebacks.
 In other words, what the officials figure as the "top athletes of the country" in reality are almost 50 percent the same men that were previously rejected by the same armed forces that they are trying to put thm into now
 Hearing and trick bones are of the nature that cannot be properly healed, only helped. What mean is, they cannot be fully put in per- feet 40 condition. but they can be helped by the addition Of hearing devices and braces in their respec- tive places. There are executions In every case but very few in the above two.
 The standard of play In athletics today can in no way compare with prewar days. Since the establishment of football at the majority of col- leges and universities, when has the Army or Navy ever fielded such strong elevens as the past season? Proof of this is in the number of men selected for the many mythical American teams that hailed from West Point and Annapolis West Point had men mentioned while Navy's contribution was {; Of these, two Navy and three Army players were named to the ma iority Of mythical elevens chosen. Many colleges and universities were forced to withdraw from activ participn- ton due to the loss of players that were either entering the service or being transferred to different service schools in all sections of the country.
 (ED NOTE: Instalment number two in this series will appear in this column tomorrow and the third in- stalmert will follow on Frlday.)