The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1949-11-18
Yeah, Team! Let's Quit!

DOme IeCtHl happenings iSlt dmu thels pW1NA nave
made football a subject for some dead-serious editorial
remarks.
At the outset, we shall say that the point of our re-
marks is that football is getting too big for its shoulder
pads and is likely to produce a generation of fatheads with
a distorted sense of values.
Witness the great crashing Of teeth upstate last week
when all games played by the Kosciusko football team were
declared forfeited by the Mississippi High School Associa-
ton. Kosciusko had played an ineligible boy. 1t was
charged.
Instantly the entire countryside was aroused. There
were mass meetings. There were petitions An injunction
was sought and. gained against the association. The local
newspaper appeared looking like a h~igh-school publica-
ton. 1t was a football edition. The lead story was about
the Injunction. There was even an eight-column banner
across the top of the page. To the left was an editorial
column yelling about the same thing in other words. Be-
low was a two-column head, What The Injunction Speci-
fies:" Beneath it were excerpts from the injunction. At
the bottom was a three-column picture of the Kosciusko
football team. 1t was captioned probably by a 13-year-
old cheerleader) "Whippets Undefeated On Gridiron Or
BY MHSA.n
Topping off all this hullabaloo was a page one editorial,
1t was not about the great injustice but it was about
football. The local associate editor, it seems, who is also
publicity director for the Choctaw Conference, had been
charged with giving his own team preference in his con-
ference puffs. The editorial occupied 2 columns, II inches
deep.
ALI OF this was about high school football. You would
have thought the state had ruled Koseiusko could collect
no more taxes. You would have thought the governor had
fired their mayor and replaced him with a Trumanito.
You would have thought womanhood had been slurred.
You would have thought the Rsdcoats were coming.
But ii was just high school football.
From all sections of the nation, this fall have come
stories of pitched battles fought between opposing foot
ball players and fans. Last week several persons were
knitted in such a brawl up East. The cops saw more action
than the players at a game in New Orleans. Various ag-
grieved coaches have ragged publicly about officiating they
thought was lousy
Don't all these people know that football is just a game
and is not even nearly the most important thing in life?
Decades ago, when the cry was raised that football was
too rough and should be abolished, the game was saved
when pious supporters pointed out what a sterling build
er of character" it was. The game today seems to be build
ing not character but characters.
How are youths to learn that a skinny kid who plays
according to the rules Is a better man than the muscle
bound COON who plays halfback for Bonecrusher U. and
specislises in taking care Of the opponents starr And
how are the youths OF such a town as Kosciusko TO learn
that football is only a game if their elders erupt in such
community wide wrath over what is really a minor matter?
Sure. Koseiusko stood to lose its unbeaten record. But.
brotheri to make of 1t the most important issue of the
century. -.
Only Monday. the august Legislature of the state of
Mississippi met in extraordinary session to consider a seri-
Gus matter-a gigantic road program to be financed by
additional gasoline taxes. Did they consider it? No. But
there were introduced in both houses resolutions that a
champion high school team be invited to play in a bowl
game in Jackson.
The final straw was piled on last Thursday by Coach
Lou Presti of Biloxis Notre Dame when. according to the
officials, he ordered his players off the field and refused
TO play until the end. His team was taking a 40-7 plaster
ing from University Military school at the time. Officials
said Presti had complained throughout the game about
their rulings.
Does Presti not know that his position makes him a
major influence on the boys at Notre Dame? Does he not
know that his actions set an example for them to think
soreheading is the thing to do when crossed What those
boys learn from football will be the standards by which
they live their lives in the future.
As 1t Is in football so II is in life that there is always
someone or something blowing the whistle-a wife. a boss.
public opinion. convention. the law or a mans own consci-
ence. When The going gets tough and the breaks 90 against
these boys years from now. they may be expected to slug
the wife. curse the boss. flsunt public opinion and eonven.
ton. break the law and end up with no conscience at all.