INTERDORMITORY AND INTERCOLLEGIATE.

Undoubtedly it will require some experimenting to discover the best way of adjusting the Freshman athletic system to the needs and opportunities of the new dormitories. Dean Briggs, in his report as chairman of the Athletic Committee, analyzes the alternatives under four heads. There is first the possibility of the system which obtained in the 1914 football season, the "one-sided competition" which brought defeat at the hands of the Yale freshmen. The University Freshmen were at a disadvantage in having their team chosen from interdormitory teams without sufficient practice as a unit. Victory is, of course, not an end in itself; but human nature is so constituted that the prospect of victory is needed to bring out the greatest enthusiasm and effort. One-sided competition is unsatisfactory and disheartening. And the proposal to abandon Freshman intercollegiate athletics entirely involves a revolutionary principle. Carried to its logical conclusion it would involve the abolition of all intercollegiate sports. As the system stands the incentive of a Freshman game with Yale is probably essential to the greatest competitive development of future University players. The idea of persuading our competitors to adopt with us the "Andover plan,"--whereby all would develop their teams through intramural games,--is more promising. But, in case they will not agree, the remaining alternative is to adapt the present system to interdormitory needs. And in the first place, a return to the former longer schedules, with a special first squad, seems essential, if we are frankly to face the fact that victory is nearest the heart of every undergraduate and make it the immediate (though not the underlying) end. Interdormitory games could be held at the same time, only starting a little later. Having a separate personnel, they need not interfere with the work of the regular squad; and men who showed exceptional ability could be shifted to this squad.