EDITORIAL

In commenting upon current discussions of football at Harvard, the Boston Herald said yesterday in an editorial, that such discussions were possibly a product "of the gloom that has settled along the banks of the Charles." The CRIMSON wishes to correct this false interpretation before making its specific contributions to the discussion. The conclusion of Harvard's football season, and especially the Yale game, has left the banks of the Charles in a condition which is anything but gloomy. Optimism and hope are the dominant notes. It would have been a physical impossibility for a Harvard man who witnessed that last contest not to be profoundly impressed by the possibilities of the game which could bring forth so noble a display of courage and indomitable spirit. At the same time, there is a well-founded opinion at Harvard that football has become overemphasized in American colleges, so much so that the entire scheme of American education is thrown out of focus; and that the game itself is suffering from this unhealthy condition.

The CRIMSON believes that overemphasis upon football in American colleges has reached the point where something constructive should and can be done to restore harmony and a proper-balance between that sport and academic pursuits. Acting upon this belief, the CRIMSON submits a program of definite suggestions which, it is believed, will, if adopted, help to correct the existing maladjustment and disproportion between football and scholarship. If Harvard, acting jointly with some of the leading Eastern Universities, will take the leadership in such a movement, it is probable that other colleges would see the wisdom of adopting similar measures for the good both of American education and of college football as well. The CRIMSON does not believe it would be advisable to adopt measures too radical or revolutionary. Such measures would be likely to overleap the mark and err by attempting too much. Slow and well-planned progress toward a goal which is clearly seen and understood is the best guarantee of final success.

The CRIMSON looks forward to the time when the Harvard football season will be conducted somewhat as follows:

1. The season will begin when college opens in the fall and end as it does at present. There will be no spring practice and no practice in September before college opens.

2. All students who want to play football will be assigned to class teams and receive the best coaching available.

3. For the first month of college interclass games will constitute the schedule.

4. At the end of that period a varsity squad will be formed from the players who have shown the greatest ability in the interclass contests.

5. The varsity squad will then play a series of not more than three intercollege games, say with Yale and two other universities, provided these universities will agree to adopt a similar plan. To avoid unfairness in such games, it will of course be necessary for the other institutions to accept the same plan of preparation as Harvard.

6. Meanwhile, the class teams will have been reorganized and will continue their games until the close of the season. Class team players will still have the opportunity of promotion to the varsity squad, if they demonstrate sufficient merit.

7. The winning class team will play a final game with Yale's winning class team.

8. It goes without saying that football conducted in this manner will not carry the financial burden of athletics as it now does. An endowment for athletics will therefore, be necessary. This last point is vital and inevitable, if football is to escape from the evils of overemphasis which now are manifest. So long as colleges depend upon gate receipts from football games to support their entire athletic program, this fact alone will remain a sufficient excuse for continuing the present unsatisfactory system.

In proposing this ideal, the CRIMSON is well aware that it will require time to bring it about. But if Harvard, Yale, and two other universities will take the lead in the matter and formulate some definite agreement looking to this end, there is no reason why this ideal, or one like it, should not ultimately be realized. And once definite steps have been taken to combat the present overemphasis of football, there can be no doubt that so progressive a lead would be imitated elsewhere.

With these general ideas in mind, the CRIMSON offers the following suggestions which should be regarded merely as a beginning toward some such ultimate goal as that outlined above:

1. The Harvard Athletic Committee should arrange for a football meeting with representatives from Harvard, Yale, and two other universities to be selected later, who would draw up an agreement:

A. To abolish all spring football practice and pre-season practice, thus starting the football season at the time college opens, and ending it with the last game.

B. To abandon scouting. By scouting we mean the current practice of sending accredited agents to watch and report upon the system of play used by an opposing team. Just as signal stealing, once a common thing in football, was finally discredited by common agreement, in like manner scouting can be given the stamp of common disapproval.

C. To limit football practice to three hours in the afternoon. We mean by this that the number of hours of practice shall be so limited that football will not make the exorbitant demands upon a student's time that it now does. Evening meetings should, therefore, be discouraged.

2. The head coach of the Harvard football team should be a Harvard man, since a graduate of Harvard is more likely to be in sympathy with the ideals for which Harvard stands than an outsider. Because of his great influence upon the players, his character and personality should be paramount considerations. Since the object of coaching is to teach, men to play the game. and, since in every sport to play well is one of the greatest incentives to playing at all, the Harvard football coach should be the very best available.

3. The CRIMSON advocates athletics for all. Class football, begun this year, should be continued and fostered by providing class teams with adequate, paid coaching.

4. Admission requirements and general academic standards should be maintained as strictly as they are at present. Students who represent Harvard on the football field should be representative Harvard men. This implies that they maintain their academic standing at all times.

5. There should be no public sale of tickets to any Harvard football game. Such games should be considered the concern of the undergraduates and graduates of the competing colleges. Throwing these games open to the general public has brought about some of the worst evils of college football. All sales of tickets should be by application, and a strict check should be kept of the occupants of seats at every game to discourage speculation.

6. For the present, the CRIMSON advocates no change in Harvard's game schedules. The present ruling against post-season games should be continued. The CRIMSON opposes the idea of an Eastern Football Conference, which is being currently discussed in the press. It is conceivable that such a conference might be made the instrument for effecting a wider acceptance than is now possible of limitations upon the overemphasis of football. But just the opposite motive seems now to underlie the agitation in favor of such a conference. A Big Eastern Football League with its big conference games every week would bring to final completion those evils against which the CRIMSON directs these proposals.

7. The CRIMSON deplores the preponderance of space devoted to college football in the newspapers. The doings of professional football teams may, in the future, come so to fill the public eye as to remedy a large part of this evil. The custom of picking All-American teams is the last stage of that cheap aggrandizement through newspaper publicity which tends to create in students' minds a false sense of values. The CRIMSON, therefore, has discontinued this year its old custom of picking an All-Stadium team. The CRIMSON also deplores the habit of sporting writers to make college players the butt of their gibes and witticisms. This practice is decidedly pernicious. Because a player makes an error in a football game, his career in life may be ruined by branding him before the public as "the man who dropped the punt."

In theory football is good for the players, for the general body of undergraduates, and for the alumni. For the players, football serves to build character, to inspire personal courage, and to develop true sportsmanship; but present overemphasis tends to rob the game of all pleasure and make it a grim and serious business. For the general body of undergraduates, football is a cohesive force and represents dramatically the ideals of the college; but present overemphasis tends to give it a false importance which-distorts the students' sense of collegiate values. For alumni, football is a magnet, drawing graduates back to the college and serving to renew their interest in the affairs of the college; but present overemphasis tends to confine their interest to the maintenance of a winning football team, and to crowd out of their minds completely matters of larger educational importance; and here is, perhaps, the most serious evil of the present situation.

The CRIMSON has offered these suggestions as first measures looking to an ultimate correction of these evils