IN CORPORE SAND

With the opulent triumph of their game in the field of college sports, one is allowed to suspect that the American Football Coaches' Association has become somewhat smugly arrogant. "There is still plenty of room for the development of football," said Major John L. Griffln at the annual banquet of the association arguing from the increase in college population and the abundance of money. And he went on to assert that "even if football were not fun, it would be worthwhile as a check on the danger of the growth of America becoming weak and fiabby."

In this statement, there lies the fallacy that the exercise of thousands is found in watching the contest of a hundred or less through a series of sedentary Saturday afternoons in the fall. It is an old story now to insist, for all the excitement and tradition that is bound up in November battles, that intramural sports should have been substituted for the word football in the two statements of Major Griffith, but it is an insistence that has gained tremendous strength at Harvard, and is finding a still precarious place at other colleges.

For possibly the devotee of squash, for example, might deliver himself very well in an argument on the respective merits of the two sports for recreational exercise when the spectacular qualifications are not considered. It is only necessary to point out the size of the squash court and the little upkeep required, the short time in which sufficient exercise can be had, the little experience necessary to enjoy the game, its completeness in providing exciting action, and the fact that only one other man is required to make up a match. The Boston Herald has spoken of these advantages in suggesting that its readers take up the sport. Here, the suggestion is unnecessary, but with the University courts open all evening to take care of more than four hundred players, and with the authorities making provision for more courts; it is safe to say that the health of the average student at Harvard is not entirely dependent on the game of football.