Egg in Your Beer

"As a general rule the varsity football team's annual post season banquet is a private affair. No members of the press are invited, and no statements of what was said are given out. This year, if we may judge by the three inch front page headlines in the Boston Traveler, somebody talked.

There is some element of truth in the Traveler's story. It is true that William J. Bingham addressed the meeting. It is also true that Mr. Bingham stated that there were several members of the 1949 team who neglected the rules of training, and who were in short, unwilling to "pay the price" of playing varsity football.

But no one vocally disagreed with Bingham after he had finished speaking, and there was no "near riot."

This does not mean that the members of the team did not deeply resent Bingham's remarks. Those players we have talked to thought it was not very tactful of the Athletic Director to attack the training habits of certain members of the team. They felt it needlessly antagonized the graduating seniors on the team; that even though Bingham meant only a few offenders, it reflected on the whole team, and that if he really wanted to improve the training of the team he should have waited until next September to exhort the team to train vigorously.

Untimely Criticism

Some felt that it ill behooved Bingham to criticize the members of a team which had spent over 220 hours of practice time, including the whole month of September, on Soldiers Field, and which made a considerable financial contribution to the H.A.A. through its efforts. After all, none were being paid, or even subsidized, and it was all purely voluntary work.

We feel that Bingham has every right to criticize the conduct of varsity athletes who break training, but we also feel that he selected a very poor time to castigate the players. He has needlessly antagonized large numbers of squad members. Late November is a peculiar time to call erring football players on the carpet.