Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1914 — FOOTBALL AND THE PUBLIC [ARTICLE]

FOOTBALL AND THE PUBLIC

Doubtful If College Game Will Ever Become Anywhere as Near as Baseball to Bportdom. While football ranks next to baseball in the appeal that It makes to the general public, it is doubtful whether it will ever come anywhere near the popularity that has been obtained by jthe national game. It is extremely 'gratifying to note, however, that the new style of play inaugurated several years ago and perfected more recently has cut down the number of accidents. Coincident with the change to the more open style of play, the smaller colleges have been developing elevens that have made the “big four,” consisting of Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Pennsylvania, look to tneir laurels, says the Washington Post. Colgate, a small college, which had never figured before in big company, provided the football sensation of the year by beating Yale to the tune of 16 to 6. It is far better for football that the smaller colleges shall come to the front If the purpose of college athletics is to improve the students physically, the more who engage in the game the better. The trouble with both baseball and football as national games is that the phyiscal benefit is limited to the relatively few men who can play each season. Forty men turn out at the beginning of the season, but not more than 20 remain at the finish. T&e great majority of students are not benefited at all-