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Show Bi if Sporting Life. Hf s 1 1 The Dead March from Saul is what the fans Hh' yi I 1 arG chanting these days over the corpse of the Th i erstwhile flourishing Utah League. It was killed H 1 fly jj I ky the peanut policy of the president and man- jB HM ; ager of the Salt Lake team, who were naturally HCk P supposed to have the strongest aggregation of fVH m I a11 tossers n tuo fleld ths being the banner lif li El I town and the mainstay so far as getting the big Hii&T' I gato receipts was concerned; but "nay, nay." The H'&jil; I rottenest "whatever" was too good for the local 1 Pli if ' sllPPrters of the game. Somebody might have 1 K 1 ' lost a nckel n tne rakeoff if an effort had been M i, itf ; H made to get a few swift players give. "Give the m ,,( 1 public any old thing in the player's line. They'll I 'iiu stand for it. We can get through this season R Hn h ; 1 ' and put away a little cigarette money by living B JH jj on the reputation of last year's team. What's the n m ' llS0 of dISffing UP the needful for good men when HY '$h ' there are a lot of dubs only' too willing to make E''ls I ' a front flH oufc ue neuP on the programme and B'liU work for 'a meal ticket," seems to have been the Mkv'Ivi J policy pursued. Well, the public did stand for it r'f HM K for a wlle but at last the end came, and now HI i( n ' the "wise men" at the helm can sit around in the It I shade and think of what might have been. ,1 s I The end came, as was predicted in these col- I j limns at least four weeks ago, for the simple rea- J g son that the powers "what were" sat around and j i - had pipe dreams when a move in the right di- ". it rection would have allayed the outcome. Ogden i jj and Salt Lake could not drive the other clubs out 1 1 of the- combination so they could have an easy ' jp .road for a two-club league. Logan and Lagoon l refused to be bluffed and played out their string, f forcing the Lobsters to quit like a yellow dog. "' This opened the eyes of what players the Wings ; had on the list, and they jumped for better berths . ML ' where the money was sure and the season guar- Btli anteed. This put the Wings to the bad. With tn fg , no team they could not hopo to continue. Then lit. ' came Lagoon's surrender, after the blowing up of wk '1 the league was manifest. With no team and no HBh jli j rivals, Logan being too far away, there was noth- Bwlf Ji ng ese or a alce t do except throw up the Bi IB' sponge. Then came the proposition to secure fiwl "ft I ' Buck Weaver's services to manage and captain a HjSJlH S . team here. Gimlin was ready and willing to han- BHi" m e a team at Ogden and by just touching the Biff'af I wires could have brought nearly all his old men Bfiil'i-ll back inside of a week. Then there was the pick Bh ! wuV ie LaSon and Logan teams to fill up both BJH!f'!' the Salt Lake and Ogden organizations. This HE j, r m j ' would have resulted in the fans getting a taste BfiTiJp of ne "big league" ball played here last year and Bm'fmII m tll monev would have poured into the box of- HwjL m ' 1 1 flee. Numerous local devotees of the sport said Biff 111"' tliat witl1 sucl1 a PrPsltion they would back up Bfit.Tfi'VH a team here to the limit, so long as they had a Hn iw'o man like Buck Weaver at the head of it whom I km I iey C0lllt trust. Several of them were ready to jj'' Put UP $200 apiece to support such ball. But, no. !i I') Harry must stick by George, and, together, frame ' j ' j -up a scheme to make a little coin by starting a 11'fcM J i Gity League of a-mateur clubs. No two-club Hj ii j scheme was listened to. That the promoters will 9Bj 1 1 J j Sfairly wallow in wealth was proved by the at- UJ jj i tendance at the opening game between the Salt Blj 1 j Lake Hardware and Fort Douglas teams, when a Wmm ' ' niob of fully fifty people saw the contest. Any jHp i . man attending one of these bunco games must m I have had trouble with his wife and taken such Hi i ;il a chance as one form of suicide. HliPU BBsj , i . ij The attendance at the Calder's Park and Fort Bli in'i Douglas games has also been up to the high stand- Bil IBm ar(1 set in tlie Pening contest, and will undoubt- BhHkII edly contlnue throughout the remainder of the mf season. IHhhII Logan and Lagoon held their players together BHni i vnttl last Wednesday, when they went to the mat Hi! and took the count, after giving an exhibition game at Lagoon Sunday which was one of- the best articles of baseball seen hero this season. Our good old friend, Buccaneer Weaver, left for the Northwest League last Friday, where he will finish out the season. The other players have all got something in sight. The Logan ball fighters are the luckiest in the bunch. Talk about winnig a home! Why, the Loganites will not allow them to leave the city. Nearly every man of them is provided with a lucrative position for the winter. A couple of them will act in the capacity of thirst-destroyers; one has signed to sweep the floor and tend the furnace in a drug emporium; another will attend to a bowling alley, while the rest have either got away or joined some of the Farmers in forming a searching party after Harry Tracy. Thus ends the once prosperous Utah League Having nothing else at present to wield the hammer on, we will take a small shot at the rich basket of bicycle peaches handed to the acute and far-seeing public this season. Yells have gone up after some of the so-called races which could have been heard by a deaf man at Cape Nome. Kicks have been registered which, if delivered to an elephant on State street, would have given him a chance to count the minute marks on the clock of the city and county building as he brushed by it; hammers have been flying until they looked like a crazy pinwheel working overtime and with just cause if the inside truth were known but when the regular night of the next meet occurs, there are members of the old guard In their accustomed ac-customed seats and you can't miss them eagerly waiting for another chance to have the cycling hop thrown into them. As anyone who has followed the game of motor-paced motor-paced match racing in the cycle line knows If he's not a dummy It Is nearly as crooked as foot or horse racing, which are the two crook-edest crook-edest sports on the calendar. Frame-ups, jobs, etc., between the riders, or the men working the motor, or both, are as common as Chinks in Plum Alley, and in six out of ten races yes, even more of a ratio the result of the game is known by the contestants before the starter's gun cracks. Of course there are exceptions to prove the rule. There's a whole lot of slips between the start and the tape In the cycling world, and sometimes even the riders who have fixed up a deal are the ones who are fooled. As an illustration, a story which has been going the rounds anent the recent match race between be-tween Frank Hoffman and Harry Gibson is not "so worse." Chapman was to pace the former with his motor and Oldfleld the latter. Now If there Is anything In his "whole life" that Chapman Chap-man relishes it is to take a fall out of "Baby" Gibson. On the day of the race "Foxy Grandpa" Chapman ran afoul of a story that the two riders had got their heads together, with the result that Hoffman had agreed to lay down to Gibson. This sent "Grandpa" up into the air. Knowing full well how fast Hoffman could follow the pace, Chapman Chap-man went down to the track with the avowed intention in-tention that, if his man once lost the pace he set him, It would be a case of "lay down." In the event of such a thing taking place Chapman said that he would stop the race, take his motor off the track, make such explanation as he saw fit to the referee and then take Hoffman to some secluded place and beat his head off. He also said that he intended to acquaint Mr. Hoffman of the fact before he went on the track. That he must have done so was evident from the easy manner in which the ex-amateur rode rings around Gibson, who could not follow the pace set by his opponent in a hundred years in his present pres-ent form. So there you are. How do you like it? General Funston has been conspicuously silent regarding the whereabouts of Tracy. The rehearsals of "Corianton" are progressing very satisfactorily. Mr. Blair left for New York this week and will return next week with the complete costumes for the members of the troupe. Thse costumes will be the richest and most ele-gant ele-gant in design of anything that has ever been placed upon a Salt Lake stage. Of the large num. ber of visitors who have witnessed the rehearsals at Odd Fellows' hall, there has been but one expression ex-pression of opinion voiced regarding the success of the coming presentation. They are unanimous in predicting an unqualified success for the unique drama, and speak in highest terms of Its grandeur gran-deur of conception and magnificence in spectacu-lar spectacu-lar and ballet effects. |