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Show SPORT occupies a peculiar place in this country. It appeals to more millions than politics, finance, the theater, motion pictures, litera-ature, litera-ature, art or any other single entry you might mention. When you include in-clude baseball. J V tA, .s 'tA footbaU, boxing, bowling, basketball, basket-ball, golf, tennis, track and field, swimming and the rest of the sports, the combined com-bined interest of people between the ages of 6 and 90 blankets the country. You can GrantlandRice als0 toss ta bth sexes. Governors, senators, congressmen, congress-men, leading bankers and lawyers, industrial leaders, heads of labor unions, can be Indicted and jailed, and a good part of this is taken for granted. It would be interesting to show you the long list of those named above who have been indicted and convicted. This means those who have been proved to be crooks, thieves, chiselers, even murderers, who held high places in public life. As a rule, or a general average, most of these convictions have been accepted with public yawns. The public trust in politicians, so-called so-called statesmen, bankers, industrial indus-trial leaders and labor leaders has never been too strong. Look at the record. Many of these were expected expect-ed to go wrong. But it has been different dif-ferent in sport. Sport, amateur and professional, has been the main public trust. Let the governors and the senators and the industrial leaders, plus labor's head delegates, turn crooked, as so many have. But sport must be clean, all the way through. Crooks Muscle In The trouble is that sport hasn't been as clean as It should be. Too many smart and crooked hangers-on hangers-on have been chiseling in through the last 20 years. The crooked, stupid and cowardly underworld has been looking for the open gaps. This applies to racing, football, baseball, basketball and any sport that commands the public interest. The underworld has been looking over sport's rich pastures too long. They have seen the harvest that could be taken over. And too many of them have taken over especially espe-cially in racing and boxing. The crooks expect to have even better luck with baseball and football. And nobody seems to know just what they can do about it. For the crooks, as a rule, are smarter than the honest people. At least they know their goal, and how to get there. And not even the government of the United States has the faintest idea of how these thieves and crooks can be handled. So they are permitting this country's major interest in-terest to take its major beating, too deeply interested In politics, which seldom has been on the .level. Boxing has been packed with crooks. So has racing. These are the two sports that need most care, and neither is getting the protectior that it needs. What- Can Be Done? Sport is the basis for handling all juvenile delinquency programs it is the one program we have left in which the public at large has complete com-plete confidence, complete faith. And yet, here are all these thieves, crooks, chiselers and murderers moving in the slime of creation and no one seems to know just what to do about it. Just what should be done about this present sport situation is quite a problem. Starting from the president of the United States on down through various vari-ous governors and their commissions, commis-sions, no one seems to bother much, for sport is supposed to take care of itself. Yet those who are handling sport directly find themselves faced with situations they are unable to combat. They know everything except ex-cept the answers. They see the underworld un-derworld moving in, and they give out statements which mean nothing. noth-ing. The players so far, have been the main bulwarks that sport knows. But, who is going to take care of the thieves and the crooks? The New Arrivals When a star fails to give out its usual glow, there is always another to take its place. It always happens that way, but rarely in such profusion profu-sion as the new season has ofTered us. As Ncwhouser, Feller, Pollot and other Btar pitchers hover around the soapy chute, a lean, Innk y0unR fellow by the name of Kwell Black-well Black-well of the Cincinnati Beds Is stepping step-ping Into the gap as the star pllelier of 1947, possibly one of the best of all time. Blaekwcll has completely outclassed Feller and Ncwhouser, Toilet, Ilughson and others. The Human String Bean has no one even close. Back of the Red Terror, we havo Frank Shea of the Yankees, Warren Spuhn of the Braves, Cat Brechecn of the Cardinals, Johnny Sain of the Braves, Schoolboy Rowe and Dutch Leonard of the Phillies. |