Show STUDENT LIFE 194 The little man athletic contests the weakling’ the man who really needs the exercise is crowded out because he can do nothing towards winning The ladies who are entitled to some consideration and in fact as much as the men receive no recognition in college athletics (I instiam speaking of because they tutions especially) can do nothing towards obtaining a much desired trophy Now think is it right to lose sight of the real object of college athletics in striving for something which in the end is only a little cheap notoriety a mere tinsel toy? There have been many plans suggested to remedy this evil One of tlie boldest was that which appeared in the “Harvard Bulletin” under date of Dec 16 1903 by Y James The article was quoted from the “Graduate Magazine” This man a graduate of Harvard ’03 sugthat all gested be games suspended for a season or two and he even went so far as to suggest that Harvard should not meet her old rival Yale on the It was a daring cure gridiron but the originator of it supports his proposition with good arguments and it is his desire to see his Alma Mater get back to the true sport Another plan is to have no regularly organized teams or squads but let every person enter into ath nal inter-collegia- te letic work at his own will and because he enjoys it and not make work of it Then if it is possible for matches let the best athletes be chosen for the coninter-collegia- te tests President Eliot of Harvard realizing the condition of athletics and foot-ba- ll around the especially institution said “There Cambridge is no joy in Harvard football no light no sweetness no real success nothing but a bitter competition and a profit of about $60000 a ' ear" 1 1 is plan is to endow athletics with large sums of money and make admission to athletic contests free He claims that this would in time seal the fate of “commercialism” in college ath-ktics But college athletics in the United States have gotten into a “rut” (much assisted by the sporting page of a “Sunday" yellow) and it is going to be a hard task to bring them back to a condition which rings true in every respect The plans suggested may be good but they are yet to be adopted In familiar parlance “it is up” to the colleges and universities of our land to bring about a condition of college athletics which will make sport mean true pleasure and physical education a sane development of the human body Riter 07 |