| Show Who Really Understands Football Among the Fans I I BY LAMBERT LAMBEnT G. G SULLIVAN How man many marty persons know anything about football 1 That Is a question one Is tempted to ask himself after alter reading some somo of the fiction football stories s which bloom at this time of or year and more especially especial especial- I ly after aCter listening listening- to some of l the e comments com corn meats ments made by rooters during ImportAnt important im Im- irn- irn games ames The Time conclusion arrived at Is ls that the tho person who has even cven a fair air working knowledge of or the gridIron gridiron grid grid- Iron sport Is Indeed a rara avis als There are scores and md hundreds of or rooters who havo have watched football gomes games for several years who do not know now even the tho rudimentary working wOl principles of ot the game to say a g- g of tho the finer Liner points which lie hidden to the eyes o of all an except time the mos most t expert coaches Not Like n a Baseball The average football crowd d Is Is' quite a contrast to the average baseball crowd Your Tour baseball crowd knows knows' baseball at least he knows enough abo about t it t to appreciate It It and not make foolish breaks by con condemning the of officials officials officials of- of for perfectly proper decisions He H m may y not o be thoroughly familiar r uy Ily rule or the balk bahl rule ho he ma may be bo constrained to differ with the official scorer corer in tho the question question ques ques- tion lion of or ahl allotment of r hits hilts and errors but on the whole he has a pretty good working kno knowledge e not on only of the thc rules but of oC the thc strategy of the game barne The baseball fan like hike one overheard b by the writer who asserted that a pitcher in the world series passed the first man up in every Inn Inning inS inS' to make the tho sc second ond hit Into Inlo a a. double pla play still 11 lives ve hut but his lii name Is not Legion LesIon One of or the most remarkable able magazine maga maJa- zinc zine football stories of or the present season sea sea- I son son printed in one of or the leading magazines cf of the countr country concerned It Itsel Itself Itself It- It self sel with the activities of ofa a player who who with a n. broken arm carried carrie tho the ball on two twenty consecutive plays each for fora a a. gain of or two t yards thereby winning time the ga game Granting that a superman of this type might exist there are several soy sev cr oral eral 1 other n amazing parts of or the story In one place the writer declares that I this game was before the day of or forward forward for for- ward passes yet he cheerfully tells of the game gamo being divided Into quarters To 10 make mako the story still more complicated complicated he introduces the coaches of C the contending teams learns as going out on the field and coaching their men between the first and second and third and fourth He lie neglects to state what the tire officials were doing all an this time Two Art Are Accurate Another story of ot this year told lold of oC a football player who scored two points and a a. victor victory on a play pIa which t could not under the rules be Le decided as anything any any- tIming thinS save a touchback These arc aro just two examples of or fiction football art tho the list Hat could be strung out interminably Ll lily bly There arc only two writers of oC football football foot fool ball fiction whose works are arc accurate according to the rules the first now first now i dont don't Jau laugh laugh Burt Burt h-Burt Burt Standish who used to write and may still sUlI write the Frank 1 Merriwell stories and Ralph Henry 1 Barbour who has contributed an interesting interesting inter inter- esting series serle of yarns arns to the Daily Dally News sporting nS' nS page Few of oC the ro rooters know the thc rules accurately Every time one goes to a game one hears rooters exclaiming that this team has been penalized five yards for fer holding and that team leam has I been penalized fifteen yards ards for offside offside off off- side or that the tc other team has been penalized penalised ven t twenty tte y yards for dela delaying the game bamo These are tro ro of so frequent occurrence occur occur- rence renco that ono one ceases to pa pay attention to them The never ending source of wonder however is that thal s so few tew perSons persons per per- sons understand the rudiments cC of the forward pass that the ball ban Is dead the minute it strikes the ground unless temporarily hel held and fumbled by some play player r Every ery time the call hits the the ground round on one of oC these plays one can cau hear the rooters eagerly Imploring one of or their favorites t to grab the dead ball balland balland I and run for a touchdown I I |
