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Show Ill-eastern team chosen Hogan of Yale Is Ike Captain, Tipton, the West Point Star, Is Named for ihe Center Cen-ter Position. Rockwell, the Bluo Favorite, Has the First Call for Quarterback Othor Selections. By Ralph D. Payne. ' Tho diverting task of selecting an "All-Eastern "All-Eastern eleven" Is made complicated for tho season of 1&01 by tho fact that -while there has been a scarcity of phenomenal talent In eoveral positions, a host of candidates can-didates of uniform rating of excellence clamora for recognition. Not ono great end-rush was developed, nor did a fullback full-back cam a place among the highest class tulent of former years. It was a year for brilliant quarterbacks and mighty men In tho fighting line. No critic, unless ho bo an lmposslblo syndlcato of football loro and observation, can clasp his hand to his heart and svear ho haa weighed and test- or so of football players who have been making dents on Eastern gridirons during the last three months. In several of the positions, especially behind the lino. It becomes much like a toss-up to pick and choose Therefore, the only way In which the writer dares to approach ap-proach this knotty problem Is to name a team which should pla ya first-class ar-tlclo ar-tlclo of football,, without any point of weakness, if tho 'cloven men wcro to be lined up together. As good a team as could be found In tho East might consist of tho following, although it were readily possible to llnd cloven other men who would givo them tho hottest kind of a tus-Ple, tus-Ple, provided both olovens had the best of coaching: End Rushers Drako (Pennsylvania), Shcvlln (Yale.) Tackles Coonoy ' (Princeton), Hogan (Yale), and captain. Guards Plokarskl (Pennsylvania), and Bloomer (Yale.) Center Tipton (West Point.) Quarterback Rockwell (Yale.) Halfbacks Hurley (Harvard), Prince (West Point.) FuUb&ck'-Smlth (Pennsylvania.) An eleven which would, fairly class -with this aggregation might bo made up of the following, for a closo second choice: End rushers. Matthews (Harvard), Eys-tcr Eys-tcr (Weslcyan), or Neal (Yale); tackles, Tljprpo (Columbia). Doe (West Point); guards, Gil man (Dartmouth). Klnnoy (Yale); center, Roraback (Yale); quarterbacks. quarter-backs. Motzenthln (Columbia), Stovenson (Pennsylvania); halfbacks. Greene (Pennsylvania), (Penn-sylvania), Leavenworth (Yale); fullbacks, Iloyt (Yale), or Rulon-Mlller (Princeton.) The three Eastern teams of most for-mldnble for-mldnble caliber were Yale, West Point nnd Pennsylvania. Of these. Yale rounded In championship form late In the season, and much of her machlne-llkc finish of play was due to the leadership of both Hogan and Rockwell. They played brilliantly bril-liantly as Individuals, but In addition to this, they were always powerful cogs of their deadly machine. Rockwell returned to hla meteoric form of freshman year, and no man In tho East was more furiously furious-ly active In every play, nor more consistent consist-ent In effectiveness. His generalship was almost faultless, and he was so all-around dependable that his service to a team must bo ranked as abovo that of his brilliant bril-liant fellows. Motzenthln pf Columbia or Stevenson of Pennsylvania, Both theso quarterbacks -were of uncommon class, and In ordinary years either would havo held his nlcho undisputed. They made more spectaculnr runs, take It all In all. than Rockwell, but as the "Johnny on tho Spot" at all times, the llttlo Yale quarter wa sa more Integral part of tho machine, and It Is machlno football that proves tho grcatneBs of a quarterback In these days. Ah tackles, Hogan and Coonoy proved themselves as plnyera of tho first water, both on attack and defense, nhd as ground gainers throughout tho season took their place with tho heroes of tho past. Tho tackles of the year were so good that It Is worth while shifting Bloomer' to guard In a paper line-up. He has the weight for the middle of the line, and tho speed nnd dash for tearing things up, and advancing tho ball In sensational style, a power which he showed to best advantago In the game ngainst Prlncoton. consistent center of the year, nnd a stone wall on the defense. By no means a.brll-llnntly a.brll-llnntly aggressive player, because ot I1I3 great weight, he Is on that account Inferior Infe-rior to Tipton of West" Point. The latter was everywhere all over the field, nnd because of his greater activity receives the place. At tho other guard position, the Pennsylvania!!, Plokarskl, wns ono of the sensations of the season, a type of tho great guards of tho old Quaker days when Wharton and Woodruff smashed the stoutest stout-est lines like paper. He made good hla promlso of last year, nnd his work with the ball was of the cyclonic order during the season. Shcvlln was below his form through most of tho playing senson, and the experiment ex-periment of shlfllng him behind the lino teemed to play havoc with his later return to his old Job on the end. Even In the Princeton game his tackling wan erratic, but against Harvard he shone In all hla former glory, deadly In tearing up formations, forma-tions, like a steel trap In tackling, and far and away the best man on tho Held In running back the hall on punts. It was In this Held of endeavor that Shcvlln was especially distinguished, for his comr" -'es In the back field wore not up to the'fc btandard In handling kicks. Shcvlln was sure on the catch and a very steam engine for charging, although ho ran straight ahead with a limited ability to dodgo obstacles. ob-stacles. But in a senson when end rushers rush-ers voro a poor lot. ShevIIn finished the season head and shoulders abovo any of his rivals. Ono of the strong factors In Pennsylvania's Pennsylva-nia's success was the reliability of her ends rather than their brilliancy, and this consistency was an essential Incklng In other candidates who performed moro startling featst taking It by and largo. Pennsylvania deserves recognition In tho end rush department, and In naming Drake It Is drawing tho line pretty tine between this player and such men as Neal of Yolo, Matthews of Harvard and Eyater of Wcsleynn, who would havo beon a wonder with the support of a flrsl-claBu team and tho best of coaching. Captain Hurley of Harvard deserves his place, and nono will begrudge It. Playing without adequate support In the fnce of heart-breaking oddo, he was half tho Harvnrd game against Yalo, and won moro Individual glory than any other man on that hnrd-fought field. As It was, he was ono of the great halfbncks of the year, and with anything like able Interference Interfer-ence would havo gono down to posterity t as ono of the best In fotball history. As for the othor halfbacks, tho Yalo men were shifted In their big games so that their respective records are Incomplete. Prince of West Point was a most vnl-unblo vnl-unblo all-round back, who could not be smothered by tho strongest defenses on the Eastern field. For fullback, Smith of Pennsylvania was one of the most valuable val-uable men playing, and with Prince to do much of the punting, the combination would be a strong one. Hoyt of Yalo kicked well, and hit the lino with admirable admira-ble results, but in handling kicks and running run-ning them back he was weak, and these, after all, are the prime duties of a fullback. full-back. Rulon-Mlller of Prlncoton kicked powerfully and was strong cjn tho defense, but his punting was not backed by sound Judgment In placing the ball, and his head work wns weak. More Important, however, than anj' attempt at-tempt to pass upon the relative merits of individual players. Is a survey of the lessons les-sons taught by the contests of this season's sea-son's football. Of all the teams. West Point played the most varied and Interesting Inter-esting stylo of game. This was because practlco time was lacking for the development devel-opment of the battering machine, and tho Individual hnd to assert himself with head long dash to meet tho assaults of such rivals ri-vals as Yale, Harvard and Princeton. Pennsylvania had much of this quality of lndlvldunl assertlveness combined with highly effective coaching ns a team, and her game against Harvard was both ver-satllo ver-satllo and spectacular. On tho other hand, what aro called tho greatest games of the year, among Yale, Harvard and Princeton, wore distinctly disappointing. Princeton was handicapped by a Bllppery field, and failed to show her traditional genius for fast and open play. Her team was smothered smoth-ered by tho unexpected firo and speed of Yale combined with overpowering strongth and weight. With the Tigers hold down to common-place plunging attack and Yale using these tactics from choice, tho contest con-test lacked color and sensation. Tho Yale-Harvard gamo was even moro disappointing. When tho crimson eleven tried to vary Its attack, It was beaton back and fairly stamped into the turf. Tho bluo confined Its operations to hammering ham-mering tho line In tho closest formations of the scaaon, and the individual wns purposely pur-posely merged In the machine. It was winning football of a high order of perfected per-fected harmony of effort, but for the spectator spec-tator It was fiat and unprofitable. Pennsylvania, of the colleges, had the prettiest stylo of campaign, and rewarded her partisans bv much running through brokon fields and open and resourceful changes of offense. Her schedule was not so severe as that of Yale, and It Is Impossible Im-possible to know what this style of play would have dono ngainst Prlncoton or Yale. While sho may bo able to score on Yale, It Is unlikely that she could havo hold the Yalo machlno from crossing her goal line, for no defenso offered this year seemed strong enough to keep the deadly contrivance from making steady advances, when once It was set in motion. And In tho long run this deadly monotony monot-ony of tactics will provall against any other stylo of play. It depends not so much upon the material at hand as upon the coaches at New Haven, and, llko an eight-oared crew, may be working up to a high stato of efficiency with comparative compara-tive paucity of star athletes, so long as tho eleven men work togother and thero Is weight and strength to drive homo the powerful and close-packed formation plays. It Is tho port of game played by tho championship Yalo elevens of recent yenrs and Is the groundwork of tho Yalo school of football. Nobody knows what kind of gamo Harvard was trying to play, for the decision was left to tho players after incy were lined up against Yale, Judging by tho exhibition. Princeton Is likely to read In her defeat tho lesson that If a fast and open game Is to lose Its edge becauao of wenther conditions, it is better to stick more closely to tho nammer-and-tongs policy pol-icy of tho Yalo coaches. In faot, the trend of the season jwos further fur-ther toward a gamo that 1b killing to all exc-ipt remarkably strong and heavy play-orB, play-orB, and deadly dull for the spectators who really have somo right to speak on this head. It Is certain that a spectator, without tho stimulus of partisan enthusiasm, enthu-siasm, must have found both tho Yale-Princeton Yale-Princeton and tho Yale-Harvard contests stupid nnd depressing. The gamo of today Is too hard for tho average collegian of fair athletic endowment. It Is safe for the exceptional athlete only after months of tho most arduous and scientific training preparation, and It Is fast losing tho semblance sem-blance of a sport or a pastime. Kicking Is the Inst resort, end running Is mado un- Sosslble, or neglected, and tho quarter-ack quarter-ack run Is an overrated play In net results re-sults Tho two games at New Haven and Princeton did more to lessen tho popularity popu-larity of football than any events of recent re-cent years. Vast crowds will contlnuo to attend these games, because they are partisan par-tisan outpourings chiefly Interested In the winning or losing, but their protests will Increase In volumo until some radical changes are fairly forced to the attention of the rules commit too. For several years there has bobbed up tho proporltlon to Increaso tho dlstanco that must oc gained In three downs from five to ten yards. It Is significant of public pub-lic sentiment Jhat moro discussion of this measure has been heard this senson tnnn over before. The rules committee hns tinkered and compromised with tho rush lino, but it should be clear by this tlmo that If their purposo is to open up the play, such efforts are futile. Dropping ono or two men back, cr hauling them up In the lino again, has not. In tho slightest appreciable degree, diminished the "smash-bang" "smash-bang" nspect of tho game. Yalo played this year a closer formation style, with the ball less frequently In sight than ever before. The runner was part of a struggling mass of players, and was hidden from view most of the time. When tno formations were at their best, It was moro than flesh and blood could endure to meet them without battering lnjulry, and the Harvard and Princeton players were simply put out of commission by the fury of such onsets. "Tho open game" is a dream so long ns nothing radical Is attempted, and the public pub-lic may prate about It from now to doomsday dooms-day unless tho value of massed play Is torn up by the rcols. Defense hns been perfected until the back cannot hope to gain ground without Interference. On tho other hand, to snatch away at one swoop the object of this brutal concontrntlon of attack would see "something doing." Against a tlrst-class defenso the machine attack gains no' moro than two or three nnd seldom moro than five yard on throe downs. Often the officials havo to measure meas-ure the gain with tape mennure and microscope. mi-croscope. By making the required dlstanco ten yards, several things would surely happen. Tho heavy formation would havo to bo shelved. In the first plncc. with tho nubile nub-ile shouting its thanksgiving. Versatility nnd higher order of strategy would bo definitely encouraged, nnd kicking would bo rapidly advanced to the high piano vhero It logically belongs. As It Is today. It Is only In tho exchnnge of punts that the hnzard and quick shlfl of advantage thrill tho crowds, but the player Is taught that possession of tho ball Is nine points of the law. and he clings to it almost till denth do them part. Passing and even kicking the ball along ground used to bo brilliant specialties of the American college game until tho Interference In-terference gamo wns dcvoloped. Walter Camp saved tho game to posterity when ho caused the adoption of the fiwyxrd rule. He haa another chanco to gnln lau-rcls lau-rcls by coming out In advocacy of n ten-ynrd ten-ynrd rule. There Is no appalling risk In trying It for a season. Another point In Its favor Is generally ovnrlooked. Here 1b Harvard driven to take up professional coaohlng for her football salvation. Yalo Is fortunato In having a unique system of splendid graduate coaching, but fow colleges aro so situated. To make any headway nsalnst tho machlno drill of the teams thut are so elaborately and (Tlr-Iently coached, thn collogo must omnloy professional profes-sional talent If first-class graduate teaching teach-ing In unavailable. This means that In tho present gamo tho coaches aro of much greater Importance Import-ance than Iho players. This 1b a statement state-ment which nobody will contradict. But tho reverse ought to bo true, for the gamo Is. llrat of all. for tho playors. If tho game were so changed and Improved thut tho fleetnes8. resourccfulnoBS and agility of tho Individual player woro the lending factor of winning football, the coach would be put back In his place. His lmportanco nas become abnormal nnd unwholesome. un-wholesome. If tho team with the bent runners and klckors and line men were so dovoloped as to afford opportunity for Individual ability on the field, we would see football worth going far to cheer. As It Is. a good many thousand peoplo thought their money wasted this yoar. |