Salt Lake Tribune | 1915-08-15 | Page 17 | Football Product of Youth's Spirit

FOOTBALL PRODUCT OF YOUTH S SPIRIT Love of Hand-to-hand Encounter En-counter Is Satisfied by Gridiron Battles. j The football warrior is now enlfflng the air and feels vaguely the irresistible call of the gridiron, which will send him within with-in the space of a month romping out onto the green sod with a plggkln neatly tucked under his arm. The shortened days signify plainly that baseball and all the kindred hot-weather sports will, within with-in a comparatively short time, make their exit, and autumn, with old King Football riding astride, will prance onto the stage of popularity. The cave man. we are told, mounted to the edge of a precipice at the coming of fall and swung his gigantic club with wild abandon, mocking the fury of the elements. A similar Instinct now draws vast numbers of. the American youth to the hand-to-hand encounter of the gridiron. grid-iron. Jn its final analysis, football the full-blooded full-blooded American football Is simply this: The haughty answer of vigorous youth to the howling, dreary winds of autumn and its defiance to the chilly, sullen, advance ad-vance of dead winter. It 1b an expression expres-sion of the feelings of yout h, w ho?e heart it so tenstdy grips. Let no mart eount himself old whote blood still runs hot at the slarht of a football mounting Into the heavens. The strong man feels pure delight when he "meets a worthy opponent, and his fellows fel-lows delight In witnessing surh a combat. com-bat. Add to thiB spirit the atmosphere-of atmosphere-of glory and hero-worship which has centered cen-tered around the earre and It is not hard to understand why football has become the most epic of all sports. Great universities uni-versities insist on judging their honor by the outcome of a single contest. Is It any wonder then, tiiat tens of thousands flock to pee the strugirle? A football team, a:ove all e!f?e. Is a machine, which moves with clock -like regularity, yet which Is directed bv keen intelligence and daring. It springs from tense Immovability to violent action with lightning rapidity, and the unexpected is always prevalent all epecta ular qualities quali-ties which claim the Interest of everv onlooker. Moreover, the individual star stands out In startling prominence. In no other fport are team work and individual indi-vidual playing blended In just the same manner. The great gridiron sport is often paint-ed paint-ed In dark hues. It Is pictured both dangerous dan-gerous and brutal. It is neither. It is a hardy sport for hardv men. The true football player battles with all his soul while the contest is on. but treats with respect and even compassion a beaten foe. And under the training of competent compe-tent Instructors comparatively few deaths occur. If It were a custom to avoid everything which smacks of danger, men would degenerate into molly-coddles. Football today largelv takes the place of the hardy pioneer life which bnilded up the nation. T"hen It Is no longer played there will be less reason to boast of the manhood of the race.