| Show Position on a Football Team Is h No Place for Nervous Man B By EDWARD W. W MAHAN MONG many places that thata are not for a nervous man Is a position on on ona a football team A physical giant with all the courage to fight LONG against gridiron opponents oftentimes Is likely to have an at attack attack at at- I tack of nerves when he enters an Important match and he heIs heIs Is not then worth as much to a team as a stripling who can forget the big crowd of spectators and the other detached details of a big battle I have often otten been asked how It feels to be playing before a crowd of ot in the Harvard stadium or In the Yale bowl The fhe answer Is that I wouldn't have been p playing aying In the game at alt all if the huge mass massof of spectators had any ef effect effect ef ef- feet on me There is enough to do In Inthe Inthe inthe the course of any football game without giving the slightest bit of attention to the stands That's why the grandstand player play play- er In football baseball or any other sport In the long run is worth less to a team than the less lees flashy but harder plugging team workers worker A player has hal to notice the cx clowd when he comes on the field for the first time In running across the gridiron to the benches all the men have a short chance to absorb the trimmings of the game for forIn forIn forin In a football match the spectators are after all only trimmings as far as the players are concerned They would be expected to do the same things in an empty stadium that they do when the st structure e Is f filled to its capacity a When 1 dt the Yale bowl s was dedicated in November 1914 with the Yale Harvard football game a player who couldn't rivet his entire attention on the playing of the game would have lost his nerve com corn There were about spectators spectators tors massed in that great circle of concrete concrete concrete con con- crete and a trace ot of self-consciousness self In Ina Ina ina a player would have meant the self self- destruction of the mans man's football tation tallon Of course all things are equal for the players A great crowd has as much ef effect ef- ef feet on one team as the other For that reason the football team that gets the Jump on Its opponent and scores the first touchdown in an Important encounter Is likely to keep on sweeping up the opposIng opposing opposing ing combination for the rest of the aft aft- It Is a notable fact that in the Harvard- Harvard Yale games of 1915 and 1914 the Harvard team made much larger scores than even the most enthusiastic supporters had the nerve to predict In the bowl battle Yale Yale's s steam team cracked The Harvard team got the Jump almost at the start The Yale team had been built u up that a year with the e lat latera lateral lat lat- laid era eral j pass as its chief l offensive play a And when it was finally tried the Harvard players broke It up so effectually that the spirit of the players If It was broken after the first two Harvard touchdowns was f In pretty n fe e the wi well Yale shattered repertoire when a as the h continually 0 best et 1 play smothered Success in playing the game before belore an enormous throng Is a hea heavy Inspiration for tor any Player Men l have often exceeded themselves In great contests because they got a good start and simply could not be stopped as the game continued But If it think of success is so 50 great a stimulus what a terrible thing failure Is before a great crowd In my varsity experience I down have seen big strong athletes break and like children because they muffed a punt cry with some disastrous result In aU all the confidence that a some cases season season or more of playing has built up In a man will be shattered when he makes bad misplaY In a big contest a This is one of the reasons why coaches consider It very Important that a back should catch perfectly the first punt In Ina Ina Ina When a man does that the confidence confidence con con- a game that he be has acquired In all h hIs s previous games Is augmented and he is pretty sure to go through the rest of that particular game without muffing a But suppose a back muffs a punt on the first try Even If the error does not re result result re- re I sult suit in disadvantage to his team his confidence Is affected and he be will be I doubly nervous when it comes time for him to make the next catch If It he loses this one he may as well be re removed removed removed re- re moved from the game for he Is pretty certain certain to make a fizzle of all his succeeding succeeding succeeding suc suc- attempts at catching the long hi high h kicks from his opponents I It t Is also o quite d disheartening r when e all Uit th the breaks e o 0 of the e game go to t the other th side I cant can't remember a game In which these breaks were so unequally divided as In the Harvard-Cornell Harvard game of last wt I I I season which Cornell won by a score of I 10 to 0 o. We didn't get a single break The 1 I whole Harvard team was was was' working with I tremendous energy but try as we did I to get started against the Cornell players play play- ers era we That particular contest is Ia not such a cruel memory that I 1 Ito want I to hold It In the background however for I learned fany things s that thal afternoon Several times when the Harvard team I I began to use Its steamroller formation to go down the field to 10 the Cornell goa goal line fumbles occurred I think there was not a football team in the country countr whose members followed the ball so closely as the Harvard men mep but in spite of that we lost the ball to Cornell at several crucial points of the contest No team can expect expect ex ex- one of Its men to recover a fumble every time the ball gets loose but the record of the Harvard team for last year was a fine one for following the ball When I say that Cornell got several breaks In recovering these fumbles I am amnot amnot amnot not trying to minimize the credit due the for their keen following of the ball bail I was not exactly myself In that game either I remember once I lost the ball ballon ballon on a rush near the Harvard twenty five yard line It bounded out of my roy arms as asI asI asI I was tackled and a Cornell player fell fellon fellon fellon on It Shortly after the made first score on a field goal from Crom a drop kick Man Many experts including Waiter Wai ter Camp said sald that the Cornell ends were tackling me so hard that day that I was unable to hold the ball That wasn't the circumstance at all however I was exerting exerting ex ex- erting all the strength I could command but that day was destined to be a bad day for me I guess I dropped the ball because it was due to be a break in the game for Cornell All the skill and courage courage courage cour cour- age that a a. human being can muster cannot cannot cannot can can- not make a big day out of a day that Is destined to be an off day A A. team Is more likely to go up In the theair theair theair air when it is playing before a huge crowd It is good policy to get down to earth again as speedily as possible or victory will be out of ot reach In the Yale Harvard-Yale game last year the Yale team started off with a a. rush that scared the Harvard men In the first few minutes minutes min ruin utes the ball was rushed within twenty- twenty five yards of the Harvard goal If It any of the Harvard men were panic stricken at this sudden and unexpected turn of affairs they got over it very ery quickly Yale was stopped at last and very soon after came the first break which must have taken the heart out of the Ells lOis After having rushed the ball to the enemy's enemy's enemy's ene ene- mys my's yard twenty-five-yard line the Yale men saw Harvard punt out of danger But that wasn't all The Yale back missed the and an alert Harvard end Dick Harte ran along scooped up the ball and raced over the line for the first touchdown touchdown touchdown touch touch- down of the game the game the first touchdown that Harvard had ever scored against a aYale aYale aYale Yale football team In the Harvard um urn In the brief span of five minutes Yale's confidence and hope had been dissipated dis dJs and the team was facing a handicap handicap handi handl- I cap of seven points Following that play the Harvard team picked up power and I Yale lost It Before the day was over over Harvard had won by the lar largest est margin of ball bali points Yet ever If the made muffed against punt Jle Yale and in foot foot- the resulting touchdown had not occurred the outcome of the game might have been considerably different Cheering counts in a college football game b but its Importance O Is no f It will always I sl be an Inspiration W to football football foot foot- ball teams to see thousands of its supporters supporters supporters sup sup- porters rise in the stands as the men trot on the gridiron at the beginning of the i game and give them a a. long and resoundIng resounding resound resound- ing inK cheer While the players go up and i down the field for their brief signal practice practice I tice Just before the contest starts the cheers are likely to sound pretty good to I them But the Instant the referee blows his whistle for the commencement of the game the cheering becomes a sort of outside Influence I When the game Kame Is ts on the spectators form fonn a sort of hazy hary fringe to the gridiron I The player Is half conscious that there Is Isa isa a n. great howling and singing mob about I him but that Is all The crisp cheers sound Bound like some distorted Indistinct message message mes mea sage from somebody who is far I The attention n o of the player Is strapped to oh events v f that t are happening a before f his l lvery very eyes He has his signals to hear bear and translate he has his opponents to watch Altogether he has baa plenty of activities to occupy his mind without for an Instant letting his senses be entertained by the cheering from the stands As a rule I believe that an Individual player rarely hears his name when It Is given a cheer There Is one Instance I remember of a football player who was playing In his first big game He tore off a long run I forty forty or fifty yards I should say say and and the stands gave him a regular cheer with I his name on the end While he was listenIng listening listening list list- ening to that sweet music the quarterback quarterback quarterback 1 called on him to take the ballon bailon ball bail ballon I In his exhilaration on the next plunge he forgot to listen to the quarterback missed his signal and In consequence looked pretty cheap to the very people In the stands who were cheering him When enough points have been scored to Insure a victory there Is a sort of relaxation that comes to all the players They dont don't have to concentrate their at attention at- at on the game Itself with all aU the doggedness that they showed when the contest commenced Then nen when the game has been won WOD without much question question ques ques- tion lion the player may allow himself the luxury of listening to the wild cheering as he lines lInell up for the kickoff For him however It is veritably a ca case cae o of everything everything every every- thing being over but hut the shouting When there Is not enough margin in th score to make victory or defeat certain I for lor one team or the other a player will I not listen to the cheers unless he unconsciouslY unconsciously I lapses into a dreamy state I When one team Is crushing through Its I opponent and gradually breaking its way I toward the goal line the cheering is apt I to become wildest The side that wants i the team to keep pressing pressing- on will shout I for a continuation of the efforts and a ai i touchdown and the other side will holler I for Its team to stop the onrushing I hostiles I If It the truth were known In such an anI I exigency as this I think J It t would be shown that the players on neither side aide I really hear those cheers One side Is IsI I too busy keeping the opponents on the therun therun I run and the other group of players is using all Its energy In trying to stop the heavy assaults on the line Thus It Is that hat cheers that are the loudest in the crisis of a game are usually wasted One thing thing- is certain though though cheers cheers never did dida a team any harm So If the tile spectators feel like cheering at any point in a game let them go to It They probably couldn't be stopped anyway and they cannot possibly possibly pos poe sibly do any harm The only occasion when cheers can be used to disadvantage to a team are when the sounds drown out the signals of the opposing quarterback Such unfair tactics are not resorted to any longer I believe On the other hand an absolute silence Is as likely to affect the nerves of a a. player as the wildest cheering Suppose there were only a few minutes of a game to be played and a field goal would mean the loss or victory to a team according to the success of 01 the drop kick Imagine the drop kicker going back to the twenty- twenty five or yard thirty-yard line preparatory to making the kick on which victory or defeat defeat de de- de- de feat will depend Up to now there has has' been continuous cheering from both stands and the players have become thoroughly thoroughly thor thor- accustomed to It But now thor thor-I the drop kicker goes back and poises himself himself him him- self envelopes el elop to op make the stands the kick c and d A ts Is fik likely great to silence die dis I the kicker more than if the people had continued their wild shouts The re reaction reaction reaction re- re I action of silence will probably disconcert I the man more than a gigantic outburst of I shouts And all the time the people think I they are aiding the drop kicker b by main maln taming silence There Is one g. g thing I should h l like to see elat th that I haven't yet been able to lay my eyes on That Is the snake k dancing n of the students r e s and gt i graduates at cia on or the gridiron Ig right after ft a game I have read of the ya or i strange g way of celebrating br t in the newspapers news news- e papers and I have seen pictures of the men zigzagging all over the gridiron But the players have to be cautious after a of big game If their team has won A mob wild enthusiasts could do more Injure to a football player than his opponents In the game Itself the coaChes sometimes tell the players It Is always the safe policy for the football men to give their cheer for the opponents as soon as the final whistle blows and then run for the safety of the locker building before the graduates and students can Jump over I the fence and lal land d upon the field Once a player Is S caught b by y a wild mob he ne is likely to undergo all a sorts of torture in the tho hands of a crowd that seeks to do him honor Its It's a queer way of showIng It for Instance to tale take a man on the shoulders of of half a dozen enthusiasts and bounce him around the field but you never can figure what otherwise will do sane men when they start to let off steam directly after a bIg football the After dressing the winning rooms and players have victory have changed made made the their r football uniforms for I zen zens zen's s dress dres they are regulation citizen citi- citi I I logical danger effect Regular r on the clothes enthusiasts practically have a for ts Psycho Psycho- out of f I reason or other for they will w rf not some I enthusiastic over their hero In wax so ff V plain dress I as they would If he T were In his big ss suit and covered ja with turf and mud i Copyright 1918 by Neal al 3 R. R OHara O'Hara I I I II I I j I I II I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I |
