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Show jTsPEAKING OF SPORTS By ROBERT McSHANE ; Releaied by Wottem Newipopar Union i 'T,HE effect which military service is having on America's athletici is becoming more and more visible. There is a great deal of conjecture over the future of baseball, football, horse racing and other events whicb hold the sports spotiight during the year. Sport fans know that team caliber will not be as high as it has been In the past. Major league stars like Bob Feller, Hank Greenberg and Ted Williams will not be on deck this coming season. Bernie Bier-man, Bier-man, Minnesota's great coach, has been called to active service. College Col-lege and professional football teams must give up some of their big names. Many of sport's greatest spectacles specta-cles have been and will be canceled can-celed or postponed. In the interests inter-ests of the nation's welfare it has been held best to eliminate many of these "occasionals," such as the annual an-nual 500-mile auto race at Indianapolis Indianap-olis and various racing meets. But this does not mean that athletics ath-letics will be allowed to die. When a bowl game, a prize fight or an auto race is canceled, It means no more than the elimination of a one-shot one-shot event. Fans will feel a tempo- rary disappointment, but they won't miss the spectacles as much as they would miss their regular day in and day out sports fare. Undoubtedly there will be some curtailment of athletic activities. Common sense will dictate the logic of such a move. But a big-time program still is in the cards. We will have our baseball,' our football and our hockey. They are more than amusements. They are almost a necessity. The fact that every army, navy and marine unit has its athletic teams Indicates the Importance of snorts In the service. Fnuallv Im. portant Is the morale of those persons per-sons on the home front who are helping to the best of their ability. The over-all program may be modified to a greater extent In future fu-ture months. Right now it Is the concensus that changes will be reflected re-flected more In quality than In quantity. quan-tity. We will have almost as complete com-plete a program, but many of the super-stars will be missing. There will be no complaints on that score from thinking people. Our country needs men who are fitted by training for leadership. It needs physically able, alert, quick thinking think-ing men. A large share of these men should come from the gridiron. the diamond and the ice. If not, then we must realize that sports have been a tragic waste of time, money and enthusiasm. |