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Show FRANK K. BAKER AAafcj ' TELEGRAM SPORTJ EDITOR ' ' Football probably would profit if it took a leaf out of ice hockey's rule book and provided a penalty box into which players who become too rough or vicious might be lent for a specified time. Under the present setup, an erring gridntcr may be banished for the rest of the came if the violation, in the judgment of the official, ii "flagrant enough" to warrant such drastic action. There is no provision for varied degrees of individual punishment. The player must either be benched for the rest of the game or lei t on the field of play. Consequently an official, who is on the spot enough as it is. will be inclined to evade the responsibility of putting a man out of the game wherever possible. This can be simply enough done, by the mere procedure of ruling that, in his judgment, the violation viola-tion was not flagrant enough to warrant complete disqualification. Two playi occurred in the Utah-Colorado game last week which clearly define what I mean. During the second quarter, quar-ter, an excited Colorado player (topped Gene Cooper on an end run, rolled him over on the turf, got to his feet end locked him with one of his best holiday punches while the lite ball carrier was still prone on the ground. The officials saw the foul as did many of the 18,000 people in the stands. There was no escaping it because it was done right out in the open. Officials ruling on that play might readily have ruled that the foul merited the maximum penalty, namely, dis- qualification of the guilty player and loss of half the distance to the goal line. Officials have learned, however, from long experience, that it's extremely serious business to disqualify I men for the rest of the game. Too frequently, the disqualified man happens to be the key man in team's attack, and the arbiter opens himself to the charge that he (the official) ruined the team by kicking the star out of the game. The official therefore finds a convenient escape under the argument argu-ment that in his "judgment" the foul did not merit such drastic action. ! C U. was penalized 1 S yards and the player remained I in the game. So did another Buffalo player, who blocked ! Paul McDonough, Ute end, and spilled him across the ! . concrete curbing and onto the cinder running track later j in the contest. The violation against McDonough drew a ! 1 J-yard penalty against C U., it is true, but in my opin-! opin-! ion that was not nearly drastic enough because the injuria in-juria McDonough suffered in the play ultimately forced the Ute end from the game. Meanwhile, the offending C U. man stayed on the field. The play on McDonough presented a tough problem for the , official. The Ute end was racing downfield under a punt which wag bounding near the sidelines. Both he and the C. U. man who ! f pilled him undoubtedly were out of bounds before they realized ! It The rules forbid unnecessary plays on a man out of bounds. Sometimes, players do make 'personal contact on a man near the sideline because they haven't time to make sure the opponent oppo-nent la foot Inside or outside the lide line. Officials are lenient enough to overlook these border line plays. But when an opponent op-ponent is dumped away out on the cinder track, there is ample j reason to construe it as a foul, to believe that the blocker should have known he was outside the playing field by then, at least Saturday's officials did that in penalizing C. U. 13 yards. Because they weren't absolutely sure enough of the offender's intent, they refrained from evicting him from the game. la my opinion, the C. V. player escaped personal pun- Ishment because the penalty prescribing disqualification only 1st "rest of the game" doses Is se stringent If the rules gave , the official authority te bench the offender for a quarter or test minutes, after which he might return te the game, the arbiters would be far more ready te recognise the disqualify Inf elements In certain foals, I believe, j I don't propose te make the rest of the team play short- handed as they do In hockey. It would be okay with me for ! the offending team te substitute for its disqualified player, l but let's make It tougher for the offending players te escape I personal punishment When ye do that, you'll make a forward for-ward step la minimising the Incentive to throw the fists. Swing those keels, tackle out of bounds, pile on and do a lot of thee things which come trader the guise ef "unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct" |