Show w e P CE I ADVA ADVANCE ECHOES nOIS What was that I thought I heard I The dull boom of a whirling punt The thud of cleats along the field I The crash of bodies up at front What was that I seem to hear The ancient call of Hold em Yale The roll of thunder from the stands stand Above the old well battered vale Could I be dreaming Through the mist mistI I saw a forward pass that sailed I saw a runner bound Before his flying feet were nailed There will be gaps in the ranks ranks- many gaps but within a short while football wIll show unexpected strength on both the pro and the serVIce college side P The pros WIll be far stronger than A anyone figured they 4 would be SIX months 1 s ago yAnd y Kj And the Navy has hassent sent enough fancy fi ii talent to take good care of a large col Grantland Rice lIege lege group and gIve each sect on fast moving and scrap scrappy scrappy py contests through the fall After all the Navy got its share of college foot footfall all stars from the 80 students they are send ng back for war training and from thIS col collection lection there are several hundred names remembered from last year s program In spite of the Army s stand against football there wIll be enough good teams to cover the map th s fall faIl Strong on will appear in every sectIon although more than a ae afe fe e v will have to take some heavy pounding from much stronger teams wh ch happen to have the stars Someone has suggested that un tin under tinder der such condItions there will mIl be bemore bemore more upsets than ever I doubt it There should be fewer surprises to annoy the guesser selector prophet or soothsayer It Is a sure thing that thu s number of unknown unsung stars wIll be found among the mass of and Marine material many who have played or no football It wIll be an interesting part of the game to see Just how many un tin unknowns pop suddenly into the tho spot spotlIght spotlight lIght before the season IS over overShooting Shooting at a Record Something over 20 years ago the e eG G ants ants had a left hander by the name of Ferdie He had a fast curve ball that could break the back of at an Iron buffalo He finished a busy season WIth an earned run record at 1 06 the low lowmark lowmark mark of hIS profess on on Even the blazing fire of Walter Johnson could never quite equal this average Walter s best earned run mark was around 1 09 There is a 1943 entry who IS crowd crowding jag ing both and Johnson in this department of sharp shooting His name is Spud Chandler of the Yankees who IS now close enough to bout hout and tap either of them themI I hadn t thought of thIS untIl I happened to be talking to Spud oth otherwise known as Spurgeon about hIs best year I m pretty close to that earned run matter he said I just hap hap- happened happened to be figuring it up the othe otheS day U H I can stay somewhere around the best figures I t lose many ball games with Yankee lilt hit ting to carry me along I d like to finish the season around the one I earned run spot although It means I can t do any resting even with a abIg abig I bIg lead Chandler s record so tar far is ab abnormal normal in VIew of the fact that in Inthe the last ten or fifteen years the lead leading leadIng ing effectIve pitchers led their leagues above 2 or 2 spotless tal tallies lies hes Too many home runs today are likely to break out at any interval and pile up the score Earned Run Arguments The earned run should be the best test of high class pitching although Mathewson and other old timers used to argue dIfferently If his team gave Matty a faIr lead Big Six would promptly ease up to save his arm I There are always a lot of other games to pitch he said so why not save the arm for another day In the first place those were the days of the much deader ball when ten or eleven home runs would lead the league In Iii the second place old t me stars had to work in many more games Query WIthout an Answer We have asked any number of at veteran horsemen why It is that so few hIgh prIced yearlings ever made good goodNo No one seems to have an answer It must be remembered ot of course tha that t thousands of cheaper horses are sold and bought who also never get getto getto to the post or win a race You don t hear about these But any horse that brings 10 or more Is in the spotlight And when he flops it is always a astory tory story |