Show 14 rw rig apice tene ENE TU EYS int interview arview on vj fear in competition Is one ol of the most interesting articles I 1 have read writes H F L he told what fear does to any competitor in any ny game but P please lease explain this I 1 always have understood der stood that most soldiers going into battle were pa packed ed with tear fear fear which they overcame I 1 thought the test of true courage was overcoming fear it is my gend Gene tunney ion that most brave men are afraid facing death or defeat but they rise above this tear this happens to be by all odds the most interesting angle in sport certainly the brave can be afraid and the dumb minus any tion can remain unafraid A complete absence of fear Is one of the rarest of au all qualities we have known only three men so 0 o blessed theodore roosevelt jr capt eddie and col wild bill donovan there must have been many others we are speaking only of the three that we have seen tested where death was a completely unimportant matter where ule life was even more unimportant compared to the job they had to do they also had imagination but in the matter of tear fear and courage there Is no possible way to compare sport with war in this rt re they belong in two different worlds A brave soldier might curl up in some competition in sport A strong sporting competitor might not be so hot in war action two different games sometime back I 1 was talking with a famous boxer he was an army instructor 1 I cant figure it all out out he told me when I 1 ta tap P a tew few of these soldiers in the th nose they want to quit but next day go over the top or lead a charge I 1 dont mind being hit in the nose or knocked down at least I 1 dont fear it but I 1 dont believe id lead any charge against machine guns without ducking into the first foxhole I 1 saw I 1 guess its two different games two different an n ties lies here her he called the turn two different games and two different angles that are far apart back around 1911 1 I taw christy blat hewson cut the corner of the plate against home run baker for the third strike and the game only the umpire called it a ball which later led to bakers home run 1 I cut two inches over ever the plate matty told me later ue ile had the cour COOT age to do this in a world series A few days later in a golf me match mathewson and I 1 played with mike donlin and fred merkle matty missed a putt by three inches his hip hands were shaking here is the answer baseball was wag mattys game he had the skill and confidence to meet any situation in baseball golf his game on a general average I 1 would say that the basic quality of tear fear and courage in sport must include three factors actors skill experience and condition which lad agad to confidence the confident competitor who is in shape who is experienced who has his share of skill usually comes come through few are quitters there are not many quitters in sport port quitters dont like hard competition and the grind needed to get them up around the top this applies especially to football and boxing the body contact games among the most fearless the greatest competitors I 1 have seen in sport are ty cobb babe ruth hc hans wagner old pete alexander walter johnson bobby jones walter hagen gene harry greb jack dempsey Demp scy gene tunney tommy hitchcock dey dev milburn and ad too many football players player to even ren start a count Tua tanney idea or angle was this get ready with the best yu yen have to t live give condition Is ij terribly important in por tant although there are actable exceptions you can throw these out against the thousands who need condition there are AIM always exceptions that prove no rule rul but once the game Is on whatever it Is fear of defeat and worry bout the result must be eliminated for fear of what might happen will upset your brain freeze your nerves nerve and in turn wreck any chance for coordination between mind and muscle desperation often gets credit tor for courage so does raw luck all you can figure on is the general average in 80 per cent of this division you will find those who worked to develop their skill who kept in condition who had the con idenie needed to face the problem or ar tackle the handicap this include everyone it merely takes in the majority including those mentioned above no race or nation has my any copyright on an courage but abse equipped with what it takes take to win qually get the call |