Show Fans Prefer Parlor to Bleachers By GRANTLAND RICE Heres Here's just fud a dream for you Born in n a land still free A dream that Ihal will still sl l come true Whatever Jr the dream may mil be For Por a gift the gift the grip grit of 01 your hand That ThaI is s enough eno for me Into Info the Fogs Sport amateur and pro Is com com- coming coming coming ing through the deepest fog it has ever known The larger part of this fog is due to the extending ever-extending spread of the draft F Another heavy problem is sion There is nothing noth noth- nothing nothing ing any genius can cando cando I do about the draft Its encircling arms are gathering them in between be een the ages of 19 and 25 the true athletic age Grantland Rice day by day But television can be handled Television Television Television sion can afford to pay large sums but it is a question as to whether I any sum can make up for half- half I filled stands Even games televised far away from the home scene can still cut in on other sectors A CIA sellout type of game can handle television one of the leading athletic directors said recently But who can tell in advance just when a sellout game will arrive I think the Big Nine handled the situation better than any other section And their crowds were overe the largest in the country Television has bas hit Los Angeles and vicinity harder barder than any other place lace This city has bas taken quite a beating seating both in its pro and ama ama- amateur amateur amateur football You apparently cant can't make their football people see that thousands of followers would rather have the game brought to them for nothing than pay to travel to the stands Each year there will be bemore bemore bemore more and more television sets which wont won't be any help It is only on rare occasions such as the Navy Army-Navy game that you'll have bave both joth television and a complete sell sen- I out These occasions will come along rarely in the future I The scope of the draft makes makes any form of prediction the rank rank- rankest rankest rankest I est sort of guesswork Predictions PredIctions are usually guesswork anyway But with so many stars in fn army navy or air force uni uni- uniforms uniforms uniforms forms the prophet will be a blind man peering into deep darkness Fighters in the Black How many boxers boxers or fighters save their money and have a few rupees for a rainy morning This query came up again when a traveler from the Argentine ran nto into an timer old-timer remembered as 1 Luis Angel Firpo the Wild Bull of o othe the Pampas Firpo was smart financially when he lie was up here meeting Bill Brennan Jack Dempsey and oth oth- others others others ers he said He saved most of his money I recall in the training period for the Firpo-Dempsey Firpo fight that Dempsey spent 2000 a week for sparring partners and Firpo spent about Firpo saved al almost al- al almost almost most every quarter he picked up upI upI upI I still recall the admiration he drew from Bill McGeehan for his careful qualities The Argentine fighter had the ring hangers on wild They never picked a dime from him As a result Firpo today has a big farm of many thousands of acres outside Buenos Aires stocked stacked with cattle He is a wealthy man He has a healthy bank account on the side He weighs only today against the he be weighed against Dempsey He has taken good care of himself these last 25 years The fighters around FIrpo's time were a careful lot Demp Demp- Dempsey Dempsey Dempsey sey fought for more than 10 during his ring career He drew much bigger gates than Joe Louis or anyone else has ever drawn except Gene Tunney who Tunney who fought Dempsey twice Dempsey made money spent money and saved money There will willbe willbe willbe be no collections taken up for Dempsey Ive I've called him twice in inthe inthe inthe the last two weeks only to find that he was on his way west or on his way to Canada to referee some wrestling match Dempsey gets a kick out of hand band handling bandling handling ling these wrestlers now and then exchanging punches where he never gets the worst of it A wrestler cant can't punch Even Frank Gotch was a third-rate third fighter The old Mauler meaning the guy from Manassa has bas a fine home in Los Angeles for his two daughters and his restaurant here has always done well e Tunney and Others Gene Tunney made money a lot lotof lotof of money and married money Tunney certainly has bas no financial worries and never will have bave He is isa isa isa a canny careful administrator of his affairs He is also a smart in in- vestor Among the modern group of fight fight- fighters fighters ers both Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta wont won't need any benefits Both have done extremely well fi financially fi- fi financially financially and haven't thrown too much coin away It uIt would surprise you Eddie Eagan said recently to Uta know how much money a number of boxers are putting away each year Some of them are not too well known You dont don't read much about their fights But they do all right |