Show i YOU VOU may t the he time when jim braddock supposed to be all washed up removed the heavyweight championship crown from i max baers carefree dome after that party we suggested that the primrose trail rarely led to any pugilistic heights or any other athletic heights there are certain physical freaks I 1 wont mention their names in boxing baseball and golf who trained largely on gin scotch and bourbon and still made the headlines for a wh while 1 le but for each one of these exceptions I 1 can name you ten who trained correctly and reached the top of the hill gene tunney jack dempsey joe louis benny leonard bobby jones bill Til tilden derl byron nelson sammy snead jug gene don budge ellsworth vines bill johnston all a of our track 1011 gene gea tunney stars and no 98 per cent of our great football and baseball players such as mel me ott carl hubbell blozis bill dickey but why go on most of these are the ones who count this question was raised by the recent meeting at madison square garden between two primrose trailers from froin the past lee oma and i baksi both started out along the soft and easy road both were physically qualified to do a much better job than they displayed in their efforts but neither was willing to pay the price of condition the price that tunney dempsey and joe louis paid to be ready with the best they had to give and im giving you three of the tops along this rugged ge d road As a general rule the so called primrose trail has a sudden abrupt and dismal finish at the start of their careers oma and baksi were galloping merrily along this trail and getting nowhere in a hurry now both are supposed to have changed their earlier habits in the understanding that both are about the two best heavyweights heavy weights left outside of war service both wasted valuable time in improving themselves it took a world war to plant them up near the front oma seems to be going up faster than baksi he beat the tough ex miner decisively in 10 rounds weighing only pounds to baksis aeeti keeping tr ng in condition this any sermon or lecture on the matter of keeping in shape or the value of hard training but there is a general writing and talking tendency to overplay some of the playboys who traveled a long way up in spite of their odd ways of training harry greb was one so was mickey walker walter hagen was another later ou in his career and there was rube waddell bugs raymond phil douglas great pitchers even the overpowering babe ruth had his bis lapses so did jim thorpe so did grover cleveland alexander but what about the great majority of stars who made a point of being in shape who trained for the job the best conditioned fighters ive known in the last 20 years were gene tunney jack dempsey and joe louis and they were not so bad most of the star ballplayers belong to this list I 1 should say about 92 per cent of them I 1 mean such big leaguers as ty cobb christy mathewson tris speaker eddie collins george lou gehrig carl hubbell mel me ott hans wagner lefty grove joe gor gordon d on B bill ill dickey I 1 could keep on for two columns id say about 39 99 per cent of the college and pro football players the top ones keep in shape aud and retrain refrain at least from the gentle art of getting cockeyed it makes a better story to write or tell about the fellow who was plastered the day or the night before and yet came along alon g to win but I 1 could also tell you about many more who might have won man many more who flopped for the same reason there are of course certain exceptions I 1 but there are not so many exceptions when you rank them against the vast majority who took the other road those who lack the courage or perhaps the fortitude who hope to be athletes without proper training and conditioning are in tor for a heavy price and a heavier jolt they at least are bucking tremendous odds 0 0 football weaknesses football officials have been given too heavy a burden they can make or break any close game it is for this reason that we suggest two changes that will not only help out I 1 the officials but will also help football the first would permit forward I 1 passing any place back of the line the second is that after a forward I 1 pass is thrown it would be made a tree free bal for both receivers iv and defenders it M matter who went after it |