FOOTBALL TEAM FACES HARD GAMES NEXT FALL

A logical consideration of the football prospects for the coming fall necessitates first a consideration of the strength to be expected from the Princeton and Yale teams and then a query as to whether or not Harvard will have sufficient strength to meet this opposition.

Princeton properly faces the 1920 season with confidence. The same coaching corps which developed a successful team in 1919 will be on hand and entrenched with last year's experience to go further along lines of proved merit. The Orange and Black will lose few men from last year's team and can call upon one of the best college freshman teams of a decade to fill in the gaps, not to mention star material which was on the university squad last year, but unavailable through injury or other causes. Any sound analysis of Princeton's prospects must credit them with a better team than that of last fall. That team, playing up to its true form, was mighty hard to beat, and Princeton's highly creditable record in all branches of sport this spring will surely serve as an added incentive to the coaches and players to continue the enviable start of 1920.

Yale Boasts Best Material in Years

Yale openly boasts of the best material in years. They have some 20 or more big, husky linesmen of reputed star calibre among the candidates, and ample speed, weight and skill for the backfield positions. The Harvard game will be played at New Haven with any advantage that the home grounds carry. The coaching force, which did not come up to expectations in 1919, has been torn out by the roots, and Tad Jones, with a few carefully selected helpers, have been put in power. All New Haven seems to have an abundance of confidence in Jones and, since 1916, has rated him as the football genius of a generation. This will mean an esprit de corps running through the football squad and on to the least significant undergraduate.

Thus Harvard is confronted obviously with the task of defeating two teams that promise to be far superior to those of last fall. If the material which ought to be available next fall comes through, the problem may be solved, but there is no superabundance of material and we can ill afford to lose any of those whom we are counting on for next November. The coaches can be relied upon to give the last ounce that they possess, but they do not play the game and should not be expected to perform miracles.

The success or failure of the season will depend very, very largely upon the undergraduate body. If there is a con- tinuation of the atrocious indifference of this spring, failure is practically a certainty. The war is over and the time has come for a complete right about face on the part of every undergraduate in his attitude toward the whole scheme of college affairs. The victories of the past have no bearing on the future unless surrounded by the same influences and the victories of the past were not built on indifference. If every undergraduate would realize that athletics, properly taught, provide the soundest mental training for the problems of later life and simultaneously provide a healthy body to house an active, aggressive mind, perhaps more would engage in athletics. For those who don't participate there is the opportunity to develop intensive loyalty and enthusiasm, two factors vitally essential to success in any field of effort. The coming football season depends very largely upon the attitude of the non-playing undergraduates. We can win if there are some red-blooded he-men around Cambridge who can parallel the group who wouldn't accept anything but victory from 1912 to 1915. There is a lot more satisfaction in celebrating a victory than in hunting up an alibi for a defeat.

"Hell-Fire and Brimstone" at Yale

The following extract from the recent speech of Captain Tim Caliahan to the Eli football squad is evidence of what is to be expected from New Haven:

"The reason for this meeting is to tell you what is expected of you. I will read you Tad Jones' letter to show you what to expect:

"'One thing is certain and you can tell each and everyone for me: the fellows who make up the football team next fall will be those who are ready to go through hell-fire and brimstone for Yale and who are willing to make any sacrifice necessary. There will be no petting or coddling and all concerned might just as well make up their minds to it now as later. I won't have a man on the squad who does not place Yale first and himself and his pleasures second. I am going to be mighty rough on those fellows who don't come back in the fall for the toughest season they have ever gone through.'

"Coach Jones will bring out everything there is in a man. I might say now that there are 11 positions open on next fall's team; no man is secure of his job now. The best man always gets the position on Tad Jones's team. The men on the eleven next fall will be chosen for their knowledge of football. Keep in condition and return prepared to put across the most successful season Yale has ever bad.