THE SPORTING SPIRIT

Mr. Heywood Broun of the New York Tribune has entered into another controversy with his contributors. This time he is defending an article in which he ventured to define the American conception of the "sporting spirit". The lively discussion now being carried on has much to say about the good loser--whether the man who takes defeat stoically is a good sport or a hypocrite.

It seems to us that most of his contributors and Mr. Broun himself are talking beside the point. We doubt whether the good sport can be defined--at any rate it is not his action after the contest that counts. If a team plays the game as well and as hard as it can good sportsmanship will take care of itself. Our idea of a good sport is best represented by the eleven which shows that it can play better football than any other eleven--not one which has a reputation for chivalrously cheering its vanquishers. We would say that the Harvard baseball team which today plays Yale can best demonstrate its sporting spirit by getting more runs than the Elis. We await with confidence such a demonstration.