THE GAME'S THE THING

In the growing prominence of Latin athletes Heywood Broun envisions the approaching displacement of the Spartan ideal of ascetic preparation by an Athenian regime of unrestrained living and joyous unconcern. The gloomy "Nos" and "Do nots" of Calvinistic coaches are to be replaced by red wine and an engaging spirit of good fellowship. The "fight talk" of between halves, which can only be compared with the "miserable sinners repent" discourses of Puritan ancestors, will give way to an informal mingling of the athletes with the spectators.

As delightful as the prospect is, especially those who condemn, rightfully or not, the semi-professional methods of collegiate athletics, it cannot become a real condition unless the grandstands drop a little of their Nordic earnestness, and exchange a little of their burning fervor for the more suave encounters of Latin contestants. So long as the spectators fill football with the same excitement with which the Pilgrims fought the devil, so long as they feel that it is a dishonor to lose and a matter of conscience to win, the same rigid regime of fasting and praying will train the povitiates for self-dedication to sport. When a football match becomes the amusement of a holiday afternoon, when the bleachers abandon their zestful purpose of inspiration and guidance--, then athletics will be animated by the spirit which, whether it wins or not, plays for the joy of playing.