THE REBOUND

When the god of football reform has grown bloated, frenzied, and irrational it is not unpleasant to make a pilgrimage to his defeated deity--the gargantuan idol with feet of clay. Thus an October afternoon spent witnessing an old and popular sport is an effective antidote to an over-dose of over-emphasis; illusions concerning the importance of football games have been partially removed and the result is that the logical attitude towards the game--that of sanity, that which minimizes both defeats and victories--is once more practicable. Saturday afternoons are seen in a more normal light: as occasions possibly, certainly not as epics.

As one of the original factors in attempting to strip college football of the elephantiasis which was its virus the CRIMSON is only too ready to render honor where honor is due. No one denies that for the spectators the game is perhaps the most fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable of all athletic contests. Rhapsodies have been written about the tang of November twilights, the spirit of youth in friendly rivalry, the benefits of sport for sport's sake; and the fundamental theme is still as it always has been--true.

It is possible that the hue and cry of the last two years which has placed football in the position of the evil genius of American colleges will make way for a finer appreciation of the game itself. Perhaps now sport for its own sake will be more than a phrase. If such is the case, if the game resumes its proper status--a national pastime and nothing more than a pastime--the battle will not have been in vain.