This Business of Athletics

. . . We offer the humble opinion that the value of athletics should not be measured in terms of victory, and that an unfortunate series of defeats is no cause for alarm. The desire to win is, of course, a basic motive in competitions of any sort, but whether a team wins or loses is of no consequence so long as that motive is there. Physical development and the moral benefits of good sportsmanship in competition continue to be the chief virtues of college athletics, despite the victories or losses of individual teams. If the fundamental desire to win no longer burns in the hearts of Princeton athletes, then New Jersey human nature has undergone some very remarkable changes. But if specific victories and defeats have come to be the sole measure of athletic morale, than there is something wrong with Princeton indeed.

It may be that Princeton athletes are losing faith in the present highly-organized state of intercollegiate sports, and are registering a healthful distaste for the modern business of athletics. This in itself is hardly to be regretted. Any move on the part of the "big three"--Harvard, Princeton, and Yale--to make their sport events less elaborate, and especially in the case of football, less of a business and more of a pleasure, is to be welcomed. At any rate, let us have an end to judging athletic morale by number of victories. --Yale News.