Atlanta Daily World

Football Time

Football time is here again. The pros are already training hard and the college all-stars and Philadelphia Eagles have already done their bit in that annual go.

Football is the country's favorite college sport, of course, and while there are those who say that basketball must be rated Number One, because it draws more fans, we must point to the fewer number of football games played and the smaller number of teams.

It is generally agreed that football fans go off the deep end deeper than those of other major college sports. To them the autumn is the grand time of year not because it brings red and gold leaves and brisk weather but because they hear those bands and the cheers of the crowd and feel the old football thrill welling up in their bones.

And the game is spectacular. The fan from the stands has something to watch all the time and usually it is fast. Sometimes it is dangerous and players are hurt. Regardless of whether we like to believe it or not, this rough and dangerous element involved has its attraction for some.

And so we get around to the game and how rough it really is. If you argue that it is too rough, the majority will oppose this viewpoint and point out how much better protected today's players are than they were twenty years ago. If you say that it isn't worth it to a boy, to suffer a bad knee all the rest of his life, or a rupture, or the loss of teeth, etc., the majority will scoff at this and say that it makes men out of boys and is good for them!

If you argue that too much pressure and emphasis is placed on the amateur college sport by the alumni, who want to win above all else, the majority will agree, but few want to do anything about it.

And so on we go, in America, with college football almost dominating the campuses of many schools in various parts of the country throughout the autumn. It is over-emphasis; it is professionalism. It is not the best thing for the spirit and morale of other students on the campus. But the alumni and adult fans love the game the way it now is. And until the grown ups grow up on the subject, the colleges will reflect their sentiment.

For after all, it is the alumni who contribute major portions of expense money to most colleges, or state legislatures. Even in our church schools the old grads are wrapped up in the trend.

And this trend will continue until we alumni and adults reverse it ourselves.