HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1976-10-14, Page 24PAGE 1
-T-OODERICHSIGNAL-STAR, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14,197
Seven members of Legion Branch 109 received certificates
of merit at the Honours and Awards Dinner. Recipients
were (front row left to right) B MacLeod, G. Denomy and
E'., Chambers. In the bac, k roware recipients H. Sheardown
(left centre.) and Wm. Beacom (right centre). On the.le,t is
past president R. Chapman who was ehatrfan of the'din-
net Branch. president E. Tonks Is' shown on the right.
Absent when the photo was taken were P. Carroll and D.B.
MacAdarn whp; also received certificates of merit. (Photo
by Fred H. Bisset)
SUGAR 'N$RICF
bg 011t SMI1EY
Now that the hockey
hysteria is over, we armchair
athletes can settle into the.
football season, and lend our
expertise, so lately: freely
'offered to • Scotty Bowman
and the Canadian team, to
those who really. need it, like
the hapless • Russ Jackson and
• .the hopeless Toronto Argos.
I must confess that I'm not
,. ' 'as keen on football as I once
was. W1i n- I was a young
buck, I was crazy about it. I
knew all the players in the big ;•
league, all the standings, all
the'records.
When. I was a kid, we lived
not too far from Ottawa, and I
save :some of the greats in
action .Dave Sprague,
Bummer Stirling, Tony
Golab. .
When I was about 14, my
big brother took me to a Grey
Cup final; a classic between
Winnipeg and Ottawa, •.with
the great little Fritz Hanson,
one, of the first , American
-imports, scampering around
on the field like a waterbug.on
a pond •until he was finally
cr.ushed', by, some huge
homebrew, a behemoth like
Bunny Wadsworth, of the
Rough Riders:
Those were the days when
people went to watch football
games because they loved the
game, not because it was a
status symbol.. to have a
ticket, and also a great oc-
casion for a weekend binge.
My first Grey Cup game
was also my introduction to
rye . whiskey: I sat between.
two .French Canadian gen-
. ' tlemen, knowledgable about
football. They had a mickey
of 'rye. After a particularly
' great play, they'd have :.a
• polite swig each, to keep out
the bitter November chill.
With Gallic . grace, ; theyof-
fered ane a slug. My
Methodist background and
teetotal parents made me
exclaim with horror. But my
14 -year-old . spirit of ad-
venture made .me wet my,
'lips, with one .eye' on^my
brother. I've hada warm spot
for the combination of foot-
ball,. French Canadian
gentlemen, and• rye whiskey
ever since. My mother would
have killed me, if she'd seen.
Nowadays, a kid like that
would probably have a
mickey of. his own. Or worse,
he'd be bludgeoned to death
'by some drunken woman •
behind him, pounding on his
.head: and screaming: "Go,
Stamps, Go!" even though,
she didrr't know the difference
between 'a`wide end and a big
hum.
In high school, I' played
junior, then senior football.;
My •best friends were the
jocks on the football. team,
rather than the academic
• types, the boys in the school
orchestra; . the" members of
the students' council.
Autumns were not school
• work: They were long months
of crisp •fall' afternoons,
tackling, running; throwing,
passing. Then the, hot shower,
and the painful limp a mile
• home through an October
dark with a sprained ankle or
"lo se tooth. And the oc-
casional day of glory, : when
we stuck it to Smiths Falls or
Carleton -Place, and the
cheers were like manna.
• In those days, there was no
money .for. fancy uniforms
and buses to out-of-town
games. ` Most of us wore
home-made . pads with felt
from.the local felt mill. There
were about • half 'a dozen
- :helmets for : the two teams,
When we played out of town,
parents and teaehers tran-
sported the team._ in their,own.
`cars. When wepl d home
game, every stn t and lots
of townspeople re . out to
cheer. The coach was a
volunteer.
Times change: In the .high
school in Whieh I teach, with a
student population of 1,600
(my own high school had 400),
it's impossible, this year, to
muster two teams,senior and
junior. We'll be lucky tohave
one. Because of education
cut-backs, there's -no mony
for buses to transport the
teams. When we do have a
home game, the students
leave in hundreds to walk the
streets, or just hoof around.
,It's sort of sad. Football
used to be character -building,
eventhough you wound up
with a tooth or two missing,
-and a gimpy knee. But if you
weighed 140 -and tackled some
brute of 190, you knew,` you
were• on your way to being a
man. „
In my day; the .emphasis
was'' on offense: running,
passing, trick plays. But with
the , massive • influx of the.
American game, the em-.
.pha'si.s on defense, and
television to 'show, it all, the
game has . r become almost'
dull, . except for. ..the odd
brilliant outburst of speed by
some guy who is being paid a
'phenomenal sum for his skill.
And; the min 'idea nod' is
"hitting." That is, the player
triesto collide with an op-.
ponent with such force, and in
such a way, that the latter
will. be injured. And if it
requires breaking the rules.
deliberately, as I've -.,,en itt
done, for example, on kick
returns, then -go ahead. Take
the penalty, as long as you
can "hit" and:injure the kick
returner when he's not set for
a collision. It's dirty, dirty.
I went to university, and I a.
Played there. And I watched
Joe Krol and Royal Copeland
and company, and it was.
still great. '
But after thewar; the..
Yanks '.took over. Now it's
mechanized.. You have 'an
"offensive" , and a "defen-
sive" team (we used, to play
60 minutes,both ways), and
the chief aim seems: to be to ' b
disable the. opposition.
No wonder it's losing its'
popularity with today's '
students.. They are not so
m.. dumb.
One ; of our high school'
.coaches . revealed the new
attitude. When, he remon-
strated with one of his
rookies', "Hit 'im!. Hit,
the kid retorted: "Why shoula
I
hit him? He's, my friend."
Another kid started.
walking off the . field. in the
middle of ' a play. "Hey!
••'.Where you going?'.'•'the coach `.
wantedto know. The kid said:
'".I'm.gonna have a rest'"
It may not be football, and'
it may make coaches grind
their teeth to the jawbone, but
it's sanity.
•
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