473 



legally receive a forward pass. It can really be said therefore that the middle line of the 

 field is no longer the 55-yard line but the 5O-yard line. Furthermore, a change in the rules 

 has been made that makes the 2O-yard line the limit of kick-out instead of the 25-yard line. 

 Hence, the two lines that are marked more heavily than the rest on the field are now the 

 5O-yard line and the 2O-yard line instead of as formerly the 55-yard line and the 25-yard 

 line. The longitudinal lines of marking on the field have also been practically eliminated 

 as they are now of no particular service. The latitudinal lines remain to mark the distance 

 gained and lost. The scoring has also been altered; a touchdown counted five points and 

 the conversion of this touchdown into a goal added one point more, a field kick goal counted 

 four; now a touchdown counts six and its conversion one point, so that a goal and touch- 

 down together count seven and a goal from the field counts only three. 



The method of play has also been somewhat altered, owing to certain changes in the 

 rules. It has recently been enacted that a side shall have four trials to advance the ball 

 the required distance of ten yards instead of three as formerly and this has increased the value 

 of the running game. The restrictions upon the forward pass have also been rendered less 

 severe. A man may now pass the ball so that it crosses the line of scrimmage at any point 

 and he may make the pass as long or as short as he wishes provided he stands at least five 

 yards back of the scrimmage line when he makes the pass. The onside kick has been entirely 

 eliminated. The number of officials, formerly four, has been changed to three, but these 

 three have so much to do that it is not improbable that there may be a return to the old 

 method. However, the number of officials now stands at three, the referee, umpire and lines- 

 man. With all these alterations the play is more interesting and exciting and tends to an 

 increase of scoring possibilities as well as giving an opportunity for the exercise of greater 

 generalship. On the whole it is safe to say that the rules have been improved from the 

 standpoint of player and spectator. . 



The contests of greatest interest in 1912 were, as usual in recent years, those between 

 the three Eastern universities of Harvard, Princeton and Yale. On November 2 at Cam- 

 bridge Harvard defeated Princeton, 16 to 6; on November 16 at Princeton, Yale and Prince- 

 ton played a drawn game, 6 to 6; and on November 23 at New Haven, Harvard defeated 

 Yale, 20 to o. On November 28 the University of Pennsylvania defeated Cornell 7 to 2. 



Association or Soccer football is being encouraged in the United States and has the 

 support of many athletic directors throughout the colleges. It does not attract the large 

 crowds but is popular as a pastime among those who do not care for the perhaps longer and 

 more arduous training of the intercollegiate. It has added one more to the list of sports 

 that help to attract out of doors during the fall and early winter months the student who 

 otherwise would employ his time possibly in a less satisfactory manner. Rugby as such is 

 not played in the United States except by two of the Pacific Coast universities. 



Baseball. In baseball the rules have not been materially altered, nor has the game 

 taken on such distinct divergence as has football. The commanding feature of the baseball 

 situation is. that the public interest has not only been maintained, but has increased ; and 

 ;the attention given to the World's Series, that is, the annual contest between the winners 

 of the American League pennant and the National League pennant, consisting of the winning 

 of four games out of seven, has become a matter of national interest. 



The series of 1911 was exciting, and ended in the victory of the Philadelphia American 

 League Club over the New York National League Club. The series of 1912 was probably 

 the closest ever known in a series of this nature, the Boston American League Club finally 

 winning out in the concluding game of the series after each team had won three games. 

 Public interest in intercollegiate games is also keen. In 1912, on June 13, Princeton defeated 

 Yale at New York by a score of 19 to 6 and won the series between these two universities. 

 Princeton was easily first among all the college teams, winning 21 out of 29 games played 

 with other colleges in 1912. On June 19 Yale defeated Harvard at Cambridge 9 to 6, thus 

 winning the deciding game in the series between these two universities. 



Boxing. Boxing interest saw its height at the time of the Johnson-Jeffries match at Reno, 

 Nev., July 4, 1910, but the permitting of the sport in New York state under a certain board 

 of commissioners has led in the last year or two to considerable development of interest in 

 the so-called athletic-club promotions. On the whole, however, the meteoric career of 

 "Jack" Johnson (the negro champion) has been typical of the ups-and-downs of the pugilistic 

 profession in America. 



Rowing. Intercollegiate boat racing in the United States is represented by two principal 

 regattas, the one at Poughkeepsie on the Hudson river and the other at New London on the 

 Thames. Although Cornell at Poughkeepsie and Harvard at New London have now been 

 monotonously winning for some years there has appeared no diminution of interest, and the 

 crowd in the yachts assemble at the courses just the same, rendering the spectacle as brilliant 

 as ever. There has continued the everlasting and apparently unending discussion of the 

 merits of various strokes, but the subject seems to be one upon which opinions must always 

 differ. Great respect is had in America for the theory as well as the practice of English 

 rowing, and occasionally representatives of American rowing interests have, as in 1912, 

 visited the English crews and compared notes. Whether the two schools are coming grad- 

 ually more nearly together is a question. It is more than likely that constant alteration will 



