“Why?”
“There is not enough head-work behind it. It takes brains to play football, as well as brawn. We’ve got the timber, if it can be properly handled, but no new play has been developed thus far, and every game has been won by the old tactics of other years. Our fault last season, as all confess, was slowness in following up after kicks. Instead of always being under the ball when it dropped, the men who should have been there were somewhere else.”
“Well, surely the coachers are working to remedy that weakness.”
“They are, and they are neglecting everything else, almost. This year we’ll be strong where the eleven was weak last season; but it’s big odds we are weak in some other spot, and that weakness may prove fatal.”
“Well, something is wrong when you get to looking on the dark side of things!”
“Besides that, the game we have been playing thus far is one of brute force, and it has put our best men in hospital. Badger, Quimby, and Pelling could not play to-day.”
“We can get along without Badger.”
“He’s one of the best men on the team.”
“I don’t understand why you always say that, when he is your enemy.”
“I say it because it is true. Only fools lie about their enemies; wise men keep silent or speak the truth.”