Harper's Round Table, September 10, 1895 Part 11

As the ball comes sailing over, the forwards swing into its direction, and become most effective running interference for whichever back catches and runs with the ball. This play, if frequently practised, can be made very effective.

In defensive team-work one of the most important things--next to watching the ball, of course--is for every man to try to discover what play the opposing eleven is going to make next. Having found what it will probably be, their endeavor must be to throw their whole force against it. It is frequently possible to determine not only what the enemy's probable move will be, but exactly what it will be. This can most frequently be done by noting how the half-backs stand, or how the quarter-back is standing or looking. Men will unconsciously glance in the direction they are about to run. If a rusher is to take the ball, it is easier to note that fact than when the leather is going to a half-back, because the rusher is bound to a.s.sume a somewhat different position from that he would take if he were only going to block, or make a hole, or break through.

As soon as the captain or any other player discovers, or feels reasonably confident that he has discovered, what the next play of the opposing team is going to be, he should impart the information to the rest of the team. He should try to do this as secretly as possible, however, or else the opponents will have time to change their signal and make an entirely different advance. It is in a case like this that quick work counts, for if you line up and give your signal quickly the opposing players can scarcely have time to notice the many little points that give away the next move, and so it is harder for them to meet it.

Quick play is essential to successful and effective team-work. After a scrimmage and a down, play should begin at once, _i.e._, just as soon as the centre can secure the ball. Every man in the rush-line and all the backs should be in their positions without the slightest loss of time after they are _sure_ the man who was running is down, and all should be alert for the signal for the next play, which is given during the line-up. Nothing should ever be allowed to interfere with this rapid resumption of positions except a serious injury, and then the injured player should call to his captain for time. Any delay, even by one man, might spoil the next play, and thus injure the chances of the whole team.

And now for a few words about aggressive play. In this, team-work is fully as important as in the defense, and in some cases more so. With the majority of football elevens team-work in aggression is much better done and more fully developed than in defensive play, but it is the team that can offer the best organized defense--all other things being equal--that will stand the better chance of success. The chief aggressive move now in use, and the one that has been most widely adopted by football-players in the past five years, is the interference wedge. This play reached such a stage of development in Harvard's flying wedge, three years ago, that it was the main cause for the latest revision of the rules of the game. But the old interference wedge is a perfectly legitimate football formation, and can be made effective without being dangerous.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WEDGE FORMATION.]

The formation of the men for this play, as every one knows, is that of a V, with the point directed toward the opposing line. The man who is to run with the ball stands inside the two walls of humanity formed by his mates, and it should be his endeavor to keep on running even after the original wedge formation has been destroyed by the resistance of the opponents. The latter, of course, never know what the runner's intention may be, whether to rush out at the apex, or through one of the sides, or to dodge out backwards and attempt a long run around the end.

Consequently they cannot devote their entire force toward one point, and the possibilities of gaining ground are thus increased in the favor of the runner.

It is not well, however, for the runner to use his own discretion as to the manner in which he shall escape from the wedge after it has come against the opposing line. Team-work is invariably injured and weakened when one player holds discretionary power in a ma.s.s play. It is best to decide beforehand where the runner will break through, and have it understood by two of the rushers that they are responsible for a hole.

Of course, the runner should not always pa.s.s out between the same pair.

There should be variations in the play, and the Captain should decide when the line-up is made just which hole to use, judging of this from the appearance of the opposite line-up, and selecting the point of egress where he thinks there will be the weakest resistance. As a rule, it is best to use the wedge only when the opponents are restrained from advancing, as in the kick-off, the kick-out, and after a fair catch, but some of the larger college teams have of late been adopting the trick after ordinary downs. In the Harvard-Yale game of 1891, Yale, with the score 12 to 0 against her, worked a wedge from the middle of the field to the goal-line and scored. Every play was a wedge that pounded the Harvard centre, and won a few feet each time, and at the ten-yard line the quarter-back, instead of pounding, as he had been for twenty minutes, ran back and went around the end for a touch-down. But such continual wedging as that should be adopted only in the most desperate case, and could never be successful except when played by a thoroughly disciplined team in the best of physical condition. Even so, it was a severe strain on the players' staying powers.

A well-formed wedge is bound to make some gain for the side using it, but there are many ways of meeting the play. The most simple, and the one which is probably used more than any other, is that of lying down before it. There is nothing very scientific about this kind of defense, but it has the compensating advantage of effectiveness in most cases. It prevents any further advance of the ma.s.s, for the men at the peak are forced to fall over their prostrate opponents. The danger of using too many men for this sort of blocking, however, is that should the runner escape through a hole in the side, or at the opening in the rear, there are few players left to tackle him.

There are the backs, of course, upon whom this duty of tackling the runner should devolve, but rapid and judicious interference at the proper moment may overcome their efforts, and give to the enemy a clear field. Perhaps the safest way to meet an on-coming wedge is to try to force the peak--that is, to so concentrate your resistance as to change the course of the aggressors and drive them across the field. They are thus exerting just as much of their strength as if they were advancing, and yet are gaining little or no ground. Some of the other methods I have seen used are breaking into the peak by main strength (and this is the method usually adopted against a weaker team); and sending a man over the heads of the leaders, a kind play of which Heffelfinger of Yale was the best exponent.

The best team-play to defeat the object of a kick is still a matter of dispute. There are so many possibilities in the case and so many different directions for the ball to take that, after all, no method can be determined upon beforehand as the best defense. But every team should be provided with several moves for such occasions, and as usual it devolves upon the captain to decide which play to put in operation.

A very good way is to send one or two extra men up into the forward line (the quarter-back and a half-back, preferably), and then to attack the kicking side at any point along which the ball travels in its course. In other words, put as many men forward as you can with the object of securing the ball as soon after it is put into play as possible--while it is being snapped back to the quarter, while it is on its way to the half, while the half is catching it, while he is preparing to kick, while he is kicking, and just as it leaves his foot.

If the kick is safely made, every endeavor should go toward neutralizing its effect. This can be done by good and rapid team-play only, for, after all, the longest kick is of no great avail to your opponent unless he can keep the ball in the territory he has sent it into. The first thing to do, therefore, to neutralize his attack is to stop the opposing ends who are following the ball, and the next important thing is to give full and perfect protection to your own man, who is receiving the ball.

It depends upon the style of the kick, however, as to which of these two moves is of the greatest importance, for if the kick is a high one little can be done against the on-coming ends, and every effort should be made to protect the catcher. On the other hand, if the kick is a long and low one, the catcher will need less protection, and more men can be spared to head off the advance of the opposing rush-line.

The final point of the play is the return of the ball, and on the quickness and coolness of the back depends its success. As a rule it is better for him to run with the ball, for the field is scattered with players, and comparatively clear, and by running the side retains possession of the ball and the chance to make one or more attacking moves that may end in a full recovery of the ground covered by the opponents' kick.

THE GRADUATE.

"You ought to be ashamed to ride that wheel."

"Why? That's what it's made for."

"Can't you see that it's 'tired'?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: STAMPS]

This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor Stamp Department.

_The Numismatist_ states that only 738 U. S. silver dollars were coined in 1894, and that it bids fair to rival its hundred-year older brother (1794) in rarity and value.

The National Bank-Note Company printed all the U.S. stamps from 1870 to 1872. In 1873 they turned over all the plates to the Continental Bank-Note Company which printed the U.S. stamps until the formation of the American Bank-Note Company in 1879. To distinguish the stamps printed by them, the Continental Company placed secret marks on probably every plate, although there is still some doubt as to the secret marks on the 15c. and 30c. stamps. The distinguis.h.i.+ng marks are as follows:

[Ill.u.s.tration]

1 CENT.--A minute dash with ends up-turned placed in the pearl at the left of the numeral of value. Proof specimens show a faint trace on the ball to the right of the numeral. The b.a.l.l.s in the original are all white.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2 CENTS.--The white line which encloses the words "U. S. Postage" turns up in a ball on each side; the ball above the "U" interrupts four shading lines of the frame, the "mark" closes up the inner s.p.a.ce and leaves it solid, while in the original it is open.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

3 CENTS.--The ribbon inscribed with the value has the border where it is turned under at the left side made dark; in the original it has a white edge surrounding it.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

6 CENTS.--The ribbon inscribed with the value has four dark lines of shading where it turns under at the left side; in the original these lines are much shorter and thinner.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

7 CENTS.--The angles of the ball in the right lower corner of frame are capped by a minute semicircle of color: in the original both lower corners are the same.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

10 CENTS.--The label containing the inscription "U. S. Postage" is bordered with a white line which turns up in a ball at each end. That at the right encloses a minute semi-circular mark; on the original the ball is white on each side.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

12 CENTS.--The figure 2 at the turn encloses a colored dot above and below; the originals do not show color.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

24 CENTS.--The last of the half-circle of thirteen stars has the shading of the four lower points deepened; in the original the shading is equal throughout, and the same as on the other stars.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

90 CENTS.--The shading of the four lower points of the right-hand star has been deepened; in the original both stars are shaded the same.

15 CENTS.--The secret mark on this value has not yet been satisfactorily identified. Some think that the mark lies in the outer lines of the triangle at the lower left corner, as some of the Continental printed stamps show a much heavier shading on the enclosing lines than is to be found in the National printed stamps.

30 CENTS.--Also doubtful. Some claim that there is a little dot to the left of the oval frame, but this is probably only a transfer guide.

One dealer in New York supplies four varieties of the 1c., two of the 2c., three of the 3c., three of the 6c., two of the 7c., three of the 10c., and two of the 12c., nineteen varieties in all, including the re-engraved stamps, for $3.25.

M. C. H.--The best way to detach stamps from envelopes is to wet them thoroughly, when they can readily be taken off.

J. T. DELANO, JUN.--The coins are worth face value only.