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About The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1897)
THIS : HESPERIAN We do not Tear the. result of Saturday's football game. There is no cause to be weak kneed, no cause to express a doubt as to the outcome. We know it will be a hard battle; but our men are capable of winning the hard est kind of a battle. We know it is the cru cial test of strength and training; bnt we also know that wc have both the strength and the training. It is evident that Kansas has a strong team; but have we not met strong teams before and defeated them? The Kansas man ager has written letters telling how skilful his men are; but haven't dozens of men before him been the victims of their letters. We see no cause for alarm and if we did that cause should be but an incentive to more work, more ginger,' more spirit, more confidence. There is nothing gained in defeating weak lings; it takes good playing to defeat strong teams and we believe that our men are equal to the emergency now confronting us. A vic tory Saturday means the championship of the league; it means an increased prestige for players, manager and coach; it means an im jR'tus to athletics generally and an augmented sentiment in favor of the college game. We have every chance to win; we shall contest in our own door yard;' a thousand votaries of the scarlet and cream will be on the field cheering the team to victory; the pennant is just ahead waiting to be borne away by Ne braska's stalwart sons. And we sluitl win it as Nebraska is bound to take the Kansas game. If you are faint hearted think on the solid form of our center who stands like the 'Rock of Ages" in a swaying, staggering scrimmage. If you lack nerve, go out and view the giant frames of onr two guards, the "Melancholy Dane" and the (trey-haired 'Son of Erin." Measure the might of our two tackles, the one as strong as Ajax, the other as crafty as IT lyases; and then watch the action of our two ends the one the "Swift footed 'Achilles" and the other the "Wing footed Mercury." Back of the line is a quartet of men who combine all the elements of thorough p'ayers. They are cool, heady, strong, swift and sure. They are reliable in everyway. If the line be broken they can repair it; if it needs bracing they are a sure support; if a run is required they can make it. In short they are the proper men in the pro per places. .Yt'.braskrt is bound to win. Pin this to your lapels; print it on your banners; shout it in the player's ears; let the world know that we believe somewhat in ourselves. Go onto the field with your voices trained and your lungs braced, prepared to shout and sing and screech and roar. And remember always that Nebraska's bound to win. The. highest honor to be obtained in the university year is a place on the Kansas Nebraska Debate. Athletics and oratory have their advocates, but in student opinion there is no greater victory than that of win ning the honors in the forensic event of the year. The contest is open to all; the oppor tunities of all are equal; the benefits are so manifest as to need no recounting; the test is one of metal as well as merit. If there is anything of quality in a man. debating will bring it out. It puts one on his own resources, forces him to relv whollv on his own investi- gation and judgment. It makes him have some self-confidence whether he will or no, and renders him an original investigator and thinker for the purposes of the debate. Shedd and Turner may smash great holes in the enemy's football line: Roper and llager may possess the grace and eloquence of oratory; but it requires a Raker or a Green to face the forensic fusillade of the sons of "Sunny Kan sas." To be sure we lost the decision last year, but the contest was in the "enemy's country" before unqualified judges. This should be an urgent reason for harder work this year. We must win the battle on our own grounds and recover the laurels left at Ijiwrence by last year's team. The November Midland Monthly," a pop ular western literary magazine .contains a poem. "A Life Story," by Guy W. Green law '97. Mr. Green represented the Uni versity in the Kansas-Nebraska debate last year. He was a contributor to the columns of the IIkspkuiax and one of the most popular men in his class. The Hksii:uiax is pleased to note Guy's success in his literary ventures. A political speech in the Law Quiz may 'lie edifying, but it is not teaching "the law." Neither is it the return expected for the $50 fee.
