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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1966)
Quack Cracks Touch ?Ball Means Pass By DAVE BARONTI Emerald Sports Editor TOUCH FOOTBALL is one game where San Jose State University would stand a chance with the Green Bay Packers. That’s because San Jose has Danny Holman as quarterback—and that’s about all the Spartans would need. Everything in this game is centered around the quarterback. And everything he does is throw. It’s a wonder they call the sport “football” at all. “Aerodynamics or “model airplane flying” would be more appropriate. If you want to know how badly their standard of values is mixed up, feature what would happen if the Wisconsin legislature decided that professional tackle football was too brutal and so replaced it with the professional touch version of the sport. You know what would happen? The first thing the Packers would do would be to trade Paul Hornung. Jim Taylor, Jim Grabowski, Donny Anderson, Herb Ad derly, Ray Nitschke, and Boyd Dowler for Terry Baker, or a quar terback of equal propensities. And Baker would only be a backup man. Baltimore, with Johnny Unitas at the controls, would average about 90 points a game in such a league. But they wouldn’t go undefeated. Middle-aged Norm Van Brocklin the coach would turn into middle-aged Norm Van Brocklin the quarterback once again, and Minnesota would trim Baltimore by about 300-200, or so. Runners just don’t have a chance in this game. A scrambling quarterback such as Fran Tarkenton wouldn’t even be allowed to scramble back into a passing position from the split T. He’d be touched by then. He’d have to use the shotgun. Aa ideal passing-rushing balance for a team in this game would be about 800 yards passing and 0 yards running. Bat that’s really too ideal. Practically speaking, no team’s going to do better than 400 yards passing and minus-400 yards rushing— unless the quarterback throws the ball away as soon as he gets it every down. i« J There is still much to be said for such a league, however. To begin with, the injury situation would be virtually non-existent. Furthermore, there wouldn’t be any need to have penalties such as unsportsmanlike conduct. Things would never progress far enough for a fight. For example, touching the ball-carrier with more than one hand would probably be called “roughing the runner.”_ HOWEVER, DESPITE THESE advantages, touch football would obviously be a flop on the professional level. The game is to be played, not watched. So on the intramural level it is at Oregon, it is not surprising that over 500 men from about 50 teams are playing the sport. And the situation facing a team here is the same as anywhere: find the best quarterback. In that case, the freshman dorms have a distinct advantage. For if an ideal IM quarterback is to be found, he has to have the follow ing two characteristics. One, he must have an arm like Joe Namath. And two, he must be dumb enough not to know how to do any thing except pass (otherwise he’d be on the varsity team). Such a guy is unlikely to live in any other place but a freshman dorm. His January grades and the subsequent selective service notice would insure that. So for the dorms that don’t have such a guy (and for the last zillion years, that has included all of them) as well as for the rest of the organizations playing defensive 0-0 scores are the rule, count scoring zero, maybe one touchdown a game. Practice Already Underway Heads Up for Baseball By RON EACHES Km r raid Sport* Writer It’s “heads up” around Ore gon's Howe Field where base balls have already started Hy ing. They began filling the air and skimming the ground as early as the first day of school when some 60 freshmen and varsity ballplayers under head coach Don Kirsch began fall practice in preparation for spring’s com petition. “This is baseball for t h e younger players,” explained Kirsch. There are a few older players working on specifics but most of those at practice are fresh men or sophomores. “It gives me a chance to get acquainted with them and it gives them a chance to get ac quainted with me,” Kirsch said. “We can evaluate our per sonnel before spring and get an idea of what they can do on the field.” Fall practice covers a span of three weeks and generally lasts from 3:15 to 5:15 p.m. each day. Practice is optional and the players furnish their own gear. “We began with ten days of fundamentals,” said Kirsch, “and now we’re preparing for a se ries of intra-squad games to be gin Thursday.” The intra-squad games will be played on a freshman vs. var sity situation, according to Kirsch. “It’s not usually as one-sided as it sounds since most of the varsity are sophomores,” said Kirsch. “If it’s too much of a mis match I’ll switch the var sity and freshman pitchers around.” Regular practice sessions fol low no set pattern from day to day. "It depends on what we’re trying to accomplish,” said Kirsch. “We begin with hitting practice and then move on to special sessions.” These special sessions are conducted on a small group ba sis and cover pitching, catching, infield and outfield. Baserunning is covered during batting prac tice. “We handle these groups almost instructional like and se lect the practical work as we go along,” Kirsch said. “Most of what is done is in group work. There is very little individual conference. We need to know the ballplayers’ strength and weaknesses and then talk to the individual during the win ter.” Emerald SPORTS WRA Volleyball Set for Tuesday The Women’s Recreation Asso ciation’s volleyball intramural tournament gets under way Tues day, with all teams entered play ing one night a week until No vember 17 when the two teams with the most overall wins meet for the championship. Last year’s winner was Delta ta Gamma. A practice session for all those wishing to participate is sched uled for this evening at Gerlin ger Hall. Today is the deadline for appli cations. Any team interested in participating should have an en try slip in the volleyball intra mural box in Gerlinger Hall by tonight. Any further information may be had by contacting Janet Bush, IM director, at ext. 2282. MIKE WREN DUO Tues.-Sat., 10 p.m.-l a.m. UNO'S 15th & Willamette FREE LUBRICATION ON ALL IMPORTS We would like to invite you to visit our service department where we have factory trained mechanics and complete parts facili ties to handle all of your automotive needs. Bring in your sports car or imported sedan and take advantage of our free lubrication offer during the month of October. HANSEN BROS. TRIUMPH and ALFA-ROMEO Sincerely, FOR Sales 245 E. 6th 342-3315 Service 646 Pearl St. 344-6277 Conditioning also plays an Im portant part in the fall pro gram. Klrsch explained that condi tioning for baseball is different than any other sport. "We work hard on running,” he said. “Not the long distances hut the short sprints. The arm is all impor tant too, especially the training and handling of it." After a week and a half of practice the squad baa suffered no serious injuries. This is part ly due to the physical condition of the players. “We warn them in the sum mer about practice and they’re supposed to stay in shape,” Kirsch said. Most of the squad played summer ball and did stay in shape, but not all, and Kirsch tries to discourage those who didn’t from coming out. "They come out here too eager and not in shape so they get a sore arm,” ho suid. Klrsch keeps his players work ing during the winter months also. They lay o(T actual work through November and Decem ber but many will work on the weaknesses they discovered dur ing fall practice. In mid-January the pitchers and catcher* begin workouts und three weeks later the team starts hitting practice in batting cages. All this is done indoors unless the weather breaks. Among the returning letter men attending fall practice are junior pitchers Clary Kniser and Mike Nicsic, junior catcher Hot) Lindsay and senior second base man Ted Amato. Kit sch also has some outstand ing sophomores In pitchers Ter ry Ley and John Wheeler, who threw back to back no hitters last year, third baseman Larry Hansen and catcher Steve Ar nold. "PIZZA" UNO’S SPAGHETTI HOUSE We Deliver Pizza, Spaghetti, and Ravioli — 5 p.m.-Midnight Live Entertainment Nightly 10:00 p.m. Till ? Open 5 p.m.-l e.m. Closed Mondays Lots of Parking 1491 Willamette 344-2453 ^dating.1 , wocr f OR iN SCUOOl OuRCLOTHESl WILL MAKE YOU SLOW YOUR COOL. mmm Press-Free Post-Grad Shirts and Slacks DACRON adds the extra wear power 66%"DACR0N“ POLYESt E R. 35% COMBI I) COI ION.
