CHAPTER IV

MISTAKES IN THE GAME


Many a football player who reads this book will admit that there arises
in all of us a keen desire to go back into the game. It is not so much a
desire just to play in the game for the mere sake of playing as to
remedy the mistakes we all know we made in the past.

In our football recollections, the defeats we have experienced stand out
the most vividly. Sometimes they live on as nightmares through the
years. As we review the old days we realize that we did not always give
our best. If we could but go back and correct our faults many a defeat
might be turned into a victory.

We reflect that if we had trained a little harder, if we had been more
sincere in our work, paid better attention to the advice given us by the
men who knew, if we had mastered our positions better, it would have
been a different story on many occasions when defeat was our portion.

But that is now all behind us. The games are over. The scores will
always stand. Others have taken our places. We have had our day and
opportunity. In the words of Longfellow,

"The world belongs to those who come the last."

Our records will remain as we left them on the gridiron. Many a man is
recalled in football circles as the one who lost his temper in the big
games and caused his team to suffer by his being ruled out of the game.