This weekends game will be the feature game in Eastern Collegiate football. The entire east coast will either be at the game, or listening to it on the radio. Over 30,000 seats in Yankee Stadium have already been sold. Most fans will be cheering for their New York team, but almost 800 student tickets have been sold, as were 1,700 alumni tickets.
The team practiced long and hard all week, staying out on the field till sunset. The focus was on quick passes and speed and smoothness of plays. The ball was moving so fast, it looked like a basketball game out there. One scout for NYU watched a practice then reported back to his coach, "They pass to everybody but the water boy and referee." Coach Cann has been holding long practices as well. He had his second string learn Colgate's offense, so that his first team can practice defense. The line up is more or less the same as last weeks. Bob Samuels injured knee has become infected, and he will not play this weekend. The starting lineup for the backfield is still in question, as the second string is just as good as the first. Joe Hill was injured pretty badly at practice yesterday, he will not be in tomorrows game.
The spirit this week at Colgate has been overwhelming. Wednesday at Chapel, spontaneous cheering erupted. The pep rally last night also went very well. The band led a parade from the quad, down past the gym and field, then all the way to town and back. Tonight there is a send off for the team, and after this week, they should be certain that the entire student body is behind them. The freshman team is travelling to New York with the Varsity. They have a game against the NYU freshman Friday afternoon. Last year, the two freshman teams met, with Colgate winning 3-0.
The Hotel Taft is the unofficial headquarters for Colgate in NYC. The Colgate band will be playing in the hotel lobby on Saturday morning. Colgate is bringing a 50 piece band to the game. And their uniforms have all been washed and cleaned, and the instuments have been freshly polished. Jimmy Miller is the drum major this year, the songs "Fight, Fight, Fight", "A Colgate Day" and "Faith of our Fathers" will be featured.
This will be the 5th meeting of these two teams, with Colgate winning one, NYU has won two, and there has been a single tie. However, NYU shut out Colgate last year, in our only defeat of the season, and the Violets lead the total series in points 66-13. Last year, McNameras punting almost was enough to beat Colgate by itself. He is back for another year. Bill Abee and Harry Temple are both excellent blockers. They have two players who are 6 feet tall and 200 pounds. We are going to see a battle of two fundamentally different game plans this weekend. Colgate uses speed and deception, NYU relies on strength and power. Their line rushes hard on defense, and they will try to barrel you over on offense. Which one of these styles will emerge victorious, will not be known until the final play. But the winning team will move one step closer to being the best in the east.
John Orsi will be featured in a new movie that has been released. It is called "The All Americans" and is about the 1931 All American team. It was filmed over the course of 4 weeks at Universal City over the summer. The film will be playing at Smalley's theater next week.
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