The Pennant Is Still Not in the Post
The correspondent from Cleveland must begin with an uncomfortable admission: the weekly honour has gone west. Lasse Petre has three goals, four assists and seven points for British Columbia. Three of those goals and three of those assists came in a twelve-to-one victory. A newspaper which could overlook that afternoon would need more than a compositor; it would need an explanation.
Oberg scored four in that same contest. Kasparik scored four over Saskatchewan’s week. Those are substantial claims upon the reader’s attention. Petre receives this desk’s vote because his work joined the scoring to the making of goals, and because another assist on Sunday completed the week’s outright points lead. The Grizzlies won both appointments and stand five and one. That is a sensible case, even when it arrives from outside Ohio.
Cleveland has consolation enough. Six victories, no defeats. Milwaukee can make precisely the same declaration. The Ironclads shut out Kansas City and then won at Southern California; the Forge defeated Indianapolis and Toronto. I advise both clubs to enjoy their records without attempting to spend them. A perfect January account does not purchase a pennant in advance.
The football men offered a further warning against early declarations. Gulf Coast trailed Pacific by nine after three quarters, then scored twenty-seven in the fourth. New York trailed Houston by twelve at halftime and finished twenty-four ahead. A man who left either ground to catch an early conveyance may now be composing a very firm opinion of the timetable.
Lone Star supplied Sunday’s closing correction. San Francisco arrived unbeaten and left with a twenty-four-to-twelve defeat. Spears had two offensive touchdowns and three named conversion points; Hull added the defensive touchdown which opened the final-quarter margin. Both clubs now stand two and one. There is a considerable difference between being beaten and being finished.
The new division tables will make the Fury standings easier to read. They will not make the matches easier to win. Five clubs remain three and none: Gulf Coast, Nashville, New York, Phoenix and Seattle. The existing conference playoff qualification remains in force. A handsome heading above a column is not an additional victory beneath it.
Sixty-eight results leave the sporting editor with a useful Monday problem: there is more to praise than room to print. We have given every final a line in the ledger. The forecasts may take whatever space remains.