News ... 31st December 1944
By Pvt. MEL DIAMOND - Staff Writer
NEW YEAR'S Day in the States is the day on which the hangover becomes an accepted national institution. Also, it is the day of championship football, when top teams of the nation clash before great hordes of people in places known as Sun Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Rose Bowls and any other kind of gravy bowls that will hold 50,000 paid admissions. In better days, GIs- then civilians- used to flock to these games in what is undoubtedly a great and colorful American tradition, but these ain't better days. Nevertheless, tomorrow afternoon old GI bowl-flockers will be treated to a reasonable facsimile of a working tradition. They will migrate from surrounding sectors to watch two all-GI teams staking its claim to sports immortality as the Spaghetti Bowl.
The teams, of course, represent and have been drawn from the 5th Army and the 12th Air Force. Apparently only players with genuine football experience were picked, since both starting elevens, without a single exception, are comprised of men who spent at least two seasons on a college gridiron. You can bet your bottom buck that any football coach in the business- either pro or college- would give a right arm to be able to requisition a batch of these Joes.
IN ADDITION to experience, both lineups possess speed, power and wieght. Beyond that, each line averages better than 210 pounds per man, which is better than a raft of ace college lines boasted this season. And for personalities of potential star caliber, what coach wouldn't hustle out a pen and contract for such guys as the 5th's Cpl. John Moody, sensational Negro All-America back at Morris Brown College from '39 through '41, or 1st Lt. Charlie Henke, Eastern All-Star team end in '42, or, from the 12th, Cpl. Arthur Faircloth, North Carolina State halfback from '41 through '43, or 1st Lt. Edward J. Shanks, high-ranking fullback at Texas Tech from '39 through '41?
There are any number of men on both teams whose names might now be headlined on sports pages all over America if their careers hadn't been cut short by the war. At any rate, there's real talent in harness and if football is your dish you should be able to get bloated on the stuff tomorrow at the Spaghetti Bowl.
To most people a football game is rarely a success if it isn't served with all the trappings. The Old Siwash approach with the bands and cheerleaders and victory songs may sound corny on paper but is practically SOF at any game where one faction tangles with another, with the possible exception of pro football where the same fine high spirits invariably come out of pint bottles. Of course, a good pint bottle isn't partial to pro or amateur football. It just doesn't happen to exist as abundantly as it once did, and don't think this hasn't changed football traditions. Now, for example, more players are carried out than spectators, which is incredible to anyone who has ever spent a Saturday afternoon at a college tilt.
But to get back to the Spaghetti Bowl and Old Siwash. According to the 12th Air Force Special Service Section, the classic tomorrow will lack nothing in the way of color. Each team will have its own 56-piece band and a reserved 1,000-man cheering section which will be led by four Wac cheerleaders.
SO MUCH for the oompa-pa and rah-rah-rah department. If there's a chill in the air- and even if there isn't- there'll be 30 Red Cross girls around to serve hot coffee and doughnuts (What did you expect, Mac- Haig and Haig?). For extra, added attractions during the halves (and remember, you don't have to see a spec for a ducat!) there will be a USO unit, songs by Ella Logan, brief remarks from Tom Meany, New York sports writer, Nick Etten, Yank first sacker, and Ducky Medwick, while Leo "The Terrible Lip" Durocher will bawl the hell out of an Italian umpire for old time's sake.
Most of us probably will be happier gawking at a lovely-to-gawk-at drum majorette named Peggy Jean and the equally lovely "Spaghetti Bowl Queens." The latter will undoubtedly represent the entertainment committee's piece-de-resistance, since both queens will make their appearance on floats. We've been tipped off that the 5th Army float, a jeep painted gold, will bear the blown-up version of Mauldin's Willie on the radiator.