Bell Of The Ball Game

"I like that," I said. "I remember a Dartmouth...."

"Fifteen percent of the student body is out for football," I was interrupted. "Eighty percent participate in some form of athletics."

"Tell that to your Notre Dames and your Michigan States."

"And your Alabamas."

"The austerity bothers some of them," Bowman said. "I had one boy sneak out the first night. There's a high attrition rate, too, because of the academics. I'll start 11 freshmen against DePauw, including the quarterback."

"Maybe you oughta pay 'em under the table," I said, casually dipping into the peanuts.

"Are you kidding? Semipro athletes? That'd be a catastrophe. Where would we get the money? Besides, they're too close as a group within the student body. It'd be bad for morale."

"DePauw has one slight advantage. They can promise their athletes the chance to wait on tables at the sorority houses."

"They used to get an extra day off at Thanksgiving if they beat us."

"There's always a money problem here," Wood said. "You oughta see President Seymour. He'll tell you. I think he collected a million bucks last year in a door-knocking campaign.