At the end of the first half it is a good plan to go in for a mental recapitulation that what happens in the second half may be the expected rather than the unexpected. Has one team done a great deal more running than the other without once getting inside its opponent's 25-yard line? If it has, and it is behind in the point total, or there has been no scoring, then it is in worse case than its opponent, on general principles. Has the team with the wind behind it scored? Then when facing the wind it may play for time and conserve its energy with better than an even chance of success. If, on the contrary, the team that had the favoring wind, has frittered away its chances, it is not a sound team, and finds itself in a dangerous position. Upon the answers to these questions and an analysis of the general play may be built a fair prophesy of the ultimate outcome.

Right here the matter of condition plays an important part, and it is often too subtle a problem even for the expert. Under the modern rules men are more apt to become exhausted on the field through their own efforts than because of the constant bumping into their opponents. That is why It is so important to contrast the amount of the work done by the two teams in the first half. A finely conditioned eleven will last through, even though worked more than it ought to have been in the wrong field situations, but if there is any tendency toward "cracking" it should show as soon as a team is on the defense after a period of hard and perhaps fruitless work. The spectator must remember that a tired team will be apt to come to life if it is able to score and so tie up the game, and in the case of sheer grit no rules apply.

I think that if the spectator will follow the suggestions given above he will come nearer than he has in the past to grasping the scheme of football, and so getting more enjoyment out of it, but it means that he must make up his mind to do a lot of thinking while the teams are in action until such time as he can safely follow the ball and at the same time catch the other points of play as a matter of mental habit. His interest in football as well as his understanding of it will also be increased, I feel certain, if he will study the game after it is over with more care than is usually the case. He should compare his own opinions of the team and individual play, and of the generalship, with those of other men who have been trained to watch it carefully, and so the better prepare himself for another season.

There breathes no human being so keen that he can follow a football game from start to finish and catch every one of its finer points, but it is within the powers of every man to get into much closer touch with it than has been the case with the mass of football followers in the past. While it would be a good plan for the spectator to make some study of the rules before the season opens, it is doubtful if even then he would understand the infliction of penalties thoroughly, as he sees them on the field. I am giving here a summary of the penalties and their causes which may be of more value in a hurry than a search through the rule book. I am also undertaking to remind the spectator of the fundamental laws of football that affect almost every play, not attempting to rewrite the rule book, but to call attention to the restrictions under which the teams have to work in a general way. The distance penalties, then, are as follows:

Loss Of Two Yards

Time taken out more than three times in the course of a half. (This is a most unusual penalty, and I have never seen it enforced. There are occasions when for lack of substitutes and because of recurring injuries more time out is needed than is allowed in the rules. In such a case it is common for the captain of the team offended against to waive the penalty.)

Lobs Of Five Yards

Violation of the offside rule, illegal positions, etc. (a) at kick-off; (b) at scrimmage; (c) at kick-out; (d) at punt-out; (e) at try-at-goal; (f) at free kick: player out of bounds (more than one violation in same scrimmage); putting ball in play other than as provided (more than one violation in same scrimmage); guard carrying ball; feint to snap ball; attempt to draw opponents offside; player attempting fan-catch taking more than two steps after making catch; unreasonable delay; interference with opponents before ball is put in play; holding by the defensive side (i.e., holding or otherwise interfering with the hands and arms or actually tackling a man or men not in possession of the ball save in a bona fide attempt to get at the runner); crawling by the player carrying the ball; illegal tackling; unfair play not specifically covered in the rules.

Loss Of Ten Yards

Interference by defensive side in case of forward pass. (This section of Rule XVIII is so important that I give it here in full: "No player of the side which did not put the ball in play shall in any manner interfere with an opponent who has crossed the line of scrimmage until the ball has been touched, except in an actual attempt to catch the ball himself. If a team makes a forward pass the ball is considered to be still in its possession unless and until the pass has been declared incompleted or has been recovered by the opponents.")