The Press: Rhythm

Horse races are run every day; baseball goes perpetually on; of tennis and golf there is no end. How is the sporting journalist to find new words to tell of these things? It is an impossible task, yet, somehow, the better members of the newspaper trade manage it. When they fail, their failure is usually confined to an inside page. But last week, in a two column story about the Yale-Harvard boat-race that began on the front page of the Herald-Tribune, Grantland Rice, star writer (believed to have originated the phrase, “Now the goalposts loomed upon the deepening shadow . . .”) set a record. As a noun and in adjectival form, he used the word “rhythm” sixteen times, as follows: Spurts Wail Before Elis Rhythmic Beat . . . the flawless rhythm of Ed Leader. . . Yale’s rhythmic beat. . . . blessed with the finer rhythm and … It was all rhythm . . . Rhythm that Milton and Byron might have . . . lesson in rhythm . . . that matchless—, Yale’s magi c , the marvelous —, the same unbeatable—, a matter of—, the enduring —, the power of —, the— ic power, effort against—, the Leader — , the power of—, when you can beat . . . rhythm.”