Conference 7.286::sports_90

    	SI has this really cool issue that came out a little while ago
    that has all of the covers for all of the years that SI was around.
    I thought it was really cool.
    
    sean

What a rush...

I was just barely 7 at the time, and 1965 was the year before
I really began watching football in earnest.  However, everything
you mention brings back such memories.

Green Bay, the Giants, Tucker Fredrickson, Bratkowski...the Cards
in St Louis...wow!

Kip Keino, what a blast from the past!


Thanks for the little trip down memory lane...
'Saw

    In 1965, I, too, turned 7 years old.   I don't recall being very
    well focused in on sports at that time.  Other than playing local
    games in the neighborhood.
    
    However, I do recall my father taking me to a Phillies game at
    Connie Mack Stadium in August of 1965.  We got lucky because the
    previous night's game was rained out and rescheduled as a part of
    a doubleheader the next day that we were going.
    
    So, I saw two games that day.  The San Francisco Giants versus the
    Phillies.   I definitely knew who #24 was on the Giants.  Oh my,
    was he special.   I also got to see Juan Marichal pitch the
    opening game.   The Phils actually beat Marichal that day but they
    lost the nightcap to Ray Herbert.   McCovey was on first and Jim
    Ray Hart was the 3rd baseman.
    
    On the Phils, a young Richie Allen was a treat to watch.  Also,
    Jim Bunning and Bobby Wine were on the team.
    
    If you recall, August 1965 was also the month that Juan Marichal
    hit Dodgers' catcher John Roseboro over the head with a bat.  I
    think it was his next start after the start against the Phils that
    I saw.
    
    A special time ...
    
    Bob Hunt
                                     

    	I entered the Marine Corps on 6 December, 1965. So, I had
    	been in that miserable boot camp for 7 days.
    
    	Scott

    Well I'm glad it's bringing some moments back into focus.  I was in the
    Dominican Republic at the time, Johnson was President, a war was
    forthcoming and we were about to be evacuated over to Puerto Rico.
    
    But.....I KNOW that some of the sports noters are ancient now, and
    probably were back in '65 as well.  C'mon....let's here from you!
    
    Glenn

    I was in third grade.  
    
    Great note Glenn!
    
    
    py

    Is this the Wonder Years note ?

>OAKLAND's Tom Flores threw touchdown passes 
>that twice brought the Raiders from behind to beat Denver for the second 
>time in a row, 24-13, 

Some thing's never change!!! 

;^)

Monty
Thank's Glenn

    I was 6 1/2 years old, and my father had season tickets to the Giants
    game, and he took me to a game that season.   I also went to the
    Season Ticket Holder Father/Son Meet the Player's day at Yankee
    Stadium.  What a trip.  Did it  a few times.  Put on a too big Giants
    Jersey, a too big giants helmet and go out on the playing field
    with a bunch of other little kids to have the Giants throw the ball
    to you, talk to you, etc.  My father, and all the other fathers,
    were more proud than anythang else, and probably MORE excited to
    be amongst their heroes.
    
    Kip Keino - that's a trip.
    
    JD

HAHAHAHA yourselves!

All you young whippersnappers who wish you could sit back and
watch Wonder Years and knowingly smile at your family and friends,
and truthfully say "I remember that"...

You're just jealous.

Anyone who was born around '57, '58 and who lived through 7th
grade during the Wonder Years time period will tell you that
those were truly some special, scary, intense, and sometimes
bewildering years....

Homer Jones in the End Zone...amen.  Scramblin' Fran...
Bart Starr, Jerry Kramer, Bob Lily, Dandy Don, Boyd Dowler,
Johnny Unitas, Frany Ryan, Paul Warfield....  Boy do they take
me back.

I didn't follow the AFL then, so you'll have to pardon my not
mentioning many names:  Darryl Lamonica, Ben Davidson,....
Sorry, that's all I remember....


chainsaw

    Way to go Glenn!! Great note. To bad, I was only a little squirt at
    that time. It was fun swimming around. Sorry!! Thats all I can remeber 
    in the year of 1965............................8^)
    
                                          WILL THE THRILL
    

    Speaking of Wonder Years...
    
    I was a getting ready to turn won, er one.  Sadly enough, I was
    too young to appreciate the fact that large men charging headlong
    at each other would become a sport I liked (would like it better
    if they didn't have all that damned equipment on...), smaller, but
    somewhat tall men throwing and hitting a little round white ball
    would become my second third fave spectator sport, and kinda ugly
    men skating around and hitting a little black thing all over the
    ice would become a sport I'd only really start noticing when I moved
    East (Hockey on the West Coast?  Why, the ice would melt..yuk, yuk,
    yuk..   :p   ).
    
    So, I don't feel a burst of nostalgia at all, unless it was for
    the time I bit my cat around then.  Still, it's weird to think skinny
    little Tom Flores was a football player once.....
    
    ----kim

    	'Saw!  You justed called me a jealous young whippersnappah!!  8^)  
    
    	I cain't associate with Wonder Years at all..  I find the show
    	too manipulative and predictable at times.  Like the time the
    	teacher kicked the bucket and he flamed on his exam, etc. etc.
    	
    	I find more personal association and social recognition in
    	Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.  Probably because I am
    	a product of the 80's.
    
    	I cain see where yer coming from though, dude.  Sorry about
    	my unwarranted outburst.
    
    sean

    I was a little over a year old in December '65.  Don't remember shit. 
    Well, that's about all I remember actually. ;-)
    
    	--dan'l

No problem Sean...

Perhaps it was a bit bogus and heinous of me to get on your case, dude.
See, I too can relate to Bill and Ted's Adventure....  I gues I just
identify with some of those puberty type thing in that show...

But I know for sure, however, that every American student had a weird
science teacher at one time or another:

	"And so, the only future of the earth is utter destruction
	 by volcanic lava...."


Kim, you're too much!


Hawkster...  I enjoyed that particular magazine quite a bit too.  The
fire in my loins that started then has yet to be quenched...  But I 
also enjoyed the Acquisitions portions along with the Titles...


'Saw

    Hawk,
    
        Your one sick puppy!! 
                                  
                          	WILL THE THRILL
    

      I was 3 in 1965.  All I remember was jumping off a 4' hi cement wall
    and breaking my leg.  Was trying to jump into a plastic swimming pool
    and a messed up.  Then 3 days later, somehow I "cracked" the cast and
    ended up walking right out of it...ouch that hurt, I think....
    
    		Tim

    In '65 I was 7 (read Sebin).  Went to my first Sox game as a ree-ward
    for getting all A's on my report card.  I was an intellect back
    then as well.  The Sox got trounced by the Yankees 16-2.
    
    Didn't become a Broons fan until 1968.  The Patriots played at either
    Fenway Park or Nickerson Field, but who cared.  Dad said the Giants
    were the best, so they were the best.
    
    Didn't care about B-ball.  Too busy doin' wicked cool stuff like
    putting Yankee (and other undesirable) baseball cards in my spokes to 
    make my bike sound like a motorcycle, trying to convince Debbie
    next door that it was okay to show her thang if I showed her mine,
    and ratting on my brother for pulling the fire alarm.
    
    Ahh, boyhood.
    
    Mark.
    
    

    From .13 ...
    
  >>  Anyone who was born around '57, '58 and who lived through 7th
  >>  grade during the Wonder Years time period will tell you that those
  >>  were truly some special, scary, intense, and sometimes bewildering
  >>  years....
    
    Amen, 'Saw, amen.   "The Wonder Years" is *the* finest show on
    tube today.   The characters, the music, the writing, the
    situations, the scenery, ...  It's got it all.  I refuse to miss
    it under any circumstances.
    
    The things that Kevin Arnold goes through are like knives pointed
    right at my heart.  First phone call to a girl, first date, first
    kiss, school, Little League tryouts, confusion over parents, and
    so on.  Week in and week out, I feel like that show is pointed
    right at me saying "Remember this ???"
    
    I love just about all the characters.  The doom-and-gloom science
    teacher is a riot, the gym teacher from hell is great, his friend
    Paul is wonderful, and his parents are great, too.
    
    I think the character that makes me laugh the most consistently is
    is his older brother Wayne.   Wayne is every kid's worst
    nightmare.   "So, how are things in Kevvie-Land today ???"  Way
    too funny.
    
    Bob Hunt

>    and breaking my leg.  Was trying to jump into a plastic swimming pool
>    and a messed up.  Then 3 days later, somehow I "cracked" the cast and
>    ended up walking right out of it...ouch that hurt, I think....
    
    oooo!  I hate when I do that! ;-)

    
    Yeah, I remember '65 like it wuz yesterday. I was sittin' on the
    back porch with the president and we were discussin' the highlights
    of the Civil War, and then we got into that blowout where "Mudcat"
    Grant trounced Richmond and went all the way that year.
    
    Then we got into the reconstruction of the South, and decided that
    it would be punishment enough to make 'em wait a good long time
    before they could get an NHL franchise.  
    
    Dickster
    

    
    	65' !  I was 3 at that moment! I was busy playing with my Match-box
    cars and Tonka toys in the red Georgia clay dirt! Throwing chunks of coal at
    passing cars! :*)
    
     Good article!  Makes me happy knowing I didn't miss much! :*)
    
    B.A. 

    re .18
    
    Roooolllliing !!!!!
    
    (I can relate, I was 11 months, 3 days old.)
    
    re .27
    
    I knew you were jailbait .....
    
    DrM

    re. 
    
    "Fire in ma loins and all that...."
    
    
    Ya know boys, I think it's just jock itch.  
    
    
    =8)
    
    ---kim

    Just a gleam...

    re: .28
    
    	Jailbait?  A term that I use to describe young, luscious, and 
    virile, and under 18-yr old females.  Poor little darlings.  Not 
    old enough to experience the er, um, talents of this 22 year old.  ;-)  
    
    	Now Doc, I don't know about you, but I prefer a luscious, worldly,
    older woman with long, slim legs.  Paula Abdul or Janet Jackson will
    suffice also.  Sorry to disappoint you.
    
    	Many smileys. 
    
    						 Glen J.

re Paul on the Wonder Years...

I think everyone has had a friend like Paul.  I did.

The kid was about as athletic as an old shoe.  Forget it the kid
just couldn't deal with it.  Dribble a basketball?  I've seen
neurologically impaired kids do it better...  Hit a baseball ---
hahahahahahah...

So we laughed at him in gym class (hey, I wasn't exactly Bruce Jenner
myself, but you know how it is), and we made fun of him outside of
gym class.

Then a funny thing happened.  After having to sit next to him (Walton
came right before Way in homeroom) I got to know him.  And somewhere
between 8th and 9th grade, the kid discovered running.  Hell, he was
running 17 and 18 miles a day when I thought that was a long
way to ride in the car....

Turns out, he was a great guy to know.  Smart, even looked a little like
Paul, but a nice guy.  When he went to college he was a pretty stellar
runner...

Funny how things turn out....
Chainsaw

 12 years old having my first real crush on a girl, and being to afraid
 to tell cause she was with the "In Crowd" and I of course was not. Smoked
 my first cigarette then, skipped school for the first time and was still
 waiting for my other hairs to grow. ;^)....

 hey this sounds like a WY episode... ;^)

 naturally Johnny Most was the greatest thing since sliced bread back then
 also.....

 mike

    It's funny to find out how old/young some of you are.  Especially
    all of you over the hill (30).  I thought you all were about 22.  (-:
    
    I can remember watching Nadia in the '76? Olympics...  That's about
    as far back as my memory goes.

    Watch it you young whippersnapper....
    
    
    py (who remembers when it was a Cities Service sign and not a Citgo
    sign over the left field wall at Fenway)

    
    re: .35
    
    Thanks, Paul, I feel a lot better now.
    
    Thirty is over the hill Karen?   Oohh, that pains me.  Some of us,
    however, like good wine, get better with age.
    
    Not-a-complete-old-phart-yet-Dickster
    
    

    definitely better with age.. course i can remmeber those days
    
    of the girls forts.. the lund  sisters..  hmmm
    

    She is right, 30 is definately over the hill. 

    Dec. of '65 woulda had me running around at the age of nine in my
    black Converse lowcut "rejects".  Had to have the "rejects" stamp on
    the bottom or you were paying too much.
    
    Hockey was the only professional sport I could sit and watch
    attentively at that age.  I'd been to a couple of Bruins games before, 
    but I do have two distinct memories about hockey around this time.  The
    "Gump" broke his leg in a game against the Bruins.  He had a shutout if
    I remember right, and the Canadiens went on to win.  The other memory
    that I'll never forget is Johnny Bower catching a Johnny Buczyk wrist
    shot with his unprotected forehead.  Blood shot all the way to the blue 
    line.  Actually, I think this might have been in '66.  
    
    In '66, magic did find its way onto the Garden ice.  An 18 year old kid 
    with a dirty blond crew cut, began his reign as the best defenseman in 
    the league.  And you can call me biased or whatever, but the style of 
    hockey he displayed during those ten years, has not been matched since.
    
    	      				Steve

But just think, all of us guys "over-the-hill" have first hand
memories of 

	Easy Rider (head out on the highway)
	Electra-Glide in Blue
	Woodstock (with Jimi's righteous Star Spangled Banner)

	Janis telling everyone to take another little piece of her 
		heart.

	Grace singing about "One pill makes you larger, one pill
		makes you small..."

	The Siege of Khe Sahn

	In-A-Gadda-Davita

	Cream

	Otis just sittin' on the dock of the bay, tryin' a little
		tenderness


Man, I might be over the hill, but I wouldn't trade those memories for
all the money in the world.....


Chainsaw, 31 and Damn Proud....

Semper Fi

    May I suggest that someone who has a 1975 SI, put in the "For The
    Record" section for those tots to young to remember 1965.
    
    Glenn

    	'Saw, 31 ain't over the hill by any means!  One of my bestest
    buddies is turning 40 this year and he still hasn't freaking matured
    out of his college daze. 8^) 
    
    	So the moral of this story is... "You're only as old as you
    want to be".  That'll be 100 bucks for this session, dude. 
    
    	BTW, In_A_Gadda_Davita is an awesome toon!  
    
    sean

    
    I once owned a Nehru jacket and love beads.
    
    Dickster
    

    
    	I wish I could say what I remember from Dec. '65. I was only 6
    months old myself. I was probably dribblin' with the best of them
    though.
    
    
    							Dana
    

    I'll join ya in the Nehru jacket department, Dickster!  Wish I had kept
    the sucker for memories sake.  Bright orange and yellow.  No love beads
    though.  I remember when the first guy in my class wore bellbottom
    jeans.  That would have been in 7th grade.  What stares he got, but we
    all soon followed.
    
    					Steve

    I was 10 and was a complete nerd.  Overweight, had stopped wearing
    glasses, smart in school, kind of like that kid from The Wonder
    Years.  I'd been listening to the Celtics for 5 years, the Red Sox
    and Patriots for 2, had yet to discover the Bruins, and before I
    got straight, actually liked BC.  Never played Little League.  Couldn't
    skate.  Had just learned how to ride my bike and tie my shoes.
    
    Now I'm 35.  Probably still a nerd.  Still a Celtics fan, Sox fan,
    Pats fan and Bruins fan.  Absolutely loathe BC.  Now play softball.
    Take long bike rides.  Still can't skate.
    
    John                                                          

    I remember Topo Gigo !
    
    I also remember Little (?) Jimmy Osmond singing 'Put On A Happy
    Face' in a Kool-Aide advert !
    
    Re -2
    John, But can you tie your shoe laces yset ?  ;-)
    
    Wayne (A vintage 58er who watches the Wonder Years and can also
    relate to it, thought I left Canada just into grade 7 !)

    The title was In_A_gadda_of_vida" by Iron Butterfly... A really great
    album.... Side 2 was great also....
    
    35 and hitting the big 36 this summer....
    
    REK
    
    The planet of the Apes movies...
    Swiss Family Robinson
    TV.. Its about time its about spaces two men in a crazy place...
    Red Skelton
    Ed Sullivan
    Peyton Place
    Dick Van Dyke
    Lost in Place...
    Batman!!
    Hogan's hero's
    Smothers Brothers
    Mighty Mouse...

    I can now tie my shoes, but I still have trouble keeping my shirt
    tucked in.
    
    John

    Steve, I meant the song title....
    
    Rick
    
    The Woodstock Album.. I think I still have it somewhere...
    and I still see 8-tracks tapes the flea_markets....

    I remember watching the firsted "Dark Shadows" Episode - the only
    soap I ever watched (It's on in reruns now - I get to see jsut how
    HORRIBLE the sets and acting were!)  I had a Nehru Jacket - my aunt
    bought it for me for Christmas - Silver and black.  
    
    hawk - I tie-dyed a shirt in my sink - purple no less - didn't know
    what I was doing - stained  the sink - had hell to pay when Dad
    got home.   
    
    Grew up watching "Combat", the "Rat Patrol", "Branded", "Bonanza",
    The "Wild,Wild,West" (too cool!), and played war and calvary ALL
    the time  - when not playing baseball.  All ya needed was a few
     sticks, about 3 guys, and you could recreate the Normandy invasion,.
    Didn't need no STINKIN' Nintendo or video games!!!  Ah, Imagination.
    
    Anyone else ever order them war games from the back of comic books?
    Like for $1.99 you got a replica of the Battle Gettsyburg, with
    what seemed like a gazillion pieces!!!  What fun!
    
    In 1965, the whole world consisted of the block I lived on in the
    Bronx.
    
    JD

    
    Let's try this spelling:  Inna Gadda Da Vida    Hmmm...not sure
    about that.  Hafta go home and look at the album (which I picked
    up just around 5 years ago).  The original song was "In the Garden
    of Eden", but when the Butterfly first started performing it they
    tended to slur the words.  They liked the psychedelic sound of it
    and made it official.
    
    My real favorite of the 60's was The Yardbirds.  They were far ahead
    of their time and had a few journeymen guitar players called Clapton,
    Beck, and Page at various points in their evolution.  Still like
    to spin their 'Rave Up' album now and then with "The Train Kept
    A-rollin" on it.
    
    And the 'Stones best album is still "12 X 5".
    
    Dickster
    

    DR LOVELESS.. WAS LINDA RELATED TO HIM??
    
    

  gottagohome, but can't resist a couple of quick observations:

- REK seems to be the oldest fart in here.  (I was waiting for someone to
  beat me.)
    
- I would have thought that you were about 50 the way you note Bob Hunt :^)

- I would have thought that you were about 10 the way you note Chainsaw
  HAHAHAHHAHAHA

Finally, how about a great REK WAG for tonight's game in the Gaaden??

I say 5-2 for the Broons.

avagooweeken,

rick
    
      
    
    

    Thats what I get for not checking my spelling....
    Lost in Space... Dunno how I missed that....
    At 35 3/4 I'm the oldest.... Time for a lotta folks to fess up...
    
        REK
    
    
    
    I do remember sitting by radio listing to the 67 World Series...
    Holding up 8th grade football while the games were on....

    "You can only be young once, but you can always be immature!"
    
    Glenn

Glenn You have created the biggest Junk note in the history of SPORTS!!!

Your welcome





Monty

    
    >    At 35 3/4 I'm the oldest.... Time for a lotta folks to fess up...
    
     To use a P-name that I saw somewhere else:
              "I hope I die before I *act* old"
    
               -The Big FOUR_OH for me-
    
    Dickster, born in the (*gasp*) forties.
    
    

    Oops, must be in the wrong file, I was looking for the SPORTS file.
    
    

    Bob Hunt and JD, you sure you guys didn't grow up in my neighborhood?
    
    We had a tree-house that we used to attack to "save POWs".  I always
    got to be Kirby.  We'd make mud-balls and hurl them as greenades.
    A couple of us had toy rifles.  The rest used sticks.  It didn't
    matter, as if you were shot with either you had to writhe in the
    dirt and die melodramatically.  Falling out of a tree after getting
    blasted by my brother's flame thrower was cool.
    
    You're right, JD... we don't need no steenkin' Nintindos.
    
    We had a wiffle ball league complete with team rosters from the
    NL and AL teams.  GI Joe didn't need no kung fu grip.  He slept
    in a footlocker underneath a tray that kept his helmet, gun and
    other gear.  And he was 12" tall, not some geeky little gumby doll.
    
    We'd play Coleco table hockey while listening to Love Me Do. Chicago
    against Montreal.  Dad had a wiffle, as did me and 2 of my brothers.
    My youngest had long curly hair as he "looked like John-John.
    
    Electric footbal occupied our rainy afternoons, you know the one
    with the felt-line bottom players and the vibrating field.
    
    If you want to see a good movie, see _Stand By Me_.  It shows how
    many of us grew up with our friends and the relationships we had
    established.  It also reminds me of what was really important back
    then.
    
    Mark.

    
    I think the Dickster has the spelling correct, and since he's the
    oldest he gets to make the rules (and take the BLAM!).
    
    Bruce

> Glenn You have created the biggest Junk note in the history of SPORTS!!!
>
> Your welcome
>
> Monty
    
    And I'm proud of it.  Do I get NOTY this year?
    
    Glenn

    Mark,
    
    Pretty good stuff.  Electric football - those vibrating fields were
    too much.  Usually on my set, half the guys would fall over, 1/4
    would turn and go the wrong way, 1/8 would spin in circles, and
    1/8 would actually go the right way.  Ever play bottecap baseball?
    
    Wiffle ball was big - I was always the Red Sox, my friend was always
    the Yankees.  We also played what we called stoop ball.  You got
    one of them rubber balls, and the 'batter' chucked it against the
    stoop (stairs, concrete or brick prefered), and the fielder hadda
    catch it inthe air, or on the ground - but it couldn't go past you.
    Had single, double, triple and homer marks.  Great fun.  Of course
    Stick ball was  big when I was in the city.
    
    Mark - I was always Kirby also -had that BAR stick....
    
    Mud balls - and of course, dirt bombs. 
    
    What about "Kill the Guy with the Ball" - great fun.
    
    JD

    	Wasn't Homerun Derby popular about this time? We used to
    	play it in the back yard with a 29" bat and a tennis
    	ball. Course, you could really catch the ball and then
    	have to spend 15 minutes finding it. We'd throw as hard
    	as we could and no one ever got hurt.
    
    	We also played Homerun Derby with a whiffle ball and bat.
    
    	Man, you could really make those whiffle balls curve.
    
    	scott (42 years, 9 months)

First off, this *IS* Sports.  Sports is a microcosm of our experiences
on this planet in this life...so is this topic.

Playin' War.   Our prized possession was a survival knife that one
of the neighbors fathers brought home from the service.  I'd wear
my dad's dog-tags.  So what if he was in subs, I was the only one
with tags, so I could say I was army.

We were all Sgts, since that's what Vic Morrow was in Combat.

We had this hill in my back yard, down to a brook.  There was
a stone wall at the top.  Some days we'd start up hill, tight
against the wall, and then go over the wall and down the hill
low, on our bellies.  Every once in while going over the wall you'd
take a hit from the Kraut machine gun on the other side of the
brook.  Hamlet never died so well as we did.

Other days, we'd take the hill.  Start at the bottom.  If it was
April vacation, or summertime, the thing to do was to crawl through
the brook.  Up the hill, over the wall...


Then, somewhere along the line we grew up.  The pictures on the news
of Vietnam showed us that war is not a game.   And ultimately working
with a German fellow who'd been in the Wehrmacht showed me that the
dreaded "Krauts" were people with dreams, and aspirations, and feelings
just like me.

Growing up I guess is what it's all about.

But, as they say in Stand by Me...

	"Pez...Cherry flavored Pez"


later dudes,
Chainsaw

    
    i play now down cape.. we have a ball , playing the kids in
    neighborhood
    

  >>  - I would have thought that you were about 50 the way you note Bob
  >>  Hunt :^)
    
    I don't know whether to be pissed or flattered.
    
    Care to elaborate ???
    
    Bob Hunt
    
    And, Mark, no, I don't think that you, JD, and I grew up in the
    same neighborhood but it doesn't really matter, does it ???  The
    experiences seem universal, don't they ???

    < Note 240.75 by SHALOT::HUNT "Heartbreak Motor Oil and Bombay Gin" >
    
>    And, Mark, no, I don't think that you, JD, and I grew up in the
>    same neighborhood but it doesn't really matter, does it ???  The
>    experiences seem universal, don't they ???

    Yeah, Bob, they do.  
    
    BTW the trial note is the longest junknote on the net. :^)

>> But, as they say in Stand by Me...
>>
>>	"Pez...Cherry flavored Pez"

    So, what the hell is "Goofy" anyway ???
    
    Superman, definitely.  Mighty Mouse is a cartoon character. 
    Superman is a real guy.
    
    Have you seen Annette's <titles> lately ???
    
    Yeah, didja see how the "A" and the "E" are kinda curving around
    the sides of her shirt ???
    
    Bob Hunt
    

    >Electric footbal occupied our rainy afternoons, you know the one
    >with the felt-line bottom players and the vibrating field.
    
    In '66 I was probably into a few cartoons and picture books, and
    didn't get this wondrous game until the early '70s.  This was the
    funniest thing of all time...I remember lining up all the players on
    both sides, then my running back would go round and round in tight
    circles.  I'd bring in the QB for a pass, attach the little felt ball,
    pull back the arm, and the felt ball would hit the piano, 10 feet from
    the player I was aiming for.  Then I'd adjust the little plastic tines
    on the bottom of my left guard, who seemed to be the fastest runner for
    some reason, and he'd immediately turn around, and head for the wrong
    end zone.  
    
    God, that game kept me occupied for hours.  Jets always won too!
    
    Dan

Back then in Worcester you used to be able to burn your trash so we'd scurry
around and find all the aresol cans we could find and put them babies on top
of the grate that covered the fire barrel. Boy would those things explode!

Also used to play agame where we'd give a song a different name than a title
and you'd have to guess the song:


 example:  Red Soxs World Series

 the answer

     The Impossible Dream     ;^)

mike

    We had the electric football game, too.  It was a scream, wasn't
    it ???
    
    One of the funniest things to me about it was that my dad took it
    way too seriously.  I guess he expected a little more law and
    order while I was totally amused by all the electric chaos.  He
    would actually get a little steamed if the running back constantly
    headed for the wrong end zone or the tight end just spun around in
    little tight circles.
    
    We gave it up pretty soon.  Then he turned me on to "Cadaco
    All-Star Baseball" and I was never the same little boy again.
    
    Bob Hunt

    SHES OFF TO SCHOOL NOW, THE POOR KIS GETS DUMPED.. WHAT HAPPENNS
    NOW?
    

         
    My dad got me my 1st electric football game in '61.  I was 4.  I
    also got a electric racing car track.  I'll never forget waking
    up Christmas morning to these 2 games I never knew about until then,
    but immediately realized it was exactly what I wanted.  After everyone
    opened their presents I wanted to play with my new games, but was
    told I had to take my nap (I was probably up since 3 am).  Sadly, I
    went to bed.  About 10 minutes later I woke up to this grinding
    noise.  I got out of bed, looked into the living room, and there
    was my father playing with MY electric football game.  Needless
    to say, I stayed up.  I was the Browns, my dad the Giants, who won
    on a Tittle pass (of course).                                 
                                                      
    I still remember that day as my most favorite Christmas.  Racing
    cars AND electric football.  What more could a kid want?
                                                      
    Bruce                       
                                

    
    Speaking of games, my bro' and I had one of those hockey games where
    the players are controlled by rods on each end.  The set came equipped
    with the Canadiens and the Leafs, but we found we could order the
    other flat metal players for the other teams (all six!). 
    
    I remember taking a red magic marker to one of the Leaf men and
    making him "Red" Berenson.  We set up leagues, and took turns with
    the teams.  Since we played about equally, on any given day one
    team could beat any other.
    
    The puck was just a little bit out of scale, and if such an item
    were used in a real hockey game, it would resemble a hassock being
    pushed around the ice.  To make our game a little faster we broke
    a wheel of an electric train off.  Got so we could lift the puck
    for more realism.
    
    Dickster
    
      P.S. "Stoopball" (we called the game 'outs') was great!  I agree
           with whoever said "screw nintendo".  All you needed for an
           afternoon of fun was a 10-cent pink 'high bouncer' and some
           steps.
    

    
    Did anyone else curve the sticks on their rod hockey men to try
    to get their opponent in the face?
    
    Bruce, who also sent away for the other teams.

    Yes, that was *great* Wonder Years episode.  The daughter, Karen,
    spent the entire time really torquing the old man.  Refusing to
    discuss college plans, rejecting her birthday party plans, staying
    out late, wearing radical '60s garb, and so on ...
    
    Kevin was royally confused, his mom was trying to play peacemaker
    and Wayne was his usual butthead self.
    
    Then at the very end with the tension level at maximum boiling
    point, he gives her his Korean War backpack and tells her how
    special it was to him and for her to use it wherever she goes.
    
    She bubbles up and then opens the backpack.   His Army dog tags
    fall out and he quietly asks for them back. She hands them back to
    him and the camera fades.
    
    Great stuff.  Great show.
    
    Bob Hunt

    Hey B.A.,
    
    	Where at in Georgia?  We were in Warner Robbins in '65. My 
    	Dad was stationed at the AFB there.
    
    	I remember dirt clod wars and catching lizard & snakes at
    	that time.  We played sandlot baseball next to a cemetary.
    	I was the youngest and was picked last until one day I
    	tatered one into the fenced in cemetary.....no one would
    	go get the ball!
    
    	JD, Dark Shadows used to scare the sh*t out of me.  Barnabus
    	Collins was one scary dude!
    
    	I also remember tearing apart roller skates and making 
    	skate-boards out of them and scrap pieces of wood.  They
    	didn't work too great.
    
    	Do you guys remember PF Flyers tennis shoes?  They were
    	the *in* shoe at the time for kids.  The commercials
    	advertised how you could run faster and jump higher......
    
	I also had one of those pitch-back contraptions.  Remember
    	those?  They had a strike zone sewed into the net.
    
    	Ah memories...<insert Barbara Streisand singing "Memories">
    
    ClayBroon

    Ah, yes....
    My wife of two years and I were in the US Air Force in Anchorage,
    Alaska, waiting to be discharged in EIGHT DAYS, after having served
    just under four years.  We were in Alaska for two weeks short of two
    years.  Anchorage was a real trip!  Many, many happy, and some unhappy,
    memories...
    
    				Thanks for the mems....
    
    				  Tom (50 next month)

    
    >    Did anyone else curve the sticks on their rod hockey men to try
    to get their opponent in the face?
  
    Ah, Bruce, I can see you were a real student of the game in your
    younger, impressionable days.
    
    Ummmm...did your parents by any chance take you to see the nice
    man downtown and let him talk to you while you laid on the couch?
    
    Ummmmm.....and when you went to school....uh....did you ride on
    a long bus or a short bus?
    
    Dickster
    

    '65 was before my time but growing up a had our dirt clod wars, sandlot
    games. One of my favorite was "Over the line" where you'd toss up the
    ball and nail it. You had to hit it so far for a single, double,
    triple, and homer. 
    
    Another game was home run derby, where you'd pitch to your own team and
    if they didn't hit it over the fence it was an out. 
    
    perhaps the funniest game we played was "Butts up". Everyone whould
    throw a tennis ball against a wall and whoever hit the wall the highest
    had to go bend over in front of the wall and everyone would do their
    best Nolan Ryan windup and throw fastballs at the guy against the wall. 
    You got 5 pts for hitting the guy, 10 for hitting a cheek, and 25 for
    the sh*t-stopper ( a dead-aim crack shot)! 
    
    Did anyone else play "Smear the Queer"? Where you'd toss a football and
    whoever picked it up got mauled by everyone else playing. 
    
    the devil dog

    Disclaimer: Sorry if anyone is of this descent, but this is what the
    game was called.
    
    Anyone ever play Polish Baseball?  There was only one base, everything
    was in play (hit forwards or backwards), and you could stack as many
    baserunners on a base as you could.  You could score 10 runs on 1 hit!
    
    We usually played with something soft like a volleyball because the
    defense was allowed to throw the ball at a runner to get him out.
    
    It was hilarious!
    
    Mike

    re .90
    
    You played Butts Up too !
    
    YEAH BOUYEE !!!!!!!!! 
    
    8th grade, we used to play a variation of B.U. and handball I think,
    and if you missed or short-hop the wall, you had to run like hell
    to the wall before we hit it withthe ball. If you wasn't in time,
    
    BUTT'S UP !
    
    And we used to play with about 10-20 guys .... talk about firing
    squads and running the gauntlet ... HAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!!
    
    The school nurse couldn't figure out why so many youngsters had
    hemmoroids ... :-) :-)

    Devil Dog,
    
    "Smear the Queer" is what we called "Kill the Guy with the Ball".
    What about Red Rover, Red Rover, Ring-a-lario, and of course, firebug
    baseball (Got your wifle ball bat, looked for glowing firebugs,
    and swung at em.  Lots of laughs if you missed, but a homer was
    when the firebug stuff smeared on your bat and it glowed for a bit!)
    
    re; Bruce May - wow, electric footaball and racing  on teh same
    day - WOW!.  I got mine in increments.   I stillhave my train set,
    electric football, race car set, and hcokey game at my parents house.
    Hockey games' surface has warped though.  Mine had 3 pucks - a wooden
    one, a ball bearing one, and a magnetic one.  The ball bearing was
    fast, but the magnetic was fun because with luck, you could get
    it to stick to the goalies haid or sometime to another player.
    
    Re: all
    
    Anyone remember the real dorky cartoons taht were on like Gigantor!,
    Speed Racer, and DoDo the Kid from Outer Space.  How bout the Paul
    Rever and the Raiders show?
    
    JD

   	Sitting in a bar on Okinawa, with two big questions on my mind:

   Is that cute little gal with the slit skirt really trying to pick me
   up?

   Are those stoopid SLOF's really planning on sending us to BitNam?

   UHYEP!

   Mike JN

    >Did anyone else play "Smear the Queer"? Where you'd toss a football and
    >whoever picked it up got mauled by everyone else playing. 
    
    Yup, used to play this quite a bit d_dog.  We used to call it "Free for
    All" though.  Usually the guy who was real good at "drop-nuts" was good
    at this game as well.  Had to be real quick!
    
    					Steve

    Figures Dock would love that butt game......  :-)
    
    JD, here's another cartoon I watched *alot* - The 8th Man.
    
    

    Re: Cartoons
    
    Whatever happened to "Speed Racer"?
    
    Mike

     
    "Smear the Queen" football is still played by defensive linemen
    playing the Browns. ;^)
    
    Dickster
    

    Speed Racer, Clutch Cargo (love those moving lips), Bandit, QT Hush,
    Kimba, the original Looney Toons, Ruff n Ready, Thunderbirds, The
    Littlest Hobo, Lassie (how many cried when Timmy lost Lassie in
    that boating mishap?)...the list goes on.
    
    Remember the Beatles cartoons on Saturday mornings...with the little
    ball bouncing above the words during the singalong.
    
    Dodo, Major Mudd, Roger Ramjet.....
    
    
    Mark.

Those hockeys games were the world's greatest invention.  

I had mine in 7th grade, in 1970, however.  It was cool, because
our science teacher, who was not Mr Doom and Gloom, but a 
real honest-to-God hippie type guy, used to have one in our room.

If you finished early, and your work was right, you got to play
him.  Rick Neidbala (pronounced Nibla) was his name.  The world's
great Bruins fan.  Too cool!  Our room was covered with Bruins posters
and stuff.

My set also had the three pucks.  Never sent away for the other teams
but played lots of series with my brother.  I liked that ball bearing
puck. 

One time, with the wooden puck, I wanged it so hard it would have
gone into the upper deck at the Civic Center, but in reality it
just missed my brother's haid, never mind his goalie's haid...


Electric Football was too funny.  I loved it when the guys would kind
of half fall over and run around on the edge of their thing and two
"legs"....they looked so queer..

We'd play a game called outfield.  We had a big yard, so my bro and
I took turns being the outfielder.  He'd throw this wicked high
fly or line drive.  We'd keep track of how many you missed.  If you
dove for a catch and made it, you'd get to take back one of your 
misses....


Played handball at schools.  We'd get like twenty kids out there.
Never forget this one girl, Nancy..she had the hottest Aquisition
I'd ever seen, and her Litigations weren't bad either...of course
hot pants were in too.  But I digress...

Anyway, we'd get a number and that was your order.  You'd play
the ball either directly off the wall or on one hop, in your
order (we used a tennis ball).  If you missed three times, you
were out.  Last one left won...  I used to miss three early just
so I could watch Nancy's Acquisition while she played in her really
wicked short yellow hot pants... 

Talk about Loinal_Fire(tm).....

'Saw

    Here he comes, here comes Speed racer,
    he's a demon on wheels"
    
    I loved that cartoon!!!
    
    re Butts Up, we used to play that if you hit the ground you was
    automatically up. 
    
    Another game we liked to play was pickel. Based on baseball rundowns.

    still play pickel..... course the younger kids always run out of
    baseline  but what the heck.
    
    dinz
    

What was the one that was similar to Clutch Cargo but took
place in space...was it Space Angel???

Cain't remember...

Anyone remember Tom Terrific and his dog?

God this is a great note...


Say, did they ever run the Flash Gordon serials (with Buster Crabbe
as Flash) where you were?  They did down here and it was one of
my favorites.  Rush home EVERY day after school just to catch
the nexted episode...

'saw

    Main stay sports games when we didn't have enough for a real game were
    Kill the Guy with the Ball, RUnning Bases (pickel), and Fly Out.
    
    In Fly Out, the object was to bat.  WHen you were at bat, you were
    supposed to hit the ball in the air towards a bunch of kids.  Whomever
    caught it would be the next to bat.  If no one catches it, you can stay
    up.  Lots of good jockeying for position when the ball went into the
    cluster.
    
    And, BTW, the correct term for the ammo in the army games is "Dirt
    Bomb".  Accept no substitutes.
    
    Dan

    
    Tom terrific and his dog, the Mighty Manfred?
    
    Yeah, I remember those Flash Gordon jobs.  Real great props.  They
    dressed in aluminum foil, and the rocket looked like it was fabricated
    from an empty toilet paper roller with a sparkler stuck in it. 
    Then they'd be on the ship and go from room to room, but actually
    it was the same room in every scene.
    
    Dickster
    

    > "Smear the Queen" football is still played by defensive linemen
    >playing the Browns.
    
    Are you sure it isn't "Smooch the Queer" ? :):):):)
    

Flash Gordon... too cool. I love it.  You never knew if he
was going to get Dale(was that her name?) or if he would wind
up with Ming's daughter, who if I remember right had pretty
nice Titles considering when the thing was made.
That certainly awoke my barely 7 year old loinal_fire...


One episode I remember was when those mud people finally turned
back to real men.

And I liked the helmets with the lightening bolts coming off them
or whatever.

    
    "Fly Out" reminds me of a similar game we called "Rollie-pollie."
    You got to hit the ball (usually covered with electrician's tape,
    since nobody ever seemed to have a new one), and then you laid the
    bat down across home plate.  The fielder who caught the ball had
    to throw/roll the ball from where he caught it.  If he hit the bat,
    he then got to hit.  A ball that bounced over the bat didn't count.
    
    Sigh, this has been a great afternoon.
    
    Does anyone happen to know when was the last time they actually
    saw a real baseball pickup game played by kids?  Not talkin' little
    league practice or anything, but just a bunch of kids who would
    go the park or sandlot with their taped ball and taped bat and look
    for other kids to start a game?
    
    I see plenty of 'em playing basketball, and a lot of 'em playing
    tennis, and what's worse, some of 'em are practicing their chipping
    and putting.  It's the end of civilization and America as we know
    it.
    
    "Baseball?  Oh, it's O.K., I guess.  I've got the Nintendo version
    at home, but I really don't understand it that much.  Mario III
    has much better graphics and it's wicked awesome..."
    
    (sigh)
    
    Dickster
    

    Dick, haven't seen a sandlot baseball game in progress, but I do
    play street hockey with the neighborhood kids.  We build a net out
    of 2x4s and chicken fence.  I usually play goalie so the kids won't
    get hurt.
    

    It's a blast.  I even had the spousal unit out there playing.
    
    Mark.

    Yo Dickster we did just that about a month ago. My dad, an uncle,me,
    and about 5 friends were gonna play Over the Line and when we got to
    the field there was some people playing, so we had a baseball game.
    Each hitting team supplied the catcher. Mucho fun. Especially the DP me
    and my dad turned. 
    
    We also played Diamond racquetball. We'd hit a pitched racquetball and
    run to a base some 40 yards away  down the center of the field. the ways
    to get out were to get hit by the ball, a force out at the base and to
    hit the screen wif da ball before you got back.

    FWIW,
    
    The #1 song in the nation in 1965 was:
    
    (I cain't get no)  Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones
    
    JD

    re .105
    
    That's "Scott McCloud....Spaaaace Angel" to you.
    
    Brought to me courtesy of Garfield Goose, King of the United States,
    who was an incredibly dumb puppet.
    
    In '65, I was 13 and still two years shy of discovering pro sports...any
    spectator sports for that matter.  Mostly 'cause my folks didn't
    follow any of 'em (I took Mom to the ballpark for the first and
    only time she went my senior year of high school, after I'd been
    with friends a coupla times.)
    
    A&W

    How about Whiffle Ball?  We played that for hours when we were short
    for a real game.
    
    Only a geek couldn't throw a mean "dropped off the table" curve with
    one of those balls!
    
    Mike

    We played alot of "500" when we didn't have enough players.
    I believe the scoring went 100 for a fly ball, 75 for a one
    hopper, and 50 for anything else.  If you missed a ball, the
    appropriate points would be deducted.  Damn, I can't wait
    to teach my son these games we used to play..........
    
    We still play pepper before softball games.  It gets hilarious
    when you have to make 3 or more flips!
    
    ClayBroon

                       H O M E   R U N  D E R B Y !!

   MIKE JN

    re wiffle ball, pepper, homerun derby, 500. 
    
    Me & my bros still play 'em all. My little bro had a corkscrew ball
    with a wiffleball. tough pitch to hit.

>    Me & my bros still play 'em all. 
    
    Aw grow up Jess! ;-)  Me and my brother-in-laws still play a lot of
    these games too.
    
    Mike

>>  >>  - I would have thought that you were about 50 the way you note Bob
>>  >>  Hunt :^)
    
>>    I don't know whether to be pissed or flattered.
    
>>    Care to elaborate ???
    
>>    Bob Hunt
  
Bob, when in doubt, be flattered...

Observing from thousands of miles away, and not being able to put any faces
on the names means that I end up imagining what everyone is like.  Since you
often come up with some key fact that settles some major confusion, you seemed
to be the sort of Elder Statesman.

'Saw is so overflowing with enthusiasm you'd think he was a teenager!!

And so on......

Anyway, none of you guys can be that smart since you didn't mention The 
Honeymooners in all this reminiscing.  Ha.  Your rendition of Oh Canada was
not bad on the hand, hoser.

rick ellis @geo

    Does any one else remember Stingray.. with all the puppets?
    
            REK
    
    How about King Kong... the cartoon... Casper the friendly ghost!
    
    Every saturday... at noon.. candlepin Bowling  and at 1:00 Junior
    candlepin bowling.....

    You mean DEVO didn't write "Satisfaction?"
    
    Mark.

5,4,3,2,1, Thunderbirds....


Not that I'm old enough to remember them...Just turned an old 26 yesterday.



Metz

    Hey, Your talking about Thunderbirds !
    
    I remeber Saturday mornings, getting up a 7am to watch all the cartoons
    untill lunchtime  !
    
    Bullwinkle and Rockie !
    Kimba (sp) the white lion !
    
    And Archie comics !
    
    Boy, I miss them. Are they still about ? Is Archie Andrews still
    a teenager ? Does Jughead still eat a lot ? 
    
    Wayne

                              /\
                             /  \
                              ||
                              ||
                              ||
    
                       My 10th birthday.
    
                             HOOT

    Wow are you old, no wonder you like the Raiders... ha ha....
    
    I was 25 months+
    
    -Walt

    Hawk, I just got caught up on this note.  Anyway, I was 50 in January
    of this year.  If I'm the elder statesman in here, so be it.
    
    Anyway, back to games.  We used to play half-ball.  We'd buy this
    pink hollow ball, and cut it in two, right along the seam.  The
    pitcher would then scale it in, curved side up.  You could really
    throw some wicked curves with it.  The batter used a sawed-off broom
    handle, about the length of a baseball bat.  We used to play this
    a lot, cause our "playground" was a dirt parking lot surrounded
    by houses.  Not much space there.
    
    Another game we played was with just two guys.  There was a telephone
    line running across a small section of the lot.  One guy on each
    side, and you got points by either throwing or kicking a football
    where the other guy couldn't catch it.  Different points for different
    shots.  A drop-kick (my specialty) was 3 points, a punt was 2, a
    regular pass 1, a lateral was 4, etc.  There were boundaries of
    a sort, so we did have a defined playing field.
    
    Another great game was "arrows".  We'd go to a place called the
    sandpits, where there was this hill that was clear.  One guy would
    sit at the peak of the hill, while everyone else would be at the
    bottom.  We'd take turns shooting target arrows at the guy, using
    our home-made bows.  Whoever came the closest without hitting him
    would be the winner.  Usually, this one guy was the target, cause
    the rest of us had more sense than that.  I'm mean, who's the craziest,
    the guy who sits as a target, or the guy who shoots at him?
    You couldn't shoot right at him, you kind of had to shoot into the
    sky, and have the arrow loop down towards him.  Saw him get hit
    once, right on his you-know-what.  He was sitting with his legs
    spread out, so his dungarees were like a shield.  The arrow didn't
    pierce the dungarees, but the way he rolled down the hill, yelling
    like crazy, sure put fear into us.  I don't think we ever played
    that game again during that whole week.  :*)
    
    In winter, we'd go to this hill that was pretty steep, and it ended
    as the top of a wall.  The wall dropped just a few feet, but the
    snow would build-up right there.  So, it was like a wall of snow.
    We'd ride a toboggan, with a flannel blanket over us.  Nobody could
    see, so we didn't know when we'd hit that snowbank.  The first guy
    always had to be pulled out by the others, he'd be buried deep in
    the bank.
    
    Anybody ever play chestnuts?

    Ahh, the good ole days.

    Lee

Lee --

Did you grow up in Boston?  The reason I ask is that I have 
a friend who did, and he has related many stories about "halfball"
to me.  He's a few years younger than you...

Also, I've never heard of that game anywhere outside of the Bahston
area, so I figure it might just be a Bahston invention...

Chainsaw

    
    We used to play Toad Toss. We'd wing a toad over the roof of my
    house (a cape) and see how long it could survive. You'd be surprised
    at how long a toad will last, and also it appeared that they did
    enjoy the sensation of flying! Unless of course you threw it a bit
    hard and it landed inthe street! Ouch! 
    
    
    
    Steve

    
    re: .132
    
    Man, young boys could be cruel bastards.
    
    I remember going fishing just about every day in the Merrimack river
    when I was young.  The river was so polluted then you would never
    dare eat anything out of it.
    
    Some of the eels we pulled out were close to three feet long, and
    you had to bash 'em quite a few times to get 'em to calm down enough
    to get the hook out.  Someone always had some firecrackers for the
    more difficult jobs.
    
    If you used a piece of half-cooked potato for bait you would attract
    carp, which was a real prize because they could get to be pretty
    big.
    
    Ah...just writing brings back memories of the sickening chemical
    smell of that dirty ol' river, and fond memories at that.
    
    Dickster
    

    
    AH yes chateau Merrimack, I lived by the Nashua, quite an olfactory
    experience at times! Did you ever catch a red carp? Those things
    are one grotesque looking fish.
    
    
    Steve

    
    A red carp?  That must either be a_overgrown goldfish, or a regular
    carp that lived in the discharge from the woolen mills.  Actually,
    the fish could have been any color, depending on what particular
    dye lot was being run that day.
    
    Dickster
    

Yeah, but you guys weren't around the day the mother carp, about
four feet long crawled up on shore and said

	"Where's them folks from Dupont?  I got some two-headed
	babies I wanna talk to them about..."

Meanest lookin' carp I ever saw....

Chainsaw

    Saw, I grew up in Haverhill, not Bahstan.  I don't know where the
    halfball came from, we just picked it up from watching the older
    guys play it.
    
    Dickster, where did you grow up along the mighty Merrimack?  To
    this day, I have the habit of looking at the river as I drive along
    it each morning and night.  What am I looking for?  Bodies.  Never
    saw one, except when the cops were pulling it out of the river.
     But plenty have been in it over the years, especially with Lawrence
    being upriver!  :*)
    
    Nobody played chestnuts, huh?  Well, I'll tell you anyway.  Each
    fall, we gather the chestnuts from wherever the trees were.  They
    are found inside a hard husk.
    
    We'd auger a hole thru the nuts, than pass a shoelace thru it and
    tie a knot on the bottom side so that the lace wouldn't pull back
    thru.  Then, we'd have "battles", or "wars", as we called them.
    The challenger would hold the lace so that the chestnut would hang
    about chest high.  There would be about 3-4 inches from your fingers
    to the chestnut.  The person challenged would hold his kinda crooked
    in his two fingers, with the lace going between fingers.  The other
    end of the lace was held with the other hand.  With a sharp snap
    of the wrist, he'd let the chestnut go and hit the other chestnut.
    The other guy couldn't move his.  If you hit it, you tried again
    until you missed, and the roles would then reverse.  The object
    was to break the other chestnut.  Each "victory", as a win was called,
    was added up.  If you managed to break one that had some victories,
    it's total would be added to yours.  So, each season everyone would
    start with "0", but by the end of the season, someone would have
    a winner with 1K+ victories.
    
    I never heard of this game outside of Haverhill, and my kids haven't
    heard of it at all.  Guess it died out when TV came in.  :*)
    
    Lee

    	Wow, I was born in Haverhill and lived in Bradford, dude.
    South Park Street adjacent to Bradford College... the memories 8^)
    Then my sadistic parents moved me to Maine and I became submerged
    in the fiendish subculture of cow tipping and "downeastah" rhetoric.
    
    sean

    Karen, how come you were so nice to me at a Tigermania, when I'm
    already over the hill that's over the hill?
    
    Lee
    

    Lee,
    
    Chestnuts is played here in the U.K. with great fervour by the kids
    every fall. They use Horse Chestnuts, and the game is called
    'Conkers'.
    
    They even have a 'World Championships', but its usually Adults
    (big kids) who participate.
    
    It sure hurts your Knuckles though, eh ?
    
    Wayne.

Lee, I've heard of chestnuts, but never played.  I can't remember
if it was from my dad, or an uncle or what...

'Course my father is even older than you are.  (Sometimes I think
he's older than Jesus, but that's a different story....)


We used to play a lot of war when I was a kid.  The kind with playing
cards.  It used to be a big thing on the school bus.  Of course,
we weren't supposed to have cards on the bus, but the bus drivers
were either old farts or these ditsy housewives who thought it was
a big accomplishment to be able to depress the clutch pedal and shift
gears, all while chewing gum.

Anyway, we'd play war almost every day.


Later in life that got translated into an excellent drinking game.
We'd play "War for Schnaps"  (Ed Note:  somehow, and for some reason
the guys I hung out with called beer schnaps...don't ask why, I don't
know....)  

Anyway, we'd play like this:  Every time you lose a card, you have to
have a healthy swallow from your beer (best played with bottles to
avoid cheating).  If you lost a "war", then you had to chug a whole
one.

This game soon got tiring, and it evolved into Thermonuclear War
for Gin.  Since the title is pretty self-explanatory, I won't
go into details...

But that was also considerably after 13 December 1965...

YOu get older, and lose your innocence...what can I say?

'Saw

    Wayne, I've always wondered where the game came from.  The U.K.,
    eh?  All over, or just Britain, or where?
    
    Yeah, the knuckles sure got a beating from time to time.  I remember
    when I was about 8-9 years old, and had learned about a wonder thing
    called petrification.  
    
    So, being a curious type, I put about a dozen or so of my VERY best
    chestnuts in a metal box and buried it in a special place in our
    yard.  I was absolutely sure that within one year I would have the
    hardest chestnuts in the world.  I would be KING of CHESTNUTS!!!
    
    The next year, when I dug it up as this season was upon us, I was
    almost in shock!  The damn things were softer then canned peas!
    I had to really scurry around to get some news ones for the season.
    
    Lee

    I believe that its played all over Britain.
    
    Kids over here try to cheat by baking or pickling them, but they
    dont seem to work.
    
    Some one I knew (Not Me, honest !), once found a beautiful smooth
    pebble, And I thought, I mean HE thought that if it was painted
    just right, how much like a Horse Chestnut it would look.
    
    The trouble was I, HE, couldnt drill a hole through it. 
    
    Wayne.

    
    Lee, Lawrence was the place.  Fished downstream from the dam.  For
    some reason I have dreams quite often where the river, the dam,
    and the bridges of Lawrence are the chief images.
    
    Re: chestnuts
    
    I think my grandfather told me about this game ;^).  Now, speaking
    of my grandfather, he grew up in Lawrence, too, and worked in the
    mills until he died at the age of 76.  Never had any interest in
    quitting.  One mill (I can't remember the name) was on the end of
    Essex Street and had this big clock on the top.  It was his job
    to go up and wind it.  One day he took me up there with him and
    he let me crank it up.  It's a nice memory whenever I get back to
    Lawrence and see that big ol' clock.  
    
    Dickster
    

    Lee, Saw,
    
    Half ball was played  in New York also.   I'd guess it evolved from
    stickball - since those hard rubber hollow balls would split after
    continued use in stickball.  If you couldn't get (read: Afford)
    another ball, you improvised.  That's my guess as to the origin
    of halfball.  Where did it start?  Who knows, but I'm sure the Russians
    will say they were playing it in siberia with mastodon balls.
    
    JD

    There was a story in SI about a year ago about half ball.  It seems
    that in one of the southern states there is a league and they play a
    yearly championship tournement.  I think they play it 3 on 3.
    
    Dan

    Speaking of masto /don, where is he?
    
    Lee

    We still play half ball in my back yard with a tennis ball and an old
    stick ball bat I've had since I was a kid.  A neighbor spun it up for
    me years ago on his lathe, using a big dowel.  The frequency of playing
    depends on if/when you run over a tennis ball while mowing the lawn. 
    :-)  You can throw some mean risers with one of those things.
    
    					Steve

>    Karen, how come you were so nice to me at a Tigermania, when I'm
>    already over the hill that's over the hill?
 
	My mom always told me to respect old people.  (-: (-: (-:  

	My brothers (all younger than me) used to throw frogs as high up
	as they could, and see how big a SPLAT they made when they landed.
   
	I remember playing pickle, homerun derby, kick the can, fox and
        hounds...

   
    

    What, no Hospital?
    
    Mark.

    
    Allright! Karen your brother's sound like my kind of people! 8^)
    
    
    
    Steve

	oops, forgot these - 

        ...house, doctor, barbie-dolls, and some stupid game we called 
	get-down.
    

    Hey c'saw... 
    
    Two teams-team one (foxes) hide and team two (hounds) try to find them.
    When the hounds find someone from team one they bring them to the
    "jail".  Then someone from the fox team can come and tag their
    fox-buddies and they all go hide again.  No one ever wanted to be on
    the hound team.  Just like no one ever wanted to be "it" in kick the
    can.  
    
    

Gee Karen, sounds like a takeoff on the old game we used to play
in Elementary school:  Capture the Flag.

Another favorite we played inside in the winter was Dodgeball.
You had two endlines (typically the endlines of the basketball court)
all across each end of the gym.  Everybody started out between the
two endlines, in their own half of the "court".

We had about 5 balls, and you'd try to wang the guys on the other
team.  If you hit them, they came back behind your end line in "jail".
The only way they could leave jail was if their teammates could throw
a ball to them behind the end line.  (In our gym there was about four
feet between endline and wall, so there was no Dan_Schneider_PASS_OUT_
OF_BOUNDS tactics).

Anyway, a subtle strategy would emerge, where you'd have throwers
who tried to hit other guys, throwers who'd throw long to effect an
escape, and defenders who'd try to block the other teams "escape"
throws...

It was a lot of fun.

I've always wanted to televise a variation of this played with real
athletes...if people will watch American Gladiators, they'll watch
anything....


'Saw

    
    oh yea, dodge ball, i was always the last one to get hit in grade
    school..... those the days....
    
    
    dinz
    
    

    'Saw,
    
    I can relate to your dog stories.  I grew up an only child on a farm
    and there were no kids my age for miles.  All I really had as a best
    buddy was my German Shepard, Gypsy.  
    
    We used to go out to the field with a Nerf football.  She would go to
    the other end and wait for me to kick it to her.  When she got the ball
    she'd run for this imaginary goal line of pine trees.  I could never
    tackle her.  Strange thing was, once she'd cross the line, she'd turn
    around drop the ball (if she coulda spiked it I bet she would have) and
    go to the other end of the field and wait for the next kick.  Walter
    Payton was nothing compared to that dog.
    
    RE: dodge ball
    
    Cool game.  I bet they don't play it in school no more. I saw more kids
    (usually girls) get hit in the face than I can remember.  The thrower
    was out if that happened.  Still, I bet now they don't play it for
    fear of law suites from parents.  
    
    I'd venture to guess that gym classes are pretty boring in schools
    these days.  No dodge ball, trampolines, tackle football, smear the
    queer, etc.
    
    Remember smear the queer or was that just a regional Pittsburgh-type
    game?  It was everyman for himself.  Whoever had the ball had 10-20
    guys chasing him, tackling him, beating on him, to get the ball.  If
    the ball came to you and you didn't take it and get smeared, you were a
    first class wimp.  We used to play it at recess and after school.  Too
    rough for gym class.
    
    	--dan'l

    How many of you out there played kickball?  (Same rules as baseball,
    only the pitcher rolled a red rubber ball towards home plate and you
    kicked it instead of hitting it with a bat.)
    
    
    py

We always played football at lunch, from September till about
March...

We were not allowed to play tackle.  Playground monitors would
round you all up and you'd get to see the principal if you were
caught.

So, we played two handed touch.  Fun, lots of fun.  I always
played the defense line, cuz I loved to rush.  I had my fair share
of sacks, and one year (4th grade I think) I had four blocked passes,
more than anyone else.   On offense, I'd go for the short passes
over the middle, or hike, on or the other.

What fun, and boy does it take me back...

IN the spring we'd play kickball, or softball. We couldn't use
a real baseball, but sometimes we'd sneak a rubber covered baseball
out there until we got caught.... 

ah, the halcyon days of youth....

(sigh)
Chainsaw

    Anybody that went to Leominster High School in the 70's will instantly
    know the phys ed teacher I'm referring to...
    
    Dodge ball:  As the game proceeded, the teacher would blow a whistle
    that would indicate that you could run up to the *opposing* foul
    line and throw the ball.  This basically gave the defending team
    about a half second to react to the barrage.  We didn't call it
    dodge ball, but rather "bombardment".
    
    Critters:  This same teacher would have 11 guys line up on a football
    field and play this game that was combination of football, soccer
    and rugby.  You could advance the ball by running or passing.  You
    could transfer ownership of the ball by tackling an opposing player
    who had the ball.  Points were awarded in 1 of 3 different ways.
    If you throw the ball by the goalie, 1 point.  If you kicked it
    past the goalie 2 points.  If you *ran* the ball over the goalie,
    it was 3 points.
    
    Great game.
    
    Mark.

>>    How many of you out there played kickball?  (Same rules as baseball,
>>    only the pitcher rolled a red rubber ball towards home plate and you
>>    kicked it instead of hitting it with a bat.)

I used to strike out all the time.

    Paul,
    
    Yeah, I played kickball. 
    
    re:  Dodgeball.  We played that alot.  In grammar school we had
    like 30-35 guys to a side to start out with.  
    
    RE: Gym teachers = in grammar school (catholic) we had this combination
    Dr. Mengele/Marine DI as a teacher.  Man was he rough.  He had this
    crowned ring and he'd give noogies with it if he didn't like you.
     He also used to kick ya in the butt.  
    
    Anyone ever play steal the bacon?  We'd put a wooden bowling pin
    at center court, then start out with 1 guy from each side trying
    to steal it and get back to friendly lines.  Brutal, juice, brutal.
    JD

>    Anyone ever play steal the bacon?
>    JD

No, but I do remember wanting to play "Hide the Salami" with a certain
fair-haired girl.  :-)

>    RE: Gym teachers = in grammar school (catholic) we had this combination
>    Dr. Mengele/Marine DI as a teacher.  Man was he rough.  He had this
>    crowned ring and he'd give noogies with it if he didn't like you.
>     He also used to kick ya in the butt.  

Anyone from Hudson, MA remember the elementary school gym teachers back
in the late 60's?  A certain fellow who resembled Roger Ramjet?  Moved
on to the high school later, and was an assistant football coach.  This 
pinhead forced my best friend to jog in place for an entire gym period for 
some stupid reason.  The kid was a diabetic and ended up in the hospital.  

The Hudson athletic department was always good for "amusing" anecdotes.
A certain coach was rumored to be a little light in the loafers, shall
we say, and was openly taunted by students and players alike about his
desire to keep an eye on the showers.   I believe he ended up getting
busted on a morals charge.

Athletically, I earned the Presidents Physical Fitness Award {signed
by Richard Milhous Nixon, no less}.   I guess it was a big deal at
the time.   

Somehow, I think I fell into a tiny window between the druggies of
the sixties and the burnouts of the seventies.  

In High School we had this P.E. teacher former Marine Drill Sgt. and  
in order increase our basketball dribbling skills we would play BOXING BALL.
If you were right handed you would wear a boxing glove on that hand so you 
could only dribble with your left you could use the glove to defend yourself
in any way that was above the belt. Lots of blood and nobody went for a layup 
without severe repercussions. 

Dodgeball was called "KILL" if you were able to catch the throw the guy  
was out if you got hit you were out. We used to Hi-Lo the little guy throw up a 
easily catchable lob then have some animal with a "Goose Gossage" type fastball 
nail the guy in the gut as he is reaching for the ball. We had this old gym      
brick walls about 3' from the basketball court. 

If we didn't want to play these games we could always play "simon says" squat
thrusts. 

Jeff  

	Used to play Bombardment, Dodge Ball, and Kickball. The all-time
favorite at my grammar school was "The Guantlet".

	We had a wall with a slope up to it on one side of our playground.
Kids could stand at the bottom of the slope, throw rubber balls, super balls,
etc. against the wall, catch them, throw it agin, etc.

	Well the older kids decided that this was no challenge, and more or
less forced the younger kids to "Run the Gauntlet" of older kids chucking
these balls at the wall(or the runner). The worst one were the ones that
hit the wall first and caught the runner on the way back...

	I was unofficial champion one year with 5 "clean" runs - no hits..

	The toughest part was exaplaining the broken glasses to my Mom :^)

	Jim M

    Well, I must confess that I had no idea that this note would manure into
    soooo many different angles.  A junk-noters delight!
    
    But, since there's no football yet.....
    
    Glenn

re .-1:

	For my excuse? See 30.91 ;^)

'Saw

 Yeah Dinz, you sound just like a kid in my class. He was always the last
 one out because he hid behind everyone else until he was left alone...

 mike

    The way we played dodgeball was pretty much the same as everyone
    else. Except that if you were 'out', your teammates could 'save' you
    by catching the oppositions throw. After the whistle, you got to run to
    the other foul line. If your team made a catch then, the WHOLE team 
    got saved. We also had a sadistic gym teacher who invariably let
    out a few 'rock' balls that were about the size of a volleyball and 
    had about 600 lbs. of air in them. Sick man.
    P.S.- I was just over 3 mos. old on Dec. 13th, 1965.
    			Rich
    

    Mr. Stencil was our gym teacher's name in grade school.  I remember
    once we were doing push ups and I got clobbered in the head with a
    basketball (ouch).  I jumped up and yelled, "Who threw that."  I was
    ready to fight, boy.  Stencil said he did and that if I didn't work
    harder at push ups, he'd hit me with something harder as he slung a
    baseball bat over his shoulder.
    
    Needless to say, at 8 I was more than intimidated.  I was furious, but
    I backed down, basically humiliated.  
    
    Years later, Stencil was an assistant high school football coach and
    hung around the swimming pool a lot with the other gym teachers.  By
    then I was the super star athlete in swimming and could usually get
    away with murder around the gym teachers.  Well, there was old Stencil
    with his back turned toward me standing at the edge of the pool.  I
    didn't hesitate.  SPLASH!  When he surfaced, I said, "That's for
    hitting me in the head with a basketball when I was in 4th grade,
    Stenc!"  The rest of the gym teachers were pissing their pants with
    laughter.
    
    Stencil just started laughing and said he obviously didn't hit me hard
    enough.  He and I became real good buddies after that.  
    
    	--dan'l

    JD, steal the bacon was a big game in Boy Scouts.
    
    One of my favorites in grammar school was King Of The Hill.  Our
    schoolyard had a small hill on one side.  Everyone would scramble
    up to the top as best they could.  First one up tried to keep everyone
    else off.  Soem wild scrambles in this one.
    
    Lee

    When I first came to England, a game that we played in Gym class
    was one called 'Danish Longball'.
    
    You started out with one person in the outfield (an indoor 5-a-side
    soccer court) and everbody else lined up against one wall. One of
    these would take a 'Rounders bat' (a very short, narrow baseball
    bat, used with one hand) and the outfielder would throw a tennis
    ball underarm to the 'batter'.
    
    Whether thae batter hit the ball or missed, then every one would
    take off for the other end of the court, and then back again. In
    the meantime, the 'outfielder' would collect the ball, and try to
    hit a runner with it. Anyone touched, or hit, by the ball, became
    an outfieder as well.
    
    I had a great time getting even with the bullies. I always tried
    to be an outfielder, just to throw the ball in their faces, totally
    by accident, of course ! ;-)
    I loved that game !
                          
    Wayne

Gee Wayne, that running back and forth, and playing with a "weird"
bat makes the game sound almost like cricket....


Did anyone ever play crab soccer?  It used this huge ball, which
was made of canvas with a rubber bladder inside.  The thing had to
be 3' in diameter.  Anyway, it was played just like soccer except you
had no goalie, three kazillion people per team, and you had to play
like a crab.  

That is to say that you would basically sit down, then use your hands
and feet to propel yourself, with your butt up off the deck.  
Try doing that for an entire gym class, trying to kick the ball and 
move it...phew!

'Saw

    I don't think anyone's mentioned a game we used to play in junior high
    school gym class called pinball.  A bowling pin (candlepin) was set up 
    inside the free throw circle at each end of the b-ball court.  The object 
    of course was to knock down the pin, but you couldn't enter the free throw 
    circle which also had a goalie.  I think we used a volleyball for this.  
    More often than not, the goalie would end up on the receiving end of a
    well targeted fastball.
    
    					Steve

    1965 is probably a year or two after this event took place, but it
    certainly seems to fit with this note.
    Scene: Marblehead (Ma) Junior High School Gym
    Participants: one short old gym teacher with a mean streak, i.e. hey
    you (pointing to the smallest boy in class and wearing glasses), get me
    the left handed basketball. Which of course, means he takes three or
    four trips to the supply room before he successfully finds the
    left-handed ball. Accompanied by volumes of laughter.
    One eighth grade gym class.
    Event: a challenging set of drills using gymnastic apparatus.
    The drills include standing vaults, running vaults, and other basic
    gymnastic moves. Anyway, the low point in the day is the last drill, the
    "courage vault."   This "courage vault" is done by kneeling on top of a
    horse, and then springing off the horse and hopefully onto your legs on
    the floor.
    The gym teacher is of course right there to spot you.
    One of the members of the gym class, a heavyset kid with glasses (read
    former left-handed basketball dupe), takes his position on the horse,
    and then with an enormous effort springs off the horse catches the toes
    of both feet and lands directly on top of the gym coach. 
    As we move to help the two of them up, the coach says, "you broke my
    arm", you clumsy b*stard, you broke my arm, and starts to chase this
    kid with one of his arms flapping at his side. We managed to get him
    quieted down and he only had a cast on for five or six weeks. 
    I've always wondered if that kid was just getting even.
    
    Chris
     

    I haven't seen anyone mention *street hockey* yet.
    
    Ah, those were the days.  Finding an open stretch of school parking
    lot, setting up the goals, dropping that little orange ball, and
    letting the fur fly.
    
    I was able to develop a vicious wrist shot with deadly accuracy.  Other
    guys on the teams always wanted to whale away with wild slap shots.  
    But I could calmly flick these deadly little quick wrist shots that
    found the back of the net every time.   That was great fun.
    
    Bob Hunt

    
    street hockey.. we had a goalie in bedford  peter band.. the guy
    played like  dryden.. incredible.. boy he stopped everything..
    
    we had some games.....
    
    
    i had a good slapper, but mosstly set everybody else up
    
    
    dinz
    

    Leominster used to be the street hockey capital of the world.  There
    used to be a couple of Mylec rinks complete with boards and lights.
    
    I still play street hockey with the kids on my street.
    
    Mark.

    In gym class in high school we had team handball, but you had to sign a
    bunch of stuff that said any injuries were your fault. DAT was a brutal
    game!!! We were the stud group, football players, gunslingers,
    desperados, and just plain mean people. We had this stoner dude break
    his shoulder after a vicious check into the bleachers. Great memories.
    
    re Dodgeball
    
    We used to love that game but they banned it after this kid got hit in
    the nose and refused to stop bleeding. 
    
    Since I grew up in California our elementary school cafeteria was
    outdide. So during the summer we'd rearranage the tables and play table
    tag. One time I was chasing my little brother when he hopped to another
    table I tried to nail him in mid air but slipped an fell off the table.
    12 stitches later my haid quit bleeding.
    
    the devil dog

    Me and the guy in the cube across from me have this game where we ask
    each other trivia questions and if you miss three in a row the other
    guy gets to shoot a rubber band at your haid.

Sheey-it, Debil Dog, whatta Sissy game.

Me and the guy in the cube across the aisle just load up our rubber 
bands with paper clips and shoot any ol' time.  No questions, no 
pussy-footin' around, just wait till he ain' looking and wang him
off the ear wif a clip...

He's out this week in Tennessee and I'm just itchin' to shoot somebody!

'Saw

    re .181:
    
    Leominster street hockey fans are the most knowledgable.  :-)

>  <<< Note 240.183 by CSC32::J_HERNANDEZ "AFool&HisMoneyAreSoonPartying!!" >>>
>    Me and the guy in the cube across from me have this game where we ask
>    each other trivia questions and if you miss three in a row the other
>    guy gets to shoot a rubber band at your haid.
    
    So Jess, that's what happened to your haid!

    Yo Chainsaw
    
    we used to shoot grenades from our grenade launchers but they made a
    lot of noise and people complained.

   	Great Note!

   We played Kickball, and Kill The Man With The Ball, also. As well as
   Kick The Can, and all the `usual' games (baseball, football,
   basketball, etc.).

   For Dodgeball, we had a variation: everyone formed a big circle. The
   dodger was in the center,  so when a ball was thrown, there was very
   little recovery time for the dodger before someone on the other side 
   of the circle recovered and fired the ball. Whoever hit the dodger got
   to exchange places and move into the center of the circle.

   One which I haven't seen yet:

   We used to play a game we called Blind Man's Tackle (I'm not sure why;
   there was no blindfold involved). Anyway, one person was `it'. Two
   lines were drawn, parallel, about as far apart as the two ends of a
   basketball court.

   Whoops! finish in a minute.

   I'm back. Had to logout and enable something.

   Okay. So we got the guy who's `it' in the middle, and everybody lined
   up at one end.  Everybody takes off for the other end.The guy in the
   middle tries to tackle people (sometimes you could throw a roadblock
   and take down a half dozen at once). Whoever was tackled joined the
   dude in the middle. Everyone would rush back towards the other end, and
   there would be several people trying to tackle them. The number of
   people in the middle kept getting larger and larger. The ultimate
   thrill was to be the last one left, and race from one end to the other
   with EVERYONE trying to tackle you, and actually make it to the other
   end, leaving your path strewn with bodies in various states of
   disrepair.

   	We LOVED that game, and really played it the most.

   Mike JN

    We played that game. Lotsa painful memories of that one. Kinda like
    running back a kickoff with no blocking.

    I knew that game as British Bulldog, or just bulldog.
    Wayne

    Hi guys!
    
    I just got back in the office after a week at lovely Myrtle Beach, SC. 
    I went in one of these beach paraphernalia stores and found something
    called "Half Rubber."  Dumb name, but I immediately recognized it as
    the half ball you've been describing in this note.
    
    You traditionalists are going to hate me.  I spent $32 on 12 balls and
    a bat.  But hey, after all the hype in here, I had to do it.  And it
    was great!  It became the hit of the beach.  People even stopped
    playing volleyball to take a crack at it.  And one girl even lost her
    top chasing down a hit.  That's when I finally felt justified for
    spending the $$$.
    
    Now I've got to convice my buddies in Charlotte to give it a go some
    night after work.  
    
    	--dan'l

    
    I just bumped into this note by coinkidink.  It freaked me out because
    I was born on October 13, 1965.  Any great things happen in the
    world of sports on that day?  And good memories.
    
    Nadeem
    

Nadeem read .0 for the sports update on this day....