Last night, the left lost their minds when Bijan Robinsin commented on his play as it related to a game we played as kids. He called it smear the queer, but we knew it as kill the man with the ball. He had to walk it back, but I know he didn’t mean it.
If you grew up before video games and actually played outside without a helmet, it was great fun. If you don’t know it, look it up. It will be a good education for you on why our generation tried harder at most things. The struggle was real, like real life, everyone against you.
Another good game was Red Rover. It’s where you line up kids in 2 groups, holding each other by the arms, and pick someone from the other side to run and try to break the hold. Red rover, red rover, send x (next victim) on over. In reality, it was a way to clothesline a kid from the other side, also great fun.
We also played war, kick the can, and baseball, where a parked car served as 3rd base. The game would stop for a while if a car came through, but there weren’t as many back then.
And then there is dodgeball. That’s where you’d hit the girls and the fat kids first. Nothing beats a good shot to the face though. That’s the real score
If you didn’t have a ball, there was kick the can.
Sometimes it was stickball. Kids from NY know that one well.
Life was easier back then, and we didn’t need a Switch or Xbox to play video games. Our moms kicked us out of the house, and we made stuff up.
If there were not enough other kids, you could climb a tree or throw something for the dog to chase. I grew up in an old tangerine farm so that is what we had, way before tennis balls were dog toys.
We moved on to paper football
Oh, to be young again.
Delusions of Adequacy 
Incandescent glass light bulbs . . . furnace ashes . . . creek mud . . . 2” firecrackers.
Carefully remove the threads, fill bulbs with ashes, cover ‘em with mud, put firecracker into the neck. Score the mud while wet, let dry overnight. Great hand grenade. Anybody with ashes on ‘em is a casualty.
Water bucket. Long juice concentrate can. Blockbuster firecracker. Leave one end of can/tube intact. Remove other end. Insert firecracker. Two inches of water in bucket. Set can in water, fuse end up. Great mortar.
Single-shot piston driven BB guns. Cap pistols. Grenades. Mortars. D-Day re-enacted.
Incidentally, one of the sections of a 50s era automobile radio antenna was perfect as a barrel for .22 ammo. I liked the Buicks and Oldsmobiles.
Rough file the chrome from the antenna section. Drill the connector piece out of the barrel of a metallic realistic cap gun. Pry the barrel apart at the seam. With a small wedge of wood holding the barrel sections apart, insert the antenna piece and solder into place with a large soldering iron. Remove the wedge.
Drill a hole in the cap anvil to insert cartridge. Drill hole in the hammer. Cut a piece of nail that fits into the hole. Solder it into the hammer. Upgrade the return spring on the hammer (‘cuz there’s no genuine firing chamber). Great homemade pistol. Illegal as hell, but some idiot will buy it from you for $20, which was a helluva lotta money 70 years ago.
I made one that had a rotating cylinder . . . held 6 rounds. Sold it to the younger brother of a friend of mine. He took it to school and shot it in the gymnasium. Later was arrested for burglary and did time in the state pen. I was long gone by then, USN in WestPac.
Dumbest thing we did was to clear a steep hillside leading down to a large gravel pit. Built a dirt ramp at the shoreline. Tie a piece of rope to the bike frame. Hang onto it. I tied it into a belt loop. Ride the bike down the slope, hit the ramp, fly out over the water, splash down, get your applause, and have your buddies help you drag the bike outta the water.
Dangerous part wasn’t the landing in the water; it was going down that slope amongst all those tree stubs, bumps, rocks, and scratchankles. Think you could hit more than 20mph if you made it all the way to the ramp without wrecking and REALLY tearing yourself up.
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Sounds like you built a zip gun, I learned about that from the guys that went to jail
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We knew “Kill the Guy With the Ball” by both names. My sister broke a leg playing that game in junior high. Poor guy had to explain how a girl broke his leg.
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